Sink it. Lake Norman developer’s $800M project is too massive, Planning Board votes
A Lake Norman developer’s planned $800 million mixed-use community in Huntersville is too massive and should be denied, the Huntersville Planning Board recommended late Tuesday.
Developer Jake Palillo’s planned 270-acre residential development off exit 25 of Interstate 77 is out of character with the area and would further burden already packed roads, the board agreed by a vote of 6 to 2.
The development would be “a total transformation from a rural corridor into a fully intensified one,” board member Stephen Swanick said in recommending the rezoning be denied. “This is a total revolutionary departure from the 2040 plan,” he said, referring to Huntersville’s long-term growth and development plan.
“It doesn’t fit the character of the area,” board member Trina Loomis said. “It’s too big.”
The vote followed remarks by five residents who urged the board to recommend the project be rejected.
“Let someone build something nice in there,” resident Bob Baer said. “Don’t let them build a circus.”
“We want to realize the results of a Huntersville that’s a great place to live, work and play,” resident Suzanne Villar said. “Please reject this proposal.”
The board is an advisory panel. Final say on Palillo’s rezoning request lies with the Huntersville Board of Commissioners, which has scheduled a vote for July 17.
The development would feature a 40-acre “modern lifestyle beach resort” called Lagoona Bay Beach Club and its 10-acre freshwater lagoon, Palillo has said.
The club would be in a community with 250 custom, single-family homes. Other properties in the development would house 320 luxury apartments, 200 townhomes and 412 luxury condos, according to the developer’s plans.
A 200-room hotel, a 36,000-square-foot convention center and 210,000 square feet of retail space also are proposed.
The tract is more than five times the size of Huntersville’s iconic Birkdale Village mixed-use community off the other side of the exit. It’s the last large tract along N.C. 73 (Sam Furr Road) in Huntersville that can be developed, Palillo told the Planning Board.
“It’s like Birkdale Village but with added amenities,” Palillo said. “It’s a more modern style of Birkdale. The European feel with big plazas that include water features and large food halls. These young chefs can go in” and make their specialties.
“Beach club, sand, everybody loves,” he said. “They’re up and coming, like golf courses you saw spring up.”
And Lagoona Bay Beach Club will include a trolley system, he said, and create $800 million in property-tax values.”
The development would be east of exit 25 along N.C. 73/Sam Furr Road, Westmoreland Road, Black Farms Road and McCord Road, town planning documents show.
The project has faced intense public criticism at town board meetings in recent months and most recently at a June 20 public hearing.
“I am horrified this would even be considered,” resident Violet Clarke said at the hearing called by the Huntersville Board of Commissioners. “The traffic will affect all of us, everybody in the area. We will be sitting in gridlock due to this nightmare.”
At the hearing, Palillo said his development team has responded to 56 issues raised by Huntersville planning staff. As a result, plans now include such additions as traffic calming areas, berms, larger courtyards, more open space, an additional sidewalk, and, along the perimeter, 6-foot-tall landscaped fences, he said.
Tuesday night, Palillo told the Planning Board he would double the amount of vegetative buffer along the property that’s required by the town, to 40 feet.
“You can drive 5 hours to the beach or 20 minutes to here for the same experience,” he said. “We think it’s a great project. My family lives next door to it.”
The commissioners’ July 17 vote is set for 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 101 Huntersville-Concord Road.
