Huntersville residents pan, praise planned Birkdale Village expansion
With Huntersville just two weeks from voting on the planned expansion of Birkdale Village, residents both panned and praised the developer’s proposal at Monday night’s town board of commissioners meeting.
Citing public opposition, Birkdale Village developer North American Properties removed a planned hotel and 350 apartments from its rezoning request to expand the long-time mixed-use community at Lake Norman, The Charlotte Observer reported in January.
The developer still proposes a seven-story Class A office-commercial building and 450 parking-deck spaces at the development on Sam Furr Road off Interstate 77 in Huntersville at Exit 25.
The expansion would help address ongoing and future explosive population growth in Huntersville, Tim Perry, managing partner of the developer’s Atlanta office, previously told the Observer.
Huntersville’s 2040 Plan predicts the town population will increase 74% between 2018 and 2040, to 106,567.
At Monday’s board meeting, eight residents spoke against the expansion and five in favor.
“Seems that we’ve gotten caught up in a whirlwind of negativity and against improvements and against advancements in our society,” pro-expansion Birkdale Village resident Stephen Hines said. “I hate to see that happen to Birkdale. I hate to see it stagnate. I hate to see our property values go down.”
Taylor Judge said she considers herself lucky to live beside Birkdale Village as a homeowner in the Greens at Birkdale Village community.
Birkdale Village was the first of its kind at the lake when the development opened in 2003 with chic shops and restaurants and studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes.
“I’ve seen the equity of my home almost double in nearly two-and-a-half years,” Judge said. “The updates at Birkdale have played a big part in that. I am in favor of the other updates planned and have friends who live in Charlotte that are dying to move to the area.”
Sheila Wilson, also a homeowner in the Greens at Birkdale Village, said she’s a “superuser” of Birkdale Village who supports the expansion.
“I don’t want this area to be passed by,” she said. “I want to see continued growth and prosperity. I want my property value to continue to be strengthened and sustained by the vitality and viability of the Village.”
Eight residents urged commissioners to deny the request, including several who’ve addressed the board at previous meetings.
“We’ve witnessed first-hand the carnage NAP has wreaked on traffic, parking, aesthetics,” resident Suzanne Villar said.
Brian Rice and other residents noted how the Huntersville Planning Board and town planning staff recommended commissioners deny the request.
“They have not demonstrated to this point in time that they can even effectively deal with small contracts,” Lake Norman developer Nick O’Shaughnessy of Huntersville said about North American Properties. “We’ve got construction contracts, we’ve got unfinished buildings and we’ve got upfits that seem to be taking a lot longer than an upfit would normally take.”
Proposed buildings are disproportionate and out of character with neighboring developments, residents said, and, as O’Shaughnessy asserted, “disrespectful” of neighboring businesses
Commissioners plan to vote on the North American Properties rezoning request at their next regular meeting, 6 p.m. March 20 at Town Hall, 101 Huntersville-Concord Road.
The Kilted Buffalo reopens
The Kilted Buffalo pub in Huntersville’s Birkdale Village reopened Thursday night, March 2, after a more than month-long renovation.
The pub has a temporary entrance until the owner of the longtime mixed-used community installs a water line that “has our whole corner tore up,” management posted on Facebook.
Temporary hours are 5 p.m.-midnight weekdays and 2 p.m.-1:30 a.m. weekends. Because of the ACC college basketball tournament, the pub opens this week at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, 1 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday and Sunday.
The pub plans to have its patio rebuilt and open by St Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17.
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 8:00 AM.