Jamestown Town Council moves forward with plans to bring over 1,000 homes to former Johnson Farms property

JAMESTOWN, N.C. (WGHP) — Dozens of people are not happy with the Jamestown Town Council’s decision to move forward with a development that will bring more than 1,000 homes to the old Johnson Farms property.

There were lots of emotions from everyone who came out to Tuesday night’s town council meeting. People who live in the area were frustrated, saying they feel like no one was listening to their concerns.

Many community members spent their time during the public hearings asking council members to postpone this vote until their next meeting. Councilman John Capes said there was no reason to keep putting the decision off.

“Postponement for the sake of postponement really serves no purpose,” he said. “We’ve been working with this developer for almost two years, and that is after turning down the previous developer. Our staff and our attorneys have spent hours working on this project, and that was only after we had a week-long meeting where citizens were invited to participate and many of their ideas are in these plans.”

It was standing room only at the Civic Center as one by one, dozens of community members went up to the mic and expressed their concerns with D.R. Horton’s proposed development of the former Johnson Farms property, which is located between Guilford College and Mackay Roads. It’s more than 460 acres, which is the single largest piece of land in Jamestown’s planning jurisdiction.

Some people are concerned the development will attract crime, increase traffic and stress schools in the area. Many aren’t opposed to developing the land. They just want the plans to be scaled back.

Several people who spoke at the podium said by voting for the development as is, they didn’t feel like the town council members are representing the best interest of Jamestown as a whole.

“Most towns are protecting their resources and their people, and they’re working with the residents and talking with their residents and trying to scale it down and get their input and do something hand in hand together,” one speaker said. “This is such a one-way thing, and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

Representatives from D.R. Horton were at the meeting to answer questions. They told FOX8 they’re happy with the town council’s decision but are sorry they had to go through all this to get the approval.