What happens when a buffer consisting of trees is cut down during site preparation?
Aug. 22. By Dave Vieser. It’s been a tough run for David Van Epps of Davidson, who has been seeking to expand his previously approved luxury car club project in Cornelius on the west side of interstate 77. Van Epps had retained Metrolina Builders to prepare the 6.7 acre wooded vacant site at 20410 Chartown Road for buildings, but then sought to add one more building.
However, before he could secure rezoning approval from the town, a 15 foot to 20 foot swath of trees 160 feet long was erroneously cut down in the northwest corner of the site.
“The buffer disturbance occurred in May and is part of brush and trees 80′ wide by 540′ along the western property boundary,” said Senior Town Planner Aaron Tucker. “It occurred as the land was being graded for the five-building plan.”
Background
Van Epps
Van Epps had approvals to build The Werks, luxury garage condominiums which would give auto enthusiasts a place to not only store their prized possessions, but to gather and entertain as well.
Plans include an 1,800-square-foot clubhouse.
Replanting
When a buffer disturbance occurs, the Town Code requires the developer to submit a re-planting plan to the Town staff for review and approval according to Tucker.
“The developer has worked with us since first learning about this disturbance to establish the best species of vegetation possible for the area based on the low sunlight and soil conditions.”
The issue came up during the Aug. 14 Planning Board Meeting, and while the board recommended approval for the expanded project to the Town Board, they also asked Van Epps to keep his neighbors to the west apprised of what they are doing to address the situation where the buffer was disturbed.
“I feel terrible about this and we’re going to make it right” said Van Epps. “We want our neighbors to be completely satisfied.”
No Comments
Leave A Comment
Our Partners
I may be wrong, but it seems like this same thing happened in Davidson when they were clearing for the Westbranch neighborhood — and not only did the developer have to replant trees, they also had to pay a fine of $1,000 or so for each tree they erroneously cut down. Negligence should have consequences.
Sounds like developers simply act first and ask forgiveness after. Must be more advantageous to take that route. House across the street from me sold, developer knocked it down, scraped the entire acer lot clean of vegetation and asked for forgiveness, which the county gave. Nothing but problems with runoff since, for the neighbors, not the developer. Needs to be higher penalties.
HAHAHAHA! What happens? They get rewarded for their hard work! Have you seen objective evidence of pentiles? You can’t fight city hall or developers; We noticed it was not built in Davidson.
Make the developer plant mature trees and vegetation as close as possible to the ones they removed and also fine them for each tree. They should not be able to build on the buffer zone they destroyed. Then the developer can sue the sub contractor. Mature trees are priceless!!
It happened along Knox Road and One Norman when they put in the center with Aldi’s and Chic Fil A. The developer promised a wide stand of trees along both streets. Never happened. They left up a few old scrub trees which provides no buffer at all.
Town officials need to get out of bed with developers and on board with the town residents.
Cutting trees down with NO replanting plan should be illegal and developers should be heavily fined for no complying.
Every plan presented to the town should have a REQUIRED replanting plan.
Why is this so hard to implement? It should be standard.
We need our trees now more than ever. I agree with DED. This is a simple solution: Every plan presented to the planning commission and to the town board should have a required replanting plan and in addition a heavy fine should be applied for non-compliance – no more just a smack on the hands and a few thousand dollars fine! there are too many violations and the blame is always on the contractors who can plead ignorance. The trees in question here were even cut before the developer secured a re-zoning permission. What is going on here?