BZA leaves Whiskey Creek RV park unresolved

Road access, bridge concerns take center stage as proposed 45-space RV park stalls before Board of Zoning Appeals

8:17 p.m. Aug. 18, 2026 | Updated: 10:13 a.m. Aug. 19, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

A proposed 45-space RV park at The Retreat at Whiskey Creek left Tuesday’s Moore County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting without approval after an effort to approve the special exception failed to draw a second.

The discussion returned to familiar Whiskey Creek questions: road access, the Main Street bridge, emergency vehicles, unfinished infrastructure, and whether more development should proceed before Phase 1 is further along.

But Tuesday brought something new.

Board member Patrick Maynard disclosed that he had spoken with neighbors concerned about the project before Tuesday’s hearing.

Moore County Road Superintendent Shannon Cauble came with an Aug. 17 memorandum formally denying a commercial entrance permit for 1075 Main St., the proposed access point beside the bridge. Cauble told the board her denial was based on traffic capacity, the floodway, bridge safety, road geometry, and a shared residential easement.

Whiskey Creek was not the board’s only unfinished business. Earlier, members voted 3-1 not to reopen Gateway Development’s unresolved site-plan appeal while litigation between Gateway and Moore County remains active.

And before the meeting ended, Chair Keith Moses resigned from the BZA, saying his review of the zoning ordinance convinced him he had served beyond the five-year term prescribed for board members.

Board members Peggy Sue Blackburn, Houston Lindsey, Maynard, and Moses attended. Josh Cook was absent.

Access takes center stage

Michael Nauta, project engineer for Retreat Construction, filed the Whiskey Creek application Aug. 4. It seeks a special exception for two A-1 Agriculture-Forestry parcels totaling about 17.95 acres. The plan submitted to the BZA shows up to 45 RV spaces and 16 yurts.

Yurts are not allowed, per an earlier Metro Council decision. Whiskey Creek developer Chip Hayes said the final plan will remove those spaces.

Travel trailer and RV parks are allowed in the A-1 district only by special exception. The ordinance requires the BZA to consider ingress and egress, traffic flow, pedestrian safety, and access in the event of a fire or other catastrophe.

That put Cauble’s road-access denial squarely in the middle of Tuesday’s hearing.

“The memorandum dated Aug. 17 is my official denial of the access that’s proposed,” Cauble told the board. She said the supporting packet laid out the numbers, documents, and sources behind her decision.

Her memo says the Main Street-South Elm Street corridor is 22 feet wide and cites a maximum design capacity of 2,000 vehicles per day. It lists 2025 baseline traffic at 1,514 vehicles per day and adds an estimated 408 from 80 approved Whiskey Creek homes, bringing the projected total to 1,922 before campground traffic is counted.

Cauble’s memo then adds another 162 daily trips from what it describes as “60+ campground units,” putting the projected total at 2,084 – above the 2,000 figure cited in the memo.

There is a wrinkle in those numbers: The special-exception application before the BZA calls for up to 45 RV spaces, not more than 60. The difference was not reconciled during Tuesday’s meeting.

Cauble also said the proposed entrance sits in a regulatory floodway and immediately beside the Main Street bridge. Her memo says the property pin is 10 feet, 2 inches from the guardrail and argues that bringing longer, wider recreational vehicles through that spot would create a safety problem.

The memo also points to the county’s 18-foot minimum width for two-way campground roads and raises questions about an existing shared residential easement. Cauble concluded the Highway Department could not approve the proposed commercial entrance.

The denial does not necessarily close the door. Cauble’s memo says the developer may submit certified technical evidence, including a formal traffic impact study prepared by a licensed engineer. The county would then send that material for independent review at the developer’s expense.

Neighbors point back to Phase 1

Several speakers urged the board to look beyond the RV park drawings and at what remains unfinished in the existing Whiskey Creek development.

Aurelia Swann asked the BZA to deny additional development until the current phase is complete, pointing to the bridge, utilities, internal roads, fencing, property concerns, and promises she said have not been fulfilled.

Swann has deep ties to Whiskey Creek. She is the daughter of former owners Don and Ann Spencer, and her brother, George Spencer, sold the property to Hayes for the tiny-home development.

Planning and Zoning Chair and District 3 Council member Dexter Golden focused on the Metro Council’s expectation that Phase 1 reach 75% completion before Phase 2 moves forward.

Golden urged board members to determine exactly where the first phase stands. “How far along are we?” he asked.

He raised questions about water-line pressure testing, utility inspections, completed infrastructure, and the number of lots that could be connected to service. He also returned to the bridge.

Golden said local fire trucks have been inspected and exceed the 15-ton weight limit posted there. His point, he said, was not to ask the BZA to approve or deny the project on that basis, but to make sure the county knows whether emergency vehicles can safely reach residents.

“Again, this is just for insurance to understand: Can we safely cross for an emergency situation?” he said.

Nearby resident Chris Dickey brought the discussion closer to home.

Dickey lives two houses from the proposed project on land that has been in his family for roughly 200 years. The surrounding property, he said, has long been agricultural land used for homes, livestock, hay, and farming.

His concern was simple: How much development can one area carry?

Dickey pointed to the existing homes and proposed RV spaces and questioned how many people could eventually be concentrated on the property.

Speaking on behalf of James Thomas Dickey Jr., who shares about 1,500 feet of property line with the project, Chris Dickey asked the board to require a fence if the RV park is ultimately approved. He cited trespassing, safety, and liability concerns.

“If you can’t stop it, please have them put a fence up,” he told the board.

Chip Swann then reminded the board that Hayes had previously committed to putting up a fence along the east side of the development beside Ann Spencer’s property.

“That was six years ago,” Swann said. “And I haven’t seen the first fence post put up.”

Hayes offers another emergency route

Hayes pushed back on the access concerns.

He said a fire truck had been placed on the bridge when the original Whiskey Creek development went through the approval process and said the company has been working on a plan to reinforce the bridge.

Hayes also pointed to the access at 1075 Main St., which is now barricaded.

He proposed making that entrance available to emergency vehicles even if regular campground traffic uses another route.

“We’re offering to put an emergency barricade there that only emergency vehicles have access,” Hayes said.

The discussion also touched on an easement used by Jeff Norman, a neighboring property owner. Hayes said the easement did not appear in the title search when the company bought the property, but he acknowledged that Norman still has the right to use it.

BZA works through campground standards

Moses then worked through the county’s campground rules almost line by line.

He addressed Hayes directly: “You've got RVs, but also in the package I saw yurts and glamping and all that. That's not specifically addressed as an ordinance. RVs are addressed. Would you like to just focus on the RVs only at this time?"

“Yes, sir,” Hayes said.

The application proposes a 100-foot setback around the property, exceeding several minimum setback requirements. Moses also reviewed provisions covering on-site management, open space, campsite size, sanitary facilities, potable water, trash collection, parking, picnic areas, screening, interior-road widths, and turning radii.

Moses said much of the application appeared to meet the ordinance’s written standards.

The problem that would not go away was getting in and getting out – ingress and egress.

Board members discussed the bridge, emergency access, and the history of a campground operating in the area decades ago. They also wrestled with whether the RV park should stand on its own application or be treated as Phase 2 of the larger Whiskey Creek development.

Moses viewed the RV proposal as a separate project that should be judged on its own. Board member Houston Lindsey referred to the 75% benchmark for Phase 1.

That question was never resolved Tuesday.

Motion dies without a second

With Josh Cook absent and four of the board’s five members present, Moses said he would abstain and leave the decision to the other three members.

The board had a quorum.

What it did not have was a second.

Blackburn called for a motion to approve the special exception, which would have sent the matter to Planning and Zoning for further review. No second followed.

The request went no farther.

There was no roll-call vote to approve or deny Whiskey Creek. The proposed RV park left Tuesday’s meeting without BZA approval.

BZA leaves Gateway appeal alone

Before taking up Whiskey Creek, the board returned briefly to the unfinished Gateway Development matter from July.

Gateway won the first half of its appeal July 21 when the BZA voted 3-1 that its proposed units meet Moore County’s definition of townhouses. Blackburn, Maynard, and Moses voted yes. Lindsey voted no. Cook was absent.

The second appeal – whether to overturn Planning and Zoning’s denial of Gateway’s preliminary site plan – ended in a 2-2 tie. Blackburn and Moses voted to grant the appeal. Lindsey and Maynard voted against it. With Cook absent, the board tabled the question and planned to bring it back before a full membership.

That did not happen Tuesday.

Maynard moved to exclude discussion of the Gateway appeal due to the active litigation between the developer and Moore County. Moses said he would have preferred to move forward.

The motion passed 3-1, with Blackburn, Lindsey, and Maynard voting in favor and Moses opposed.

For now, the July split remains where it was: Gateway has a BZA ruling that its proposed units qualify as townhouses, but no BZA decision overturning Planning and Zoning’s denial of the 42-unit preliminary site plan.

Moses resigns from the BZA

Then came one last piece of business.

Moses said research surrounding the board’s recent work led him back to Section 7.070 of the zoning ordinance. The provision establishes a five-member BZA, appointed by the Metro Council, with five-year terms.

Moses said he has served since September 2018 – nearly eight years.

His review of the ordinance, he said, convinced him he could not continue serving beyond the prescribed term.

“I effectively ... resign from this board,” Moses said.

Later Tuesday night, Moses defended the board’s conduct in a Facebook post about a Gateway-related open-records request, suggested other local boards may not have met the same standard, and said he is prepared to testify if needed.

• Updated to include Moses's social media post.