March 5. In an open letter to the Cornelius Town Board, former Mayor Jeff Tarte said their vote on proposed business park on Bailey Road “determines who is pro-business as well as if safe roads are important in Cornelius.” Read more about the project here.
Members Cornelius Town Board:
Tarte
In full disclosure I have been helping Greenberg Gibbons Properties and Drew Thigpen try to figure out how to improve their project on Bailey Road. For the longest time I was not sure Drew was listening and taking advice, but in his latest iteration, GGP has demonstrated not only that they are listening, but that they are invested in becoming a long-standing asset to our community.
As elected officials it is our responsibility to promote public safety, serve as a catalyst to create jobs, and approve projects that add minimal congestion or at least provides infrastructure to reduce traffic. We need to ensure presented projects follow the town’s desired land use plan as well as provide the type of structures needed in our community. This needs to be accomplished while making sure the economic benefit is such that town services can meet demand. This is all done in the interest of and for the benefit of the entire community. This is what we do.
Three issues
Three fundamental issues are before us. First, keeping our kids and residents safe. Second, respecting the rights of property owners who follow the laws, land use plans, and seek a reasonable return on their investment. Third honoring our promises to businesses and persons wishing to build businesses and homes in our community based on the land use code we require they follow.
When projects do these three things, they deserve and have earned the right to be approved.
Bailey Road has a serious sightline problem that puts drivers and kids going to school at risk. The Town has a responsibility to fix this problem. GGP has stepped up and committed to work with NCDOT to remediate the Bailey Road sightline problem. More importantly, GGP as a selfless corporate citizen has agreed to pay the cost to make Bailey Road safe for all drivers and our students going to school.
Where do we find ourselves with regards to the Bailey Road project presented by GGP? A major concern for all of us should be projects that add significantly to traffic congestion. Thankfully this project does not. It provides an immediate and practical solution to the sightline problem on Bailey Road. This initiative makes motorists as well as kids going to school on Bailey Road a top priority. The project meets virtually every aspect of our published land use plan. Are there things we would like to tweak? We all recognize there is practical limit to change. What we do not need is more branch banks, gas stations, and apartments without adding more roads and infrastructure. We need buildings that are in demand, that businesses can occupy here.
GGP will invest over $30M to bring this project out of the ground. Economically the project is forecast to generate multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual revenue for Cornelius. We need projects that generate tax revenue to pay for much needed town services.
Elephant in the room
Now to address the elephant in the room. When evaluating a project, elected officials should consider the interests of the entire community, rather than be influenced inordinately by a very small group of individuals with a NIMBY attitude, who influence their neighbors’ opinions without presenting all the facts.
I have many friends who live in Bailey’s Glen. I have even been approached at church by residents of Bailey’s Glen asking me my thoughts on this project. These conversations reveal that residents lack a complete understanding of this project. If folks do their homework, they will learn the adverse traffic impact that different use alternatives create. This project creates minimal traffic impact, while adding an aesthetically pleasing and beautiful multi-lane tree and sidewalk lined boulevard through the entire length of the property, facilitating the future connection of Bailey Road to the Potts Plantation. This is a critical consideration for our future. The revised plan adds significant park amenities and walking trails open to the public.
My decades of experience in the Cornelius and Mecklenburg Park systems demonstrate that park usage for this property will create infinitely more traffic, than the proposed GGP use. The Bailey Glen residents I have spoken with appreciated this information.
Thank you warranted
We should all express our thanks and gratitude to Greenberg Gibbons Properties for their willingness to invest in Cornelius. We should thank Drew Thigpen for his and his partners’ commitment to Cornelius.
As a few town commissioners have noted, they listen to their constituents, and that influences their vote. That is the right thing to do. Doing the right thing for the property owners and the community at large should influence decisions. Facts should influence decisions. The decision on this project is significant to many residents who support business interests, seek assurance that Bailey Road is safe for driving, and want property owners’ rights upheld.
Your vote determines who is pro-business as well as if safe roads are important in Cornelius. Supporting this project will garner the vote of hundreds of residents in November, I assure you. Let’s support businesses and make Bailey Road safe!
I commend this project to you and ask for your vote of support.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeff Tarte
Cornelius resident
Cribb Philbeck, LLC, Partner
Cook Community Clinic, Chair
North Carolina Information Technology Strategy Board, Chair
Former positions held:
LKN Chamber of Commerce, Chair
Cornelius Park Advisory Board, Chair
North District County Park Advisory Board, Chair
Mecklenburg County Park Commission, Commissioner
Mayor, Cornelius
Senator, State of North Carolina
I’m having a HUGE problem understanding how 4 buildings and some decorative tree/plants are going to improve my life in Cornelius?
ANY added traffic on Bailey Road, is NOT NEEDED. What about THIS POINT, does the developer not understand.
OK Mr. Developer, invent a way to bypass all the additional traffic, and I’ll listen. Otherwise, it’s a strong NO GO from this Cornelius resident.
Jeff, thank you for your service. Here are some thoughts for your consideration. The ‘greenway’ between industrial buildings is misleading; pickleball and a dog park are marketing, not public service. This project is misplaced. Industrial projects belong in industrial zones, not rural lands. This is a cry for proper planning, not NIMBY. The Town lacks a traffic plan for its 16 ‘Business Campus’ properties, pouring traffic onto Bailey Road. Residents oppose this ill-considered park, especially with 500 new students coming. Greenberg Gibbons, a ‘Light Industrial Real Estate Company,’ proposes a project larger than their other local sites combined, with parking well exceeding nearby Publix. The Town’s Land Use Plan ignores traffic mitigation. Their $300,000 tax claim is misleading; it implies almost double Northlake Mall’s value, while the larger, newer North Commerce Center yielded only $35,672 in 2024. 907 daily trips and 79 trucks compromise safety, and truck bays contradict claims of minimal truck traffic. Safety outweighs economic arguments. This project abuses neighbors, adds industrial buildings, and creates congestion. Tenants would face the same overburdened roads as residents. The turn lane is a requirement, not a favor. Future development will strain the intersection. The roundabout is problematic due to the Duke Power transmission tower, but needed for safety and traffic. The Traffic Impact Analysis doesn’t address regrading for sight distance. Just like the missing Town greenway at this site, the Town has a park in this area. We hope the Town purchases the land for open space or passive park use.
I have great respect for Jeff Tarte and believe he is generally one of the more level-headed leaders in Town. However, I don’t know if his statement – “Supporting this project will garner the vote of hundreds of residents in November, I assure you” – will come to pass. Quite the opposite, I would bet $100 that it will garner lots of votes, just NOT for those who support the project.
Despite their “we listened” claims, the developer’s changes from their withdrawn 2023 proposal are a smokescreen, mere distractions that fail to address the fundamental problems of this industrial rezoning request. No one asked for MORE pickleball, an additional ten-feet of setback, a dog park, or a gravel trail around truck bays. They are a poor substitute for the planned greenway, open space or passive park that many have requested. Their 5% reduction in square footage and a slight reduction in projected traffic is of little significance. What a lot of people demanded was a stop to rezoning rural lands and a solution to the worsening traffic nightmare on Bailey Road. Calling it a “Business Park,” masks what it really is – an industrial park. Industrial parks use more land because of warehouse truck bays and parking.
This developer often refers to the Town’s Land Use Plan to justify their rezoning request. Over the years, the “Business Campus” in the Land Use Plan has not kept up with what once was a sleepy rural road used by hundreds, now used by thousands. That Plan ignores the reality of inflicting even more traffic on Bailey Road and the mayhem it will create for school users, Park users, five neighborhoods and a alarming growth of road users. We might plan a trip to the beach, but if we can’t get out of the driveway to get there, then we need a change of plan.
Facts- like traffic volumes and proximity to schools, must guide rezoning, not arguments for commerce and business development at any cost. Claims presented as facts should be explained. The claim of $300,000 in tax revenue to Cornelius is misleading. Based upon similar tax values on West Bailey Road, it’s more like $30,000 to $35,000 in taxes. This 181,100 square-foot development, with 907 daily vehicle trips and 79 truck trips, will worsen traffic, not alleviate it.
The Zion Avenue Connector, a rejected $28.5 million connector road, underscores the impossibility of fixing this issue of taking rural lands and converting them to “Business Park.” A business park and, in this case, an industrial park, need to have meaningful access to good transportation corridors. A recent feasibility study projected 4,000 vehicles to Bailey Road from development in the area surrounding this 36 acres!
This is not a “Not in My Back Yard,”issue. It is the real and impending threat of an unmanageable vehicle load, imposed upon Bailey Road. It will further exacerbate crippling congestion and will plague our community for years to come.
The property owner’s right to sell their land is certainly appreciated but doesn’t extend to creating a public nuisance by the person/company or developer he sells it to. This land, once a farm, cannot compare to the traffic an industrial park inflicts. Adding 348 vehicles during peak hours and 559 during off-peak, compounded over years, spells dangerous congestion. Let’s please find another way to use the land.
Their safety claims, like grading the hill, are superficial — a band-aid on a broken leg. The Traffic Impact Analysis demands real mitigation, like a roundabout at their entrance, not cosmetic changes. To their credit, they have agreed to the required mitigation at the intersection of Bailey Road and Hi115. Remember, that mitigation does not include future traffic volumes beyond “background” growth. Those increased traffic volumes are all but assured if this goes through.
Any company does NOT earn our approval or deserve our thanks by endangering our children, park users, and neighborhood residents or by ignoring other mitigation requirements in the Town’s Traffic Impact Analysis. No thank you! Our community deserves responsible development, not a traffic nightmare and the destruction of our rural character.