Shelby City Council votes on new housing development

The rezoning for the second phase of a Shelby housing development was narrowly approved by council Monday after the vote resulted in a tie that was broken by the mayor.

The proposed single family home development was rezoned conditional from R20 and will be part of the Rucker Downs' subdivision on Nancy Drive off of East Marion Street near Cleveland Mall. It will consist of a cluster development of a maximum of 213 houses

The rezoning request has drawn criticism from neighbors living in Rucker Downs with concerns over increased traffic, high density housing, quality of the homes planned and destruction of land and wildlife. Many residents signed up to speak against it during Monday's public hearing.

The rezoning request had been brought before council previously but had been tabled following concerns over adequate notice for residents.

Will Rucker, a family member of the property owner, said the land had been farmed by the Ruckers for many years, and eventually, around 30 years ago, they made the decision to cease farming and begin developing portions of the land for residential use. He said Shelby was growing, and there was interest in that area.

Rucker said a lot of planning went into how they could develop the 100 acres of land, and they began the first phase and were very successful.

They were preparing to begin phase two, Rucker said, when North Carolina Department of Transportation decided to build the U.S. 74 Bypass but had no definite route.

"Further development was put on hold, but the property was maintained over the years with the hope and desire to eventually develop the remaining property," Rucker said.

He said Shelby is growing, the bypass route has been determined and the family wants to move forward with their original plans.

He said they selected True Homes as the builder after much thought and glowing recommendations. He said after the plans were presented to City Council the first time, the Ruckers heard the concerns of the residents and the team went back to the planners and design team and made several major concessions. He said they made the lots larger, added a third entrance, moved cluster areas further away from existing homes and doubled the buffer zone to separate the new subdivision from the existing properties.

"As far as the future, Shelby wants to and Shelby needs to grow. The growth needs to be in a controlled and appealing manner that not only attracts new residents, but we need to keep and maintain residents in our city. We have taken into consideration what many homeowners are looking for in today’s market," Rucker said.

He said people are looking for smaller yards that require less maintenance, neighborhoods with sidewalks, walking trails and places to gather.

"This was all put in our plans and our concept," Rucker said. "Today's homeowner is concerned with today’s environment. We dedicated 38% to green space. As you saw from the pictures, this is not going to be a cookie cutter neighborhood."

Delton Barnes, a Shelby attorney who was retained by residents of Nancy Drive in opposition of the rezoning, outlined some of the concerns of the residents.

He referenced Pinnacle Crossing, a subdivision off of South Post Road, and how there are currently 30 homes for sale with approximately 10 more that will be available in the next one to two months.

"That means there is surplus of supply and I don't think the market, there's a demand for these types of homes, that are similar to what's being proposed," Barnes said.

Barnes went on to say that there were 22 complaints against True Homes since 2021 with the Better Business Bureau dealing with the quality and warranty of homes, and the building of the new houses will bring down the property value of current homeowners.

He asked council to do what was right and vote no.

Shaun Gasparini, with True Homes, spoke on behalf of the company and said True Homes built 2,000 houses a year and said only 22 complaints since 2021 was “pretty outstanding.”

He said they are a local company, based in Monroe and only building homes in the Carolinas, and won national homebuilding of the year in 2020.

David White, council member, spoke in support of the rezoning.

He said it's tough for council to make the right decisions for the city and for the people of Shelby.

"For years developers built houses on half acre lots and one acre lots. In the last several years we have had very little development around Shelby, probably last 30 years," White said. "It's because of skyrocketing materials, skyrocketing land, has made it not feasible for a general contactor to make a profit."

He said over the 13 years he has served on council, he has voted on many zoning requests for housing and apartments but very few of them were ever developed until recently.

"If we vote no, we are sending a message to developers we don't want growth in Shelby, we don't want to see Shelby grow up. If we vote yes we are sending the message to the people we want growth," White said.

Emilie Bullock, Charles Webber and Violet Arth voted against rezoning and Andrew Hopper, David White and David Causby voted for it, resulting a tie. Mayor Stan Anthony passed the ordinance with a vote to approve.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Shelby City Council votes on new housing development