Development Activity

A total of 38 board action cases that went before the Planning & Zoning Commission in 2022 were ultimately approved. This was a decrease in the number of cases approved the previous year, following a rebound in 2021 that ended a three-year decline exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.  As shown in the following chart, there were 30 approved zoning map amendments.  This was the same number approved the previous year, matching the highest number of rezonings in a single calendar year over the past 16 years.  This can be attributed in part to nine residential rezoning cases, which was a five-year high, after eight were approved in 2021.  In addition, there has been a multiyear effort following adoption of the updated Development Ordinance in 2017 to remove improper or obsolete zoning districts that were out of sync with existing land uses and land use policy, which accounted for five of the rezoning cases.  The overall decrease in cases in 2022 can be attributed to small decreases in the number of approved special use permits, land use plan amendments, and street abandonments, while the number of text amendments stayed the same, although these were generally in line with a typical year.

Dev Activity - Board Action Cases

Although the number of rezoning cases stayed the same as the previous year, as shown in the following chart, the total acreage approved for rezoning increased in 2022. This was mostly due to a large uptick in the amount of non-residential development. This category more than tripled compared to 2021 largely becase of a large industrial project in the southwest corner of the city that accounted for almost half of the total. There were also large rezonings in north High Point that resulted in another 145 acres of non-residential development.  While the amount of residential acreage decreased, it was still a larger than usual amount with more than in any of the past five years except 2021.  As has been the case in recent years, there was a smaller amount of institutional zoning and no mixed-use zoning approved.  It should be noted that these numbers do not include the acreage rezoned as part of the previously mentioned comprehensive zoning map amendment effort, which rezoned approximately 550 acres across a vareity of use categories in 2022.  It also does not include a major change to the Airport Overlay District, which rezoned over 5,500 acres, mostly to remove areas from the district, or zoning map amendment cases that resulted in minor changes to previously approved conditions that did not fundamentally alter the allowed uses of a property.

Dev Activity - Acreage Rezoned chart
Dev Activity - Acreage Rezoned table

A good indicator of the amount of development occurring in the city is the number of final plats, site plans and group developments approved that resulted in new residential lots/units or additional building square footage.  The table below shows the types of major projects approved over the past three years by land use category.  In 2022, the total number of approved land development projects was the same as the previous year.  However, the number of new residential lots and units approved, including detached single-family homes, attached single-family townhomes, and multi-family apartments declined slightly compared to the previous year.  It was still the second highest total since before the Great Recession, trailing only 2021, and included the largest combined number of attached single-family and multi-family residential lots/unit approved in over 15 years.

Dev Activity - Dev Approvals table

In addition, the overall square footage of non-residential development approved in 2022 skyrocketed compared to last year's total to over two million square feet, the highest total in more than 15 years.  As shown in the following chart, this was largely due to the amount of industrial square footage approved, although there were also increases in all the other use categories, except mixed-use development. There has been a big rebound over the past three years back to a level comparable to 2018, a year that saw a greater than normal amount of institutional square footage approved due to High Point University's Qubein Arena and Conference Center.  The primary reason for the jump in industrial square footage in 2022 was approval of a one million square foot EcoLab warehouse facility in north High Point.  In addition, there were three other 100,000+ square foot industrial projects approved in 2022.  

Also of note in 2022 was the approval of Panther Commons, a five-story 170,000+ square foot multi-use facility on the campus of High Point University with over 200 dorm rooms and plans for retail on the ground floor.  Although this type of building has the components typically associated with the Mixed Use category, it is considered Institutional because all the uses are associated with the university.  This type of mixed-use building, but with offices on the upper floors and commercial on the ground floor, has also become increasingly popular in the area around Truist Point stadium with projects such as Congdon Yards opening in 2021 and The Bedrock Building in the summer of 2022.   However, these projects were also not counted in the Mixed Use category because they do not have a residential component.

Dev Activity - Non-res sq ft

For more information about land development activity that has occurred in the city, click on the image below to launch an interactive dashboard that shows the locations of all the approved site plans, subdivision plats, and group development projects that have been submitted since August 2015, when the City switched to an online application submittal and review system known as Accela.

Dev Activity - Land Dev Dashboard

There is also an interactive dashboard available for building permit activity, which can be accessed by clicking on the image below. It displays the location of permits on a map after selecting the type of permit(s), which can then be filtered by record status and/or by the dates when a permit was opened, issued or closed.  Specific information about each permit is available by clicking on a colored dot to open a pop-up box.  The dashboard also provides data about the total number and value of permits based on the filtered parameters. It shows that in 2022 there were 4,516 permits issued representing over $501 million in total value. This compares to 4,339 permits issued and $261 million in total value in 2021.

Dev Activity - Permit Dashboard
Additional Resources:
  • Board of Adjustment: agendas provide additional information about cases, including the name of the applicant, location, description of proposal, and staff report
  • BuildHighPoint.com: website that serves as the City's one source development guide to help navigate the process for developing and building in High Point
  • Historic Preservation Commission: agendas provide information about design review of properties within the City's local historic districts
  • Public Records Search: allows a user to request public records via an online request