Hundreds attended the Greenberg Gibbons hearing June 2. Photo: Dave Vieser
June 3. By Dave Yochum. There was an impressive cast of characters last night as the Cornelius Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 against rezoning needed for a $39 million business park on what was once farmland on Bailey Road.
Besides 36 acres once planted with soybeans, the cast of characters included:
±Hundreds of neighbors including Bailey’s Glen and Bailey Middle School and Hough High, not to mention a town park, all on Bailey Road, a “hot mess” of traffic, congestion and kids.
±Developer Drew Thigpen of Greenberg Gibbons Properties. He won the friendship of many, but not their support for his flex-office project targeting small business owners.
Drew Thigpen
±Ninth generation local farmer Wes Hunter who represented his father Gene Hunter, the 74-year-old owner of this particular parcel that is not part of the 500-plus acre Potts Plantation.
±Town planning staff: They recommended voting against the proposal, suggesting the adjacent 200-plus acres should be combined to allow for an even larger project
±Town Planning Board: They voted 7-1 recommending to the Town Board that they give final approval to the 188,000 square foot business/industrial park.
±The Cornelius Town Board: Over the objections of the CEO of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce Bill Russell and the volunteer Chair Brian Sisson, not to mention a former local minister, voted 5-0 against Cornelius Business Park.
Standing room only
There were more than 200 attendees at last night’s meeting
David Judge, the former minister, said there was a moral obligation to allow Gene Hunter to exercise his property rights, sell the land and retire.
David Judge
“Does the Town of Cornelius have the moral right to vote against the rezoning and prevent the Hunters from selling their property,” Judge asked.
For him, the answer was no.
For town commissioners and the mayor, the answer to the rhetorical question was yes.
Commissioner Robby Carney, having headed up successful economic development corporations in Iredell and Cabarrus counties, said he understood Greenberg Gibbons’ proposed product type from a real estate perspective and job-growth perspective.
Robert Carney
“This proposal is an industrial park and the way it will operate and the impacts of its operations are not the same as a corporate headquarters or a research facility. I’ve developed several industrial parks based on the flex-industrial model. And if there’s one guiding principle that’s universally understood in that space, it’s this:
“You do not mix residential development, school systems, and industrial development. They are oil and water. They simply do not mix. This combination brings legitimate concerns about safety, congestion, and diminished quality of life for residents in that corridor.”
For Greenberg Gibbons, despite more than two years of trying, they’re out.
“We are disappointed that the proposed development did not earn the Town’s support. We know local small businesses need and deserve the support of our project, and we plan to pursue our goals in another Lake Norman area community.”
Bailey runs across the bottom of the site plan
Thigpen had asked the Town in 2023 and last night to rezone the Hunter property from “Rural Preserve” to “Conditional Zoning” to allow the land to be developed for business campus use, as identified in the Town’s land use plan.
His project had millions of dollars of road improvements including a roundabout and a new left-turn lane from Bailey Road heading west to southbound Hwy. 115
