Fans of Mickey D’s: Another Lake Norman McDonald’s may be on the way
McDonald’s fans may get an additional Lake Norman location to order their coffee, Big Macs and Quarter Pounders with Cheese soon.
Officials with McDonald’s USA have filed a request for a special use permit to open a second eastern Lincoln County Mickey D’s near the lake.
The new restaurant would be on 1.36 acres on the east side of N.C. 16 Business, about 500 feet north of the intersection with Fairfield Forest Road in Catawba Springs Township, according to the application to the county.
That’s about 4 1/2 miles north of the McDonald’s at N.C. 16 and N.C. 73 in the Shoppes at Waterside Crossing center.
Fairfield Forest Road leads to Westport, one of the oldest golf course communities on the lake.
A different type of nugget than the famous McDonald’s variety was mined under present-day Westport greens and fairways — the gold kind, now-deceased Lincoln County historian Gaither Shrum told me on the course in 1989.
The special use permit is required because the parcel lies in a protected area of the Catawba River/Lake Norman Water Supply Watershed, according to the county. Stormwater control measures are required to obtain a permit.
I’d be surprised if McDonald’s hadn’t figured such things out tens of thousands of restaurants ago.
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing on the request for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, at the Lincoln County Administration Building, 353 N. Generals Blvd., Lincolnton.
This story was originally published August 17, 2025 at 6:00 AM.