Lake Norman Publications

Planning board recommends proposed St. James subdivision





LINCOLNTON – The Lincoln County Planning Board voted to recommend a subdivision planned to be located off Saint James Church Road at its joint meeting with the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on May 1.  

Meritage Homes of the Carolinas, Inc. made a request to rezone 58.5 acres to allow for a subdivision of up to 152 single-family homes. The property is on the west side of Saint James Church Road and the north side of Verdict Ridge Drive.

Robert Davis, representing the developer, said they had met with the board members of the Verdict Ridge Homeowners Association to discuss some of the possible concerns associated with its proximity to the already existing neighborhood and golf course.

“We’ve basically agreed to an agreement to meet or exceed the architectural standards, to address stormwater runoff, to make sure that we address the berm on Verdict Ridge Drive and all the things they have asked,” he said.

Some of the other items in the agreement, which has not yet been formalized, included restricting roadway parking as well as siding and fencing materials and requiring the homes that back up to Verdict Ridge to abide by the neighborhood’s HOA guidelines for yards, said Bruce Muir, president of the Verdict Ridge HOA.

“I think I would be doing our neighbors a disservice to say that we certainly would love to see no growth around our development at all, but considering the fact that we enjoy it there so much, we know it’s coming,” Muir said, “so we just hope that what’s developed around us is (up to our standards).”

Some residents of Saint James Church Road also spoke at the public hearing to express concerns over traffic and the potential for accidents.

“The speed limit on Saint James Church Road on one part says 35. The other area says 45. Confusing, right?” Linda Cook, who lives on the road, told commissioners and the planning board. “The average speed on Saint James Church Road is about 55-60 miles an hour, and it’s a shame.”

The subdivision is planned to be age-targeted, and these types of neighborhoods tend to produce fewer peak hour trips, said Peter Tatge with the engineering and design firm ESP Associates.

A traffic impact analysis was done, and one of the recommendations includes adding a left-turn lane to the proposed primary entrance of the subdivision on Saint James Church Road. The developer will also contribute $100,000 to help improve the intersections of Optimist Club Road and N.C. 16 and Optimist Club Road and St. James Church Road.

The planning board voted 6-1 to recommend the subdivision for approval with planning board member Keith Johnson casting the dissenting vote.

Commissioners and the planning board also heard a request by Red Apple Development, LLC to amend the county’s unified development ordinance (UDO) to allow elementary and secondary schools to be located in neighborhood business and general business districts. The UDO currently allows elementary and secondary schools only to be in the county’s main residential districts while other facilities serving children, such as daycare centers and preschools, are allowed in business districts.

Red Apple Development is working with Westlake Preparatory Academy, the proposed charter school that could come to east Lincoln if it gets approval from the State Board of Education, to secure a site for a school.

Commissioners and planning board members seemed skeptical of the need to change the UDO rather than looking at a conditional-use permit for specific cases.

Lincoln County Planning Director Andrew Bryant said planning had discussed the possibility of addressing the issue through conditional-use permits but that staff looked more at the impact schools would have on the area.

“Schools in their essence, whether they’re elementary or secondary, the impacts they have on the community, are they more residential in nature or more commercial in nature?” Bryant said. “And that’s how we started to frame this conversation. It’s more of a big picture of ‘Does it actually fit in a business zone?’”

Nick Diamond, a broker with Red Apple, said changing trends led the company to request an amendment.

“Schools have changed over the years,” he said. “It used to be that it was only public schools that were put in sort of residential neighborhoods. Now the trend is they’re kind of getting out of neighborhoods and going to more commercial-type business environments. That’s where they fit best.”

The planning board voted 7-0 to recommend a revised proposal that would allow elementary schools in neighborhood business and general business districts with a conditional-use permit.

The commissioners will vote on the planning board recommendations at their next meeting on May 15.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *