Huntersville approves 395-home subdivision

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HUNTERSVILLE – A long-planned community of nearly 400 homes got the go-ahead on Monday night from the Town Board of Commissioners in a unanimous vote.

The board held a public hearing May 19 to discuss a request made by Bowman Development Group to rezone 212.60 acres from a combination neighborhood residential conditional and transitional residential to a unified neighborhood residential conditional district.

Bowman is looking to create a 395-lot single-family subdivision on land south of Ramah Church Road, east of Fred Brown Road and north of Huntersville-Concord Road. Bowman is acting as the broker for the proposed development, which will be called Walden. AVH Carolinas LLC, a division of Arizona-based AV Homes, will build the subdivision.

In 2007, the board rezoned 190 acres of the same property to neighborhood residential. At the time, Toll Brothers luxury homebuilders were proposing to build a project that called for 241 lots on 187 acres, but ultimately the project languished as the builder did not exercise its option to develop the subdivision.

Bowman is looking to add 23 acres of adjoining land to most of the old acreage for the new development.

Walden’s proposed density, at 1.9 units per acre, is lower than that at adjoining subdivisions, including Centennial with 2.60 units per acre and Bellington with 2.42 units per acre. The lots at Walden would also be wider, at 60 feet to 70 feet wide. The planning staff, however, had some reservations about whether the lot sizes would encourage a mix of housing types suitable to all income levels.

Other concerns from the staff report regarded the connectivity of greenways to each other and a nearby school that has not yet been built.

The staff found the overall site plan compliant with the city’s ordinance and subdivision regulations in providing greater tree preservation than required, with the dedication of a “significant amount of land” for open space as well as proposed 40-foot wide greenway easements. Public utility hookups are readily available with extensions.

The Huntersville Planning Board had voted against the rezoning last week, 6-1, based on “an incomplete traffic impact analysis,” said David Peete, the town’s principal planner.

Subsequent to the Planning Board decision, the developer offered to make adjustments in order to satisfy Huntersville’s requirements, including adding turn lanes at three different intersections outside of the proposed development. Robert Bowman told town commissioners that in doing so, the developer was committing to $3 million of improvements that would help alleviate traffic congestion.

Two more conditions attached to the approval of the project were an extension of a roadway to the eastern most point of the property line and either the acquisition of a land wedge to complete the greenway or a work-around of that small parcel of property.

At the meeting, the board voted unanimously in support of the rezoning as well as the proposed sketch plan.

In other business, the board approved a plan submitted by Merrifield Partners to develop a commercial site known as 77 Huntersville Professional.

The project, in a corridor between Interstate 77 and U.S. Highway 21, involves the creation of eight new lots on 12.42 acres.

At a meeting in April, attorney Susan Irvin, representing Merrifield, told the Planning Board that the development calls for a 90,000-square-foot mix of general business and medical office buildings. The developer had already received a commitment from Charlotte Eye Ear Nose and Throat Associates to purchase a 3-acre portion of the lot for a 35,000-square-foot medical building.

Irvin said she had met with local residents at the neighboring Hamptons subdivision to address concerns about the removal of trees, stormwater drainage and the need for a traffic light at the site.

To mitigate neighborhood concerns, the developer had agreed to plant only hardwood elms and oaks on the property and move the buildings back 25 feet from the right of way. Merrifield would provide a bench for bus riders and promised to escrow funds for the creation of bike lanes.

Still, reaction from neighbors was mixed. One resident from the Hamptons subdivision said that if the project were to be approved, traffic at the intersection would become treacherous.

“Tax revenue does not justify compromising safety,” he said.

Another resident felt that the project was the best outcome that could be expected, given that the raw land would be developed at some point.