Cornelius approves Bailey’s Glen II rezoning

CORNELIUS – The age-restricted Bailey’s Glen subdivision in Cornelius may soon have a neighboring age-restricted subdivision named Bailey’s Glen II, formerly known as Barnhardt.

The Cornelius Board of Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a rezoning request that will allow Bluestream Partners LLC to build 76 single-family homes on about 58 acres near its existing Bailey’s Glen subdivision. The decision was preceded by a public hearing.

Bluestream Partners requested that the property be rezoned from rural preservation to rural preservation conditional, which is required by the town for all subdivisions with more than 30 lots within the Rural Preservation Zoning District.

Although rural preservation limits housing density to one house per three acres, Planning Director Wayne Herron said Bluestream Partners’ plan is similar to a conservation subdivision, which allows for higher density housing, as long as between 30 percent and 50 percent of the land remains open space. The Bailey’s Glen II subdivision sketch plan shows 57 percent of the site being designated as open space.

Cornelius also adopted a new land-use plan last year, which guides decisions related to land-use patterns, and 48 acres of the Bailey’s Glen II site is categorized low-density single-family with a recommended density of between 0.5 to two houses per acre. Bluestream Partners’ plan has a density of 1.34 houses per acre.

The houses in Bailey’s Glen II will resemble those built in Bailey’s Glen, ranging from 2,100 to 3,300 square feet and priced from the upper $300,000s to the upper $400,000s. The lots will be 60 feet wide and 135 feet deep, and residents will have access to a clubhouse and a community swimming pool, according to Jake Palillo of Bluestream Partners.

The rezoning was approved under the condition that he reduce by three the number of lots on the southwest portion of the site, which straddles an extension of Bailey Road that runs north off Barnhardt Road. Herron said that the removal of the lots was meant to ensure the subdivision matched the surrounding rural area on the southern end, a concern that residents brought to the board during the public hearing.

Bluestream Partners purchased the Bailey’s Glen II site and extended Bailey Road in exchange for the town’s approval of the existing Bailey’s Glen subdivision.

The board did, however, give Bluestream Partners permission to add an additional lot on the northern part of the property to make up for the three lots that were removed. Bluestream Partners’ rezoning application requested 78 lots; the reduction of the three lots on the southern end, plus the addition of one lot on the northern end, brought the approved lot count to 76.

The town’s planning staff recommended several other conditions as well, most notably that Bluestream Partners must seek voluntarily annexation of the land into Cornelius prior to the first final plat being recorded.