By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com
The Sanford-Lee County Planning Department’s Technical Review Committee will look at several proposals this month, including a Culver’s store in Tramway, a potential reuse of part of the Kendale shopping center as a storage facility, and several new residential developments.
Culver’s, a fast casual chain of burger restaurants based in Wisconsin, has proposed a 4,500 square foot location on Tramway Road opposite the site’s existing Bojangles, next to where a Waffle House location is currently under construction. Culver’s has about 1,000 locations in 26 states.
Another proposal involves turning a portion of the Kendale Shopping Center on Industrial Drive into a large storage facility. The property’s current owner, Azalea Partnership of Asheville, has proposed plans that would see 4.77 acres of the site between Raleigh and Judd streets turned into 94,000-plus square feet of storage spaces, as well as “adding mini storage units in the existing parking area.”
Most of the area in question is currently vacant. The TRC agenda notes that the proposal is a “concept plan” that will require a “full” technical review of civil drawings before building permit applications can be submitted.
A third commercial proposal on the agenda is a Firestone Auto Care facility on 1.1 acres at N.C. 87 just south of the Wilkinson auto dealership.
Finally, the agenda includes four new housing developments in various parts of Lee County.
*Willard Meadows would include 59 townhomes on 11.75 acres along U.S. 421 south between Glenwood Drive and Cool Springs Road.
*The Spence Ridge Subdivision would include 125 single family detached homes on 39.39 acres on Carthage Street south of Keller-Andrews Road. The TRC agenda notes this project has been before the committee “several times in the past.”
“A portion the subject property was rezoned to (multifamily) in March 2025, with the intent to develop a mix of single-family homes and apartments. The developer appears to have redesigned the project to eliminate the multifamily portion based on this submittal,” the agenda reads.
*Hidden Valley Apartments would include 24 units on 2.02 acres on Gunter Street just east of the intersection with Hawkins Avenue. The TRC agenda notes the same project came before the committee as a concept review in June 2024.
*The Black Bear Townhomes subdivision would include between 18 and 25 units on Hawkins Avenue between Wayne Street and Veterans Way. The TRC agenda notes the committee first saw the project as a submission in November 2024 and the property in question was rezoned from light industrial to allow for residential development in February.
The TRC is comprised of local officials from various city and county government entities and meets monthly to review commercial projects and major subdivisions for compliance with the codes and policies of various local departments. TRC approval of a project – or even submission of a proposal for consideration – is not a concrete indicator that the project will happen; the TRC only looks at whether proposals meet city, county and state requirements.