Gateway asks for paper trail in housing fight
Records request adds another layer to the ongoing dispute over Gateway’s proposed housing project in Lynchburg
1:09 p.m. June 16, 2026
DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor
Gateway Development Company has filed a public records request seeking communications and other documents from several Moore County officials acting in their official capacity and connected to the proposed housing project in Lynchburg.
The request, dated June 12, asks for records tied to Gateway’s proposed residential development of approximately 42 attached dwelling units on about 5.25 acres in Lynchburg. The request names several Moore County officials, including Mayor Sloan Stewart and Planning and Zoning Chairman Dexter Golden, District 4 Metro Council member Peggy Sue Blackburn, and four others connected to the Planning and Zoning Commission: Scott Fruehauf, Jimmy Hammond, Jeff Ross, and Christine Pyrdom.
Gateway is seeking a broad range of materials, including emails, text messages, voicemails, social media records, photographs, meeting minutes, public complaints, and public comments related to the project.
The request covers records from Nov. 11, 2025, to the present.
A project already under debate
The proposed development has been at the center of months of local debate over zoning, housing density, water availability, fire protection, and the difference between apartments, townhomes, and other forms of attached housing.
Gateway first proposed a 44-unit apartment project behind the Moore County Co-Op. That plan raised questions about whether the parcel’s zoning allowed apartments. The company later returned with a revised plan described as townhomes, but that proposal also stalled after questions regarding how Moore County’s zoning ordinance defines townhomes and whether each unit would need to sit on an individual lot.
The records request appears aimed at how those questions were raised, discussed, and applied inside county government.
What Gateway wants
Among other items, Gateway is requesting communications related to the siting, design, review, approval, or denial of the project. That includes the application, site plan, supporting materials, and any staff or consultant reports or memoranda reviewing the proposal.
Gateway also wants records showing how Moore County officials interpreted key zoning terms, including “townhouse,” “townhome,” “multi-family” and “apartment.”
The request asks for any written interpretations or internal memos on whether Gateway’s proposed units should be treated as townhomes, apartments or a multi-family structure.
Gateway also wants records showing whether county officials required townhomes or attached units to be built on individual lots. That includes records dealing with minimum lot size, a half-acre-per-lot standard, subdivision requirements, and whether those standards were applied, or asserted to apply, to Gateway’s project.
Gateway also asks for Planning Commission agendas, minutes, audio or video recordings, staff reports and communications related to all agenda items considered by the commission from Nov. 11, 2025, to the present.
A separate section seeks similar records for any multifamily, multi-unit, or group housing project discussed or considered by the Planning Commission since June 1, 2023.
Beyond zoning
The request also moves beyond zoning and into one of the project’s most charged public themes: affordability.
Gateway is seeking communications related to the affordability, price point, income level, rental or owner-occupancy status, or anticipated residents of the project. The request specifically includes records referencing “affordable housing,” “Section 8 housing,” “low-income housing,” “subsidized housing,” “public housing” or “workforce housing” in connection with the project.
Gateway also asks for records related to Stanley Fanning, including communications with, from, or about Fanning in connection with the project or the parcel. Fanning owns the land tied to the broader development discussion around the Gateway site.
The final sections of the request seek public comments and complaints from constituents, neighbors, residents, or other members of the public expressing support for or opposition to the project. It also asks for records containing or referencing “affordable housing,” “Section 8 housing,” “Gateway,” “apartments,” “townhomes,” “townhouses” and “Fanning.”
What it signals
A public records request does not allege wrongdoing or settle the zoning dispute. It does, however, show Gateway is looking closely at how the project was reviewed, how similar housing proposals have been handled, and whether Moore County officials applied the zoning ordinance consistently.
For Gateway, the request is a paper trail. For Moore County, it is another sign that the fight over housing, zoning, and growth is not over.