Little River proposal to go before commissioners

A proposal to limit the density of development in the Little River Watershed will go before the Wake County commissioners on Monday.

The proposal would down-zone 6,237 acres in the “critical area” surrounding the reservoir. The minimum lot size would increase from two acres to three acres.

Existing lots that are smaller than three acres would be grandfathered and not subject to the new restrictions. Of the roughly 682 lots located in the critical area, about 267 would be directly affected.

Supporters of the down-zoning say it will help persuade state and federal regulators to let Raleigh build a reservoir on the pristine water supply in the county’s northeast corner. The six-mile-long lake between Rolesville and Zebulon, in the works for two decades, would provide 17 million gallons of drinking water a day for fast-growing northeastern Wake County.

Raleigh is several years into the permitting process, which could take more than a decade.

“We think it’s necessary to get the sign-off necessary to get the construction permits to move forward with the project forward,” said Dale Crisp, Raleigh’s public utilities director.

The residential density requirements would be stricter than those in the Falls and Jordan watersheds. Crisp noted that those areas already had a significant amount of development at the time they were created.

The Wake County Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend the rezoning.