FedEx asks town to annex 1.7 acres

Board will have public hearing Tuesday

By: John Hinton | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: January 31, 2009

KERNERSVILLE

The town's board of aldermen is going to consider annexing a 1.7-acre tract owned by FedEx Ground Package System Inc. that is within the Triad Business Park.

The board will have a public hearing on the voluntary annexation of the tract at 7 p.m. Tuesday in town hall. The aldermen will vote on the matter after the hearing.

Officials with FedEx Ground asked the town to annex the tract, which is close to where the company will build a $100 million distribution hub in the Triad Business Park. The hub will employ 750 people when it opens by the summer of 2011.

The 400,000-square-foot hub will be built at Old Greensboro Road and West Market Street in western Guilford County, within the Kernersville town limits. The town annexed the park in 2008, but the land is not contiguous to the town limits.

FedEx Ground asked the town to annex the tract because it is needed for its operation within the business park, Mayor Dawn Morgan said.

Triad Business Park is managed and being developed by Samet Corp. of Greensboro and owned by TDO Land Holding LLC. The City-County Utility Commission will provide water service to the park, and High Point will provide sewer service through a deal with Kernersville.

The tract is near a tributary within the Deep River Township in Guilford County. The land is near the southern end of the business park near Bending Road and Business 40.

Alderman Kevin Bugg said he will support the satellite annexation because it is needed for FedEx Ground. In October, the company bought a 125-acre site within the park. That purchase didn't include the 1.7 acre tract.

At that time, Benjamin Dale Stack owned the land, a Guilford County tax official said. FedEx Ground recently bought the land, and that tract has a value of $60,200.

In May, the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources granted FedEx Ground a permit for stream mitigation that would limit the effect that its hub would have on the nearby tributary of the Deep River, said Jeff Hatling, the town's director of community development.

That tract can be used sewer, telephone and power lines to the FedEx Ground operation, he said.

■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.

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