May 16. A development application from Crescent Communities which would permit them to build a 246 unit apartment complex adjacent to Potts Street near the Cornelius town line has been resubmitted to the Davidson Planning Board.
At first blush, the new proposal looks much like the original , according to Davidson Senior Planner Chad Hall. “The only significant change is the reduction of the townhome units from 14 to nine units,” Hill said. There are still 246 apartments, the same amount that were shown in plans last fall.
Back in September, Cornelius Commissioner Dave Gilroy said projects like this overcrowd schools, congest roads and exhaust public services. “They erode our quality of life over time and drive up our tax rates as studies have shown that their demand for police, fire, emergency and other public services exceed their tax revenue. Here we have an aggressive developer manipulating our planning/approval processes to sneak an awful project through, and the Davidson Town Board is asleep at the wheel and taking a dirt road to a lower quality of life for both Davidson and Cornelius citizens,” Gilroy said.
Thing is, the project is just over the town border. Neighbors toured the site with town officials and planners.
“This project has failed four Mecklenburg County fire marshal reviews thus far,” said Jeanne Neumann, who owns a home on Potts Street near the site. “They also don’t have the second required access road to Catawba Avenue nor the wet retention pond which is required by town ordinance.”
However, Crescent officials stand by the project. “Crescent Communities has worked with town officials for more than 18 months on a site plan that complies with the assigned zoning and all planning ordinances,” a company spokesperson said.
The project had previously generated a significant amount of controversy, especially among Cornelius officials…to the extent that last fall Crescent withdrew the part which called for nine single family homes in Cornelius. If Crescent was hoping for a change of heart among new Cornelius elected officials, that doesn’t ‘t seem to be in the cards either. “Our board is uniformly against the proposal for all kinds of good reasons, and we are doing everything we can to support efforts to oppose the project,” Gilroy said. “Hopefully the Davidson Town Board will agree.”
Roads to and from the proposed Davidson site traverse both towns near North Main —a stretch that sees plenty of congestion due to left-hand turns near the YMCA on Davidson Street and Potts Street near the railroad trestle.
The draft TIA recommends improvements, or “mitigation” to several nearby intersections controlled by the DOT if the project is to be built.
Meanwhile, the ownership of Crescent is in the process of being acquired by Sumitomo Forestry America, a subsidiary of a Japanese housing and wood products corporation. The acquisition is expected to be completed by July 1. What impact this might have on the Davidson project remains to be seen.
