Residents pan Lake Norman developer’s planned ‘English countryside’ inn and spa
Saying enough is enough, residents at Monday night’s Cornelius Board of Commissioners’ meeting panned a Lake Norman developer’s proposed $20 million plan for a 45-room inn with a spa and rental cottages.
“We’re just creating a traffic nightmare,” said Robyn Hahn, one of 13 residents to speak at a public hearing on Jake Palillo’s rezoning request for the project. “Let’s keep some of the land for the animals and the people to enjoy.”
All 13 spoke against the project, which next goes before the Cornelius Planning Board for a recommendation in June or July, Cornelius Assistant Planning Director David Cole said. The Board of Commissioners will have the final say at a meeting in late summer, Cole said.
Hotel would be in ‘an emerging corridor,’ planner says
Cole laid out the proposal to the board before the developer’s son, also named Jake Palillo, briefly touted the project and commissioners opened the hearing to the public.
Sam Furr Road Inn would be a two-story, 45,000-square-foot “boutique-style” hotel, with up to 10 rental cottages flanking a courtyard behind the inn, Cole said.
Located at Sam Furr Road and Mayes Road, the hotel would have an “English countryside look to blend in with the rural character” of its surroundings, Cole said. The developer also proposes “high-quality landscaping,” he said.
Cole described the area of the proposed hotel as an “emerging corridor” where Sam Furr Road will be four-lanes and other developments are sprouting. Approved projects include a 31-home subdivision across Sam Furr Road from the hotel site and 260- and 303-home subdivisions nearby, according to a map Cole showed at the meeting.
Planning staff would like to see as much vegetation as possible on the project boundaries and a plan for bicyclist-pedestrian paths along Mayes Road, he said.
Traffic, safety concerns
Commissioner Colin Furcht questioned whether a hotel is the right fit for the 6.3 acres, especially one that sees itself as being in a rural area.
“There’s going to be a four-lane highway,” he said. “I don’t know that I’d want to be on a major road.” He suggested the developer find a location “less in the middle of the mess.”
“Think safety first,” Davidson resident Doreen Anding said. “This is the wrong place for this project.”
She also said she’s from England, and the proposed hotel “is not an English countryside inn.”
A petition against the project has drawn 757 signatures.
Palillo said the inn would be a first for the area. “They’re calling it a hotel,” he said, referring to opponents. “But it’s really more of an inn, a bed and breakfast, for an overnight stay.”
At an April 7 community meeting required by the Board of Commissioners, Palillo’s dad said the hotel would resemble “an old English country inn” and “a really big grand home” with stone. Nightly room rentals would range from near $300 to near $400, he said.
“There really isn’t a nice place to stay” north of Charlotte like his planned inn, he said.
Facing a similarly hostile crowd that night, Palillo said he lives on Black Farms Road in Huntersville near the project and wants only the best in his developments.
“Every project I’ve done is a major quality-of-life” development, he said.
Palillo last made headlines in 2023 with his ill-fated, $800 million Lagoona Bay development off Interstate 77 exit 25 in Huntersville.
The project, east of the interstate on Sam Furr Road, called for a 40-acre “modern lifestyle beach resort” with a 10-acre freshwater lagoon, within a 270-acre residential development. Palillo pulled the plans after intense public opposition.
Under the zoning of the proposed hotel site, Palillo said, he could build a large home and rent its 10 to 12 rooms, weekly or monthly. He could put a bed and breakfast there, or a pig farm without having to seek a rezoning, he said.
Palillo said he’ll put something on the land regardless of opposition.
“I’m not going to sit on a piece of property,” he said.
