Editorial: Lee County rezoning and industrial growth change “Countryside”: Move to Moore County

Lee County’s Land Use Plan (LUP) and Uniform Development Ordinances need review before purchasing property anywhere in the county. But to be safe, do not move to Lee County to live in the country because they habitually annex and rezone rural areas to accommodate industries.

Lee County is slated to become the next Cary.

The Sanford Area Growth Alliance (SAGA), the Joint Planning Commission, the elected officials on the Sanford City Council, the Lee County Board of Commissioners, the Lee County Planning Board and the Lee County Zoning and Design Review Division participate in rezoning “Countryside” into industrial areas.

Once a rural area has a section rezoned into industrial, it has set a precedent for further industry.

For example, on July 21, 2026, the planning board recommended rezoning Rhetson Company’s 15.913 acres on Tramway Road from RA to general commercial C2, and the city council approved the request. The development company plans to buy the adjoining land on Bruce Coggins Road.

During the discussion, the planning board said it would continue developing down Bruce Coggins Road, which is the home of horse farms and rural homesites—for now.

Member Mark Akinosho said during the July 21 public hearing that “residents should not be run off their property.”

Still, the Sanford City Council approved the rezoning in congested Tramway, despite discussion about the horse farms and rural homesites and people losing the rights of peace and enjoyment of their personal property.

There are no oversight committees made up of citizens to help identify members of the local powers that be to help identify conflicts of interest, and even if there were, would it matter?

At a Triangle Business Journal event this summer, SAGA CEO Jimmy Randolph said conflicts of interest on the SAGA board and all others were everywhere.

Randolph said the county was running out of room in existing industrial areas for new industry.

In an earlier conversation, when asked about industrial growth plans for other areas, such as the rural areas outside of Lemon Springs near the Moore County line, Randolph said it would be twenty years.

A local politician who still influences decisions and people in the real estate business founded SAGA. It was designed as a nonprofit to prevent most public information requests from being answered. Yet, salaries are paid with taxpayers’ dollars by the county. This design has enabled and grown the relationship it has with the public today.

Several attempts to interview SAGA members about their protocols and insights have been ignored or answered with short, broad language instead of direct answers to each question.

The job of the Joint Planning Commission is to coordinate land use planning, review multi-jurisdictional policies, and provide advisory recommendations to local governments. This group below has decided whether to move forward with proposals that change geography.

Democrat Gov. Josh Stein’s campaign promise was moving industry into rural areas, using state infrastructure grants and economic-development programs to attract investment and jobs.

In 2025, Stein highlighted $12.5 billion in rural investment and proclaimed nearly 5,000 jobs across the state.

In May 2026, Stein and the N.C. Department of Commerce launched the four-year “First in Opportunity” Strategic Economic Development Plan, which emphasizes infrastructure, economic competitiveness, innovation and workforce development statewide. By August 2026, the administration reported more than $1 billion in additional private investment associated with rural infrastructure grants.

Stein’s press releases said these investments create jobs and strengthen rural economies.

Economic-development incentives and infrastructure investments influence where counties and municipalities prepare land for industrial growth. That matters as North Carolina continues to experience significant farmland conversion and low-density development, because once rural land is rezoned to industrial, the changes in land use and infrastructure persist for decades.

Elected leaders are changing geography.

Review the information on this page about the LUP to learn if an area is on the growth map.

People spend their lives and their life savings on a home in the country to enjoy their personal property rights only to have them voted away for industry.

If you want to know what a person is going to do in the future, watch what they’ve been doing all along.

Vote wisely. Be informed. And if you need to be in this area, move to Moore County, where they work to preserve rural areas.

Read Sanford approves $11M incentive for $600M medical project, advances Tramway growth toward Bruce Coggins Road.

Read Editorial: North Carolina proposal would replace political management with professional local government.

Read Editorial: Data centers, rural development & property rights: what to know before voting.

Oct. 2, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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