Huntersville pans developer’s plan for hundreds of Lake Norman-area apartments
Huntersville planners criticized a local developer’s $74 million plan for hundreds of apartments near a busy Lake Norman-area intersection Tuesday night.
Alex Yards would include 325 apartments in 10 buildings on the east side of Mount Holly-Huntersville Road, just north of Alexandriana Road, but no retail or commercial space, according to the developer’s rezoning application.
Huntersville-based Alexandriana Partners LLC wants to rezone the 11.34 acres from corporate business to transit-oriented development — residential.
The Huntersville Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on the request Tuesday night but won’t vote until June 17. The Huntersville Planning Board, which makes recommendations to the Town Board, is scheduled to consider the request on May 27.
Town planners recommended denial Tuesday night.
Transit-oriented developments typically include “a rich mix of retail, restaurant, service and small employment uses within a pedestrian village format,” according to a town planning staff report presented at Tuesday’s meeting.
Only apartment buildings are proposed, the report states.
Huntersville’s land use map for future development designates the site as an employment center, not for housing, Huntersville principal planner Jesse James told the board.
And transit-oriented developments should be within a 10-minute walk of a rapid transit station, James said. The closest Charlotte Area Transit System park-and-ride station to Alex Yards is a half-mile away, he said.
Plus, “there is no safe way to walk from this location,” which lacks sidewalks and paths, according to the planning staff report.
Although the developer proposes a central green with pedestrian paths, the developer’s plan falls considerably short of the town’s tree save requirement, James said. The town requires at least 30% of trees to be saved, and the developer’s plan would preserve only 3% of the trees on the property, he said.
Developer defends project
Alex Yards would be an attractive addition to the town, with “exceptional design that you would be challenged to find anywhere else in Huntersville,” Davidson developer Scott Thorson told the commissioners.
Perched near an intersection that serves as “the southern gateway” to town, Alex Yards would include a “Welcome to Huntersville” monumental sign visible to drivers, Thorson said.
The planned development is perfect for a site just minutes from Interstates 77, 85 and 485, he said. He also said the site is less than a 10-minute walk from the nearest CATS station, although he didn’t address the lack of sidewalks to get there.
He said a “large central green” area would tie to a pool, clubhouse and other planned amenities. “Think of it as an old English gaming yard, a mini-park right outside their front doors,” Thorson said. “Kind of an active area.”
A 10-foot-wide multi-use path would ring the community, he said. The site also borders 27 wooded acres where Mecklenburg County plans to build a park, he said.
The southern part of the development would be “a little quieter — garden yards, fire pits, curved linear paths, plantings,” Thorson said.
The project also would be built “solar ready,” meaning able to accommodate solar panels on homes and other buildings someday, he said.
Regarding the lack of trees, he said, “it’s a small site,” and having to move a building to save more trees would harm the project’s economic viability. He said he would try to find other areas of town to plant trees that would be removed.
Thorson said he’s willing to work with the town and contribute some of the funding needed to build a multi-use path or sidewalks to the CATS station.
At least five residents spoke in favor of the project and none against. They said the development would provide relatively affordable housing in a town that sorely needs it and more green space.
