Aug. 11. By Dave Yochum. Members of the Cornelius Town Board are saying privately that Greenway Gartens, in its current form, is not going to happen any time soon. Greenway Gartens and the nearby Caroline project would bring more than 800 apartment units, 50 townhomes and 117,000 square feet of commercial space in 10 buildings to an area along the Antiquity Greenway between Zion Avenue and South Street.

Hinting at the size of the new developments, Antiquity residents said the two mixed-use projects would have 1,700 parking spaces.

Background

This all began as a proposal by Olde Mecklenburg Brewery for a simple brewery and beer garden in 2017—and grew from there. OMB would have gone into the old Curtis Screw factory at the isolated northern end of the 25 acre site. The project grew and morphed, with Charlotte developer Proffitt Dixon wanting to build multi-family and commercial on 16 adjoining acres.

The projects would transform that part of Cornelius that is adjacent to Antiquity and Davidson.

Antiquity resident Ginger Knudson said the neighborhood has four key concerns: Density, traffic, deforestation and noise. “It’s too much and it just doesn’t fit this community,” she said.

‘Untenable’

As it stands now, all five commissioners find the project “untenable,” according to one source in town government.

Both projects would require rezoning which is where local politics and the voice of residents meet.

CARD

Residents, meanwhile, are actively organizing to fight the development and preserve a tree-line and buffer along the greenway. They formed Citizens Advocating Responsible Development (CARD) and held a candidates forum outdoors last night, having held two previous forums for incumbents.

Building moratorium proposed

One of the nine candidates for Town Board, Michael Osborne, said he is in favor of a six-month building moratorium. He is a former member of the Planning Board.

Dave Gilroy, a veteran former town commissioner who lost re-election in 2019, also attended.

When he said the plans for 800 new apartments were “obscene,” the audience of 50 people cheered.

Development approval is a process

Town Board sentiment is a little more measured but also opposed at this point.

The project, “as it is currently configured…I’d say it will not garner approval,” said Town Commissioner Denis Bilodeau. “I understand the applicant is working on revisions and I am all for letting the ‘process’ unfold, including full review by the Planning Board.”

What happens in the world of commercial real estate development is give and take on proposals, sometimes with trial balloons, sometimes with concessions around size and intensity. A developer could propose 1,000 apartments, for example, and settle for 500.

Density drives developers

Density equals profitability.

More density, particularly on the commercial side, means more ratables for governments that are seeking tax revenue, so there is that dynamic as well.

There’s sometimes been a gap between the Planning Board and the Town Board as to what’s best development-wise. The Town Board overturned a 6-0 Planning Board vote on a major development project.

Candidate Osborne is a former member of the Planning Board.

“No more 6-0 votes being overturned by the Town Board,” Osborne said, at the same time calling for a six-month building moratorium.

A new road

CARD member Travis Julian said OMB could build a brewery and beer garden today with the current zoning, and Caroline could build up to 64 housing units as per current zoning.

CARD members said the two projects are apparently joined at the hip due to accessibility via South Street through the Caroline property for the OMB development.

“The housing density of over 800 units proposed will create increased traffic on both Mt. Zion and South streets. These streets were not designed to handle the amount of traffic that will be created. The potential traffic congestion could create increased traffic throughout the streets of Antiquity,” Julian said.