Cornelius Inn Proposal Heads to Town Board
Rendering of the Cornelius Inn
By Dave Vieser — The Cornelius Planning Board on Monday recommended approval of the Cornelius Inn, a proposed hotel planned for a vacant lot at the southeast corner of town at the intersection of Mayes Road and N.C. 73.
Developer Jake Palillo is seeking to amend the zoning of 6.3 acres of vacant property to construct a 45,000-square-foot, 40-room hotel. The proposal also includes seven cottages and a 4,500-square-foot spa and clubhouse.
Town planning staff recommended approval of the project with conditions, saying a low-intensity commercial use such as a residentially scaled inn and spa would be appropriate because of the site’s location at the intersection of N.C. 73 and Mayes Road and the changing character of the area. Staff also said the project would provide a transition between higher-intensity commercial uses nearby and existing homes on Mayes Road.
Full house at Monday’s Planning Board meeting
After a 90-minute presentation, public hearing and deliberation, planning board members said they were conflicted by the proposal but ultimately decided to depart from the town’s land use plan, which designates the property as Rural Preservation.
Board members cited the changing nature of the N.C. 73 corridor, which is scheduled to be widened to four lanes and includes numerous planned apartment buildings and retail complexes on the Huntersville side of the thoroughfare.
More than 65 people, including a Town Board member, attended the public hearing at Town Hall. During the hearing, eight residents of either Davidson or Huntersville spoke against the plan, while one Cornelius resident spoke in favor of it.
Those opposed to the proposal expressed concerns about increased traffic and safety concerns. Audience members opposed to the approval appeared unhappy with the board’s decision and said they planned to attend the Town Board hearing.
The board voted 5-3 to recommend the zoning request. The proposal will now go before the Town Board for a final decision on a date to be determined.
Westmoreland Road Rezoning
A request to rezone 0.51 acres at 9427 Westmoreland Rd from Neighborhood Residential to Highway Commercial was denied by the Planning Board, which spoke out against the possibility of retail and commercial uses such as fast food restaurants and big box retail in close proximity to JV Washam Elementary and neighboring homes.
As suggested by the town staff, the board instead recommended the Town Board consider a change in zoning to Neighborhood Mixed Use to match the property’s designation in the Land Use Plan.
With additional reporting from Jon Show.
4 Comments
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Looks super nice and somewhere decent to stay while visiting this area is hard to find.
Is this to replace the Lagoonie that Mr.Palillo could not get approved further down the road?
Glad to see the Planning Board stays on track with their constant rezoning. What’s the point of having a town use plan and Rural Preservation if every developer can get a rezoning granted?
How many cars can fit on 6.3 acres?
You hit the nail on the headline
Let me show you what is allowed by right! Those that don’t understand By right. IT MEANS I CAN DO IT WITHOUT ANY TOWN BOARD APPROVALS.
The property per Section 4.1.1 is zoned Rural Preservation (RP) We can debate for days why the Towns only parcel fronting Highway 73 a major thoroughfare with over 25,000 cars a day, connecting 7 Towns and 2 major Highways ( 77 and 85 ) is zoned rural….. but I’ll accept the fact that it is.
Go look up the codes! Chapter 5: USES. Page 5 -8 section 5.3.7: Allows Bed and Breakfast Inn in Rural Preservation zoning. If you read this section there are NO restriction has to the number of rooms a Bed and Breakfast Inn can have. I can build a large home with 10 Bedrooms and 10 baths or 40 bedrooms and baths. There are no code restriction on how large a home can be, or how many bedrooms and baths a home can have and there are no restriction in the Towns code limiting the number of Bedroom/baths that can be rented out.
The only requirement in this section to allow the Bed and Breakfast Inn use by right is:
B. that the rooms can’t be less than 200 sq ft.
C.The Bed in Breakfast must be owner occupied.
D. No more than two full time employees, not including the owner
E. All guest parking shall be in the rear of the home and you need one parking space per room.
The proposed Inn that I’m proposing is very similar to what I could build as a Bed and Breakfast Inn.
The only difference is I couldn’t have the Spa or the Cottages. The pool is allowable.
NO ONE is changing the land use plan by allowing this Luxury Inn, Its an allowable use I just asking to modifiying it. By right I can build a large home with as many bedrooms and bathrooms that I want. I own it and can occupy it. There are no laws that states I have to sleep there every night. I can owner occupy as many homes as I want and stay at them as much as I want. There are no laws enforcing that. The only laws are claiming residency in a State you have to live there so many days. I’m already a resident of NC
I can have 2 full time employees, it doesn’t say anything about part time people.
I don’t need cleaning staff I can contract that out. ( no rule against that they aren’t employees)
I can contract out landscaping and maintenance.
Lastly, I can hire a catering company to bring and set up a breakfast buffet every morning. ( no rules in the code against that)
My point in explaining this is the use “Bed and Breakfast Inn” is an allowable use in RP zoning.
All I’m asking the Board to do is allow a few modifications to the current allowable use of Bed in Breakfast Inn and let me make it a first class property, add the Spa and cottages and run it professionally. Let me fill a needed void and give the Town and area something they will love, use and be proud to have in their Town