Huntersville delays decision on massive $800M development after substantial changes
Huntersville Town Board members voted Monday to delay a decision on a massive mixed-use community after a developer made substantial changes to the proposed $800 million project following months of criticism.
The vote came after developer Jake Palillo said he had renamed the community originally dubbed Lagoona Bay Beach Club as “Waterside,” WSOC reported.
The rebrand also comes with other changes, including the addition of man-made ponds and mini lakes and 90 single-family homes that will replace townhomes, which were in the original plan. Palillo also said there are no longer plans to build 212 condos or living options above restaurant and retail space.
Palillo said he cut the number of homes from 1,182 to 692 and the size of his recreational lagoon from 10 to 8 acres. He removed “all highway commercial” from his plans, “and the 412 condos are gone.”
“Everything else within the Beach club will be staying the same,” Palillo said on Facebook in early July. “We will have 227 single-family and 65 villa/patio homes.”
Palillo scaled down plans for the community earlier this month, nixing a 200-room hotel, 36,000-square-foot convention center, restaurants and other businesses, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Palillo told the Observer he cut back on the project “because the town board felt it was too much.”
“It’s not a ‘great project’ anymore, but it’s still a really good one,” Palillo said.
By a 6-2 vote in June, the Huntersville Planning Board urged the town’s Board of Commissioners to reject the rezoning request for the project, saying it would create more traffic on N.C. 73 and would be “a total transformation from a rural corridor into a fully intensified one.”
“It doesn’t fit the character of the area,” board member Trina Loomis said during the meeting. “It’s too big.”
Monday’s delay on the decision came after 12 Huntersville residents spoke over a span of about 40 minutes during the public comment portion of the meeting, urging board members to reject the proposed development.
“I and every citizen of Huntersville, right now we’ve all got red flags,” one resident said. “If I had flags to hand out, we’d have a lot of red flags being waved.”
The project now will go through another public hearing and evaluation by the town’s planning board. No timetable has been set for when a new vote will be scheduled.
The Observer’s Jodie Valade contributed to this story.
This story was originally published July 17, 2023 at 9:24 PM.
