May 8. By Dave Yochum. The Cornelius Planning Board last night recommended approval of the Cornelius Business Park in a near-unanimous vote. Developer Drew Thigpen of Greenberg Gibbons Properties said he was “extremely excited” by the Planning Board’s 7-1 thumbs-up.
“It’s really encouraging to see a group of leaders take such an important step towards delivering this business park to Cornelius,” he said, noting that the project conforms with the underlying land use.
Drew Thigpen
Thigpen agreed with nearby Bailey’s Glen residents about traffic problems, but explained that his new business park would help solve them.
Quotable
“It delivers much-needed transportation infrastructure relief to Bailey Road, and it provides premier space for local businesses in Cornelius,” Thigpen said, alluding to the potential for 150-plus new jobs.
Background
It was a case of deja vu all over again.
Two years ago Greenberg Gibbons withdrew similar plans for a larger small business complex in the face of vigorous opposition.
Bailey Road is treacherous when Bailey Middle and Hough High students are arriving and departing; a number of new residential neighborhoods, including Bailey’s Glen, are farther east, as well as access to River Run in Davidson and a new Publix shopping center on Hwy. 73
“We’re grateful for Planning Board’s support, and we look forward to working with the town as we continue to with this rezoning effort,” Thigpen said.
Thigpen’s four-building plan includes a new left-hand turn lane from Bailey Road heading west to Hwy. 115 south, where the back-ups are routinely dozens of cars deep.
The planning board approval—a recommendation, really–now goes to the town board for a public hearing and decision, most likely in June or July.
The Town Board can agree, or deny the rezoning despite the planning board’s recommendation.
Go deeper
Thigpen has previously stated that the 36-acre parcel is not likely to remain in the rural preservation zoning class because it will be sold at some time in the future. In fact, he said a much larger project would be likely to happen if his plans are ulltimatelly denied.
He said “fear of our development is being weaponized so that a larger project can be built in its place. I’m not the enemy.”
Thigpen’s younger sister said what a great role model her brother was during the public comment period.
In fact, Thigpen seemed to win over the crowd when he said town planners wanted an even larger project to go into this area. He read verbatim from page 14 of their written report:
While the proposed flex space use is recommended as a potential primary land use in the Business Campus area, staff finds the relatively small unit footprints, proposed service tenant mix, and overall scale of the development to be inconsistent with the vision for this area of creating a cohesive employment-generating center. The amount of undeveloped adjacent land, proposed transportation and utility infrastructure, and similar features in the vicinity make this property viable for a larger-scale project.
I’m glad the planning board approved this. It is the right thing to do for the Town and for the Hunter family whose property has been held hostage by zoning issues. Hopefully, the Town Board will have the courage to approve it as well.
Posted by David Judge | May 8, 2025, 12:23 pmI cannot agree that this is a positive thing. Do you live in that area and can make that statement to show approval when it isn’t affecting you?
I am very sorry to all of you living in the Bailey Road area that will be negatively impacted by this town’s decision to back this project.
Posted by Disgusted | May 8, 2025, 2:24 pmI live off Bailey Road and am optimistic about this project. Funding a 3rd lane on Westbound Bailey Road at 115 for a left turn lane adds enormous value for all drivers over here. And adding commercial building to our heavily-residential property tax base is good for all. The parking may add benefit as weekend overflow for all the soccer games at Bailey Road park as well.
Posted by CT | May 8, 2025, 3:28 pmPlease upgrade roads before all these buildings.
Posted by Jon | May 8, 2025, 5:41 pmA few observations from the Planning Board meeting
– GGP is not the only entity that can fix the intersection of Bailey Rd and Hwy 115. The Town should use some of the millions of dollars it has in the general fund for road improvement and take immediate action.
– Safety is the number one issue, again this is a town responsibility, let’s not cede it to a developer
– Voters approved Park Bonds for land acquisition, let’s use some of the funds to acquire the 36 acre Hunter Property
– The Planning Dept and Planning Board as well as The Town Board should have great communication…. no surprise 200 acre plan.
– The Land Use Plan should be revisited for the Bailey Rd corridor. Local citizen issues are real and should not be dismissed as NIMBY
Posted by Denis Bilodeau | May 8, 2025, 9:15 pmThank you, Denis. EXTREMELY disappointing to see the Planning Board, who voted against this in 2023, now seems to be embracing this scream to win approval without regard to all the negatives.
Posted by Deb Coppa | May 8, 2025, 11:33 pmThank you Dennis Bilodeau for these observations! Sadly, the Land Use Plan approved “Business Campus” in 2023. All of those properties add up to over 200 acres, so, yes, that Land Use Plan should be revised to acknowledge the lack of adequate transportation access to support it and the nearby schools, neighborhood and park. The required road improvements (roundabout and 400′ left turn lane) only keep their hundreds of vehicle trips from further deteriorating the intersection. What happens when this project and its newly named “Zion Avenue” road open the door to the rest of that 200+ acres of development? That little roundabout and left turn lane will be overwhelmed with thousands, not hundreds, of vehicle trips. This developer (and many others) continue to use the old “something worse” will be there if they don’t get to build their light industrial complex. Under the current zoning it is only a few homes with low traffic count. The Town needs to get its act together, once this short-sighted project is denied, and purchase the land from the property owner. It would set in place an actual vision, proactively (instead of reactively) that meets Town needs – not those of this out-of-state developer and Chamber’s “build at any cost” faction.
Posted by Anonymous | May 9, 2025, 7:59 am