Town manager touts Camden Road and Rockfish widening projects and unveils draft land-use plan

Town Manager Chancellor used the May 18 meeting to summarize several large transportation projects and present a draft town land‑use plan that staff say will guide growth for the next 15 to 20 years.

Chancellor said the town secured sidewalk commitments from NCDOT for Camden Road widening and described Rockfish/Garfield widening as a roughly $33 million project; he also described Camden Road widening in the presentation as a significantly larger regional corridor project. He credited county planning staff for leading an eight‑month community-engagement process and said the draft land‑use plan includes language to preserve small‑town character while managing residential, industrial and data‑center growth.

The manager also highlighted community programming and events — the Juneteenth celebration at the new Hive at Hope Mills food-truck park, a gun-violence-awareness walk, and a parks-and-recreation calendar that officials say will see expanded summer activity. He noted mosquito spraying and an upcoming dam inspection, and listed NC DOT updates affecting local projects.

Board members praised the plan and the staff work and said the county planning board and county commissioners will review it as the town moves toward an approval timeline in the summer months.

What’s next: the town plans to transmit the draft land‑use plan to the County Planning Board and return with a local decision later in the summer; infrastructure projects continue to proceed with DOT coordination and engineering steps noted at the workshop.

Attributions: Manager Chancellor, who presented the report, and commissioners commenting at the meeting.