Town removing trees

MOORESVILLE The town expects to finish replacing an aging and potentially dangerous downtown tree canopy by early March.

Mooresville and its beautification committee began removing Bradford pear trees along Broad Street last week.

First planted in the early 1990s, the trees have become a safety hazard, Town Manager Steve Husemann said.

Although they're among the most popular landscape trees in the Southeast, Bradford pears have a weak limb structure and vigorous growth, Husemann said. After about 20 years, the trees become hazardous during storms and break easily, he said.

A motorist told the Observer that a Bradford pear toppled onto his van as he drove through downtown Mooresville Sept. 11.

"My van was going 30 mph, and it totaled my van, with me in it," Stephen Horney of Mocksville said in an e-mail. He said the collision hurt his back. The tree fell on a "clear, wind-free day," Horney said.

Horney's claim for damages with the town was later denied by Michigan-based Midwest Claims Service, the claim administrator for the company that provides the town's insurance coverage. He said the 2007 Chevy Express sustained $16,000 in damages.

Midwest Claims found that the town had no prior notice of the defective condition of the tree and that a tree branch fell onto the van due to "natural occurrences" the town had no control over, according to the company's denial letter to Horney.

The town is replacing the trees with autumnalis cherry trees and zelkova (Green Vase) trees, said Bennett Brown, Mooresville building and grounds superintendent.

Replacement trees will be in honor or memory of the same loved ones as the Bradford Pears, said Angela Greene, chairperson of the beautification committee.

Decision on Cornelius project expected Feb. 1

CORNELIUS The Cornelius Board of Commissioners is expected to decide Feb. 1 on a Huntersville developer's plans for three commercial-residential buildings at West Catawba Avenue and Edinburgh Square Drive.

White Oak Group LLC sought zoning approval at last week's commissioners meeting. The commissioners delayed a decision so they could have more time to consider the project, called Fountain Court at Edinburgh Square.

Commissioners Dave Gilroy and Lynette Rinker questioned the appropriateness of residential balconies facing the town's main thoroughfare, West Catawba Avenue.

The buildings would have a total of about 15,000 square feet of first-floor retail-commercial space and 18 residential loft townhomes above.

The Feb. 1 meeting will be at 7 p.m. at town hall.

Cornelius board to discuss banner signage

CORNELIUS The Cornelius Board of Commissioners will discuss banner signage, business signs in general and the town's sign ordinance at a special meeting at 8 a.m. Monday at Acropolis Restaurant, 20659 Catawba Ave.

"Although my comments will generate a few phone calls, I must tell you that several board members are not happy with where this is going," commissioner Jim Bensman said of the banner issue in his Jan. 16 e-mail newsletter.

The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce is pushing to allow banners for six months per business with a $100 fee, Bensman said . But that could result in "an extreme amount of clutter and can make our town look even worse than it does with all of the signs scattered about now," he wrote.

"We are talking about an intensive review and upgrade of the sign ordinance, including the addition of wayfinding signs and the elimination of some outdated regulations," he said.