Mayes Road project site plan. Mayes Road runs up and down on the right
Jan. 20. Dave Vieser. A proposal to build 180 upscale homes on 96.5 acres of vacant farm and wooded land on Mayes Road attracted minimal opposition at the project’s first public hearing before the Cornelius Town Board last night.
The Conditional Zoning request would carry a density of 1.8 units per acre; the site is currently zoned Rural Preservation, which means that the minimum lot size is three acres.
The Simonini/Bayard Builders proposal is for single-family homes with prices ranging from the mid $400,000s to the mid $600,000s.
At the hearing, neighbor David Sayers expressed concern over the development.
“I’m concerned about some ingress and egress issues,” Sayers said. A Traffic Impact Analysis is currently underway, according to Deputy Town Manager Wayne Herron, which should address those concerns.
Wayne Herron
Simonini Homes is one of the top names in custom builders in Charlotte, with predecessor companies having built a variety of homes in neighborhoods like The Peninsula and Connor Quay.
The nearby Mayes Hall development, currently under construction over the Davidson line, is one of their projects.
The Mayes Road plan calls for over 50 percent of the property to be open space, an unusually high percentage, and the Greenway which goes through the property will be a central part of the development. It will be a mix of one- and two- story homes, all with master bedrooms on the main floor.
Next up for the project is a Planning Board Public Hearing currently scheduled for 6:30 pm Monday Feb. 11.
Next year’s budget
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board conducted the first public hearing on the town 2021-2022 fiscal year budget.
Scott Higgins, PARC Chairman, urged the commissioners to fund the parks department to the fullest extent possible. “This is the year we need to get serious about park repairs,” he said.
In comments directed at both the budget and the Mayes Meadows project, former Town Commissioner Dave Gilroy reminded the board that 15 years ago during a growth
management study, the town imposed a six-month presidential building moratorium.
Dave Gilroy at a Town Board meeting last year
“We were very concerned about the acceleration in residential growth, which also had budget implications,” he said.
Gilroy went on to say that the board consciously decided to maintain the rural preservation of the Mayes Road area, “which would allow us to have the desired diversity in our housing base.”
Finally, via email, resident Dave Mancuso urged the board to fund additional pickle ball courts at the Bailey Road Park.
The Town has received over 1,000 comments from residents thus far on the upcoming budget.
In other action, the commissioners:
—Appointed Carla Eustache and Jon Show to the Cornelius PARC Commission. Six candidates were interviewed with Eustache and Show being unanimously recommended by the PARC Commission at their January 7, 2021 meeting. Their terms will run to 2024.
—Amended the Town’s Personnel Policy to reflect the future full time Firefighters’ 24-hour work schedule and 28-day work period. Added to the Personnel Policy are accrual rates for vacation and holiday time, stating when overtime will take effect, and establishing a maximum of vacation time carry-forward. The same has been added for sworn police officers and tele-communicators at rates commensurate with their 12-hour work schedule and 28-day work period. The amendments also clarify that Town employees who work for other employers are not covered by the Town’s workers comp insurance in case of injury at the secondary employment.
—Approved the Mecklenburg County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Since January 2019, Cornelius officials have been working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management and the other towns in Mecklenburg County to update the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan for Mecklenburg County. The entire plan, which is updated every five years, can be found online at www.mecknchmp.com/index.html.
