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 west, 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.