Clearing for roundabout, apartments takes toll on landscape at Cornelius/Davidson border
Photo: Rusty Knox Facebook screenshot
March 19. By Dave Yochum. A roundabout being built on Main Street just south of the Norfolk Southern Railroad trestle has been years in the making but site work over the weekend caught people in Davidson and Cornelius by surprise.
A vast swath of trees has been cut down to make way for the roundabout which will relieve the bottleneck caused by cars in the northbound lane turning left toward the YMCA on Davidson Street as well as Potts Street heading north.
At the same time, the site for 237 new Crescent Development apartments on Potts is being cleared.
In short, it looks like a bomb went off.
Fallout
Photo: Rusty Knox Facebook screen shot
It’s also caused something of a skirmish between the mayors of the adjoining towns.
Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox said “there are right ways to address change and wrong ways to deal with change. The roundabout project coming into Davidson from Cornelius is the wrong way.”
The disagreement dates back to at least five years to when the project was still in the planning stages. The Davidson Town Board objected to the size and scope of the project.
Key among Davidson’s wishes was a five-foot pedestrian walkway. A 10-foot wide plan favored by Cornelius is going forward, making for a larger roundabout, which Davidson opposed.
“Legacy trees are gone and the southern entrance to our Town is forever changed,” Knox said.
Knox
Woody Washam
Cornelius Mayor Woody Washam on Facebook said he truly wished “new roads could be built without cutting any tree—just not a reality.”
Knox also suggested opening Church Street to the YMCA site could have been an option. Doing so was opposed by nearby Cornelius residents as well as Washam, whose childhood home is on Church Street.
“To to think Church Street could ever be opened up to the Y is just dum!!” he said.
“Love Rusty but just saying,” he added.
Background
The current angled Potts Street/NC 115 intersection results in poor sight distance for drivers. As traffic continues to increase, congestion and queuing are expected to worsen. The purpose of the project is to improve traffic operations for drivers traveling through the area. The Potts/115 roundabout project was valued at $6.9 million in 2019.
NCDOT rendering
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When I saw all the beautiful old trees cut down a few weeks ago between near Catawba and Westmoreland, I cried. Surely some of those could have been left in place?! Why can’t developers work around some of these giant old oaks instead of chopping them down?
They cut some trees that didn’t need to be cut. I think they could have brought the road from off Church st. It would have relieved traffic and it would have saved plenty of trees
Gentrification at it’s finest.
You are right. So sad.
Yeah. It looks pretty bad. The poor people who live in the house on the corner of Potts and Main had a tree trunk roll into their driveway.
Typical Woody. Goal is to cut down not only every tree in Cornelius that gets in the way of getting the detours (politically known as roundabouts) and development he wants but now another town.
Have you also been complaining about the traffic in our area? And now you also choose to complain about a project (Beaty-Sloan-Potts N-S connector) designed to mitigate congestion in our area? Please, make up your mind.
Joe Totally agree can’t have it both ways.
How about this- how about we stop with the overcrowding development on every square foot of vacant land..? Builders are allowed to cram as many houses, apartments and condos in as little space possible. City council don’t care, they’ve destroyed the aesthetics and allure of Lake Norman for greed. They took a hidden gem, a beautiful southern town and made it an overpopulated unattractive urban sprawl disaster. It’s pitiful.
Absolutely Correct. As I remember, there were graves sites on some of the land that is being developed.
Well said!! Totally agree…. Its all about the tax dollars
Amen, Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville Mooresville all a hot mess.
Agreed – now the newest thing Cornelius is doing , is hiring a planning consult for the ‘planning’ of the downtown area of Cornelius – there is nothing lefty to plan – it has been let to grow and expand in a uncontrolled manner for years.
That roundabout is bogus just want people’s land
Joe I’m with you. It’s all the “double edged sword”. Yes, Church St could have been extended a long time ago, but the road couldn’t handle the traffic 20 years ago so we know it definitely couldn’t handle it now. 115 needed help 20 years ago but it’s just now getting attention. The old growth trees that have been cut down were probably 50-75 years old. Some were in poor health but some weren’t. It pains me to see this and the clean swaths that so many developments make, but it’s in the name of progress. (For what that’s worth). It’s just painful all the way around.
Glad that people are finally talking about the trees. Sadly, its after they have been cut down. Hopefully, this will spark some conversation about saving them in the future.
Looks like most of the destruction of trees is in Cornelius. All of it would, but the D/A’s in Cornelius moved their town limits back so the residents of Twin Oaks could be in Davidson’s town limits. For those who are not long time residents the Davidson limit was just south of the old Davidson Clinic building.
The damage that has been done to our flora and fauna from Huntersville to Davidson in the name of “progress” is truly disgraceful. Every mayor and town commissioner should be ashamed.
Worried about trees what about the trees they cut down for 235 apts.im not 100 percent sure but is that NOT LOCATED IN DAVIDSON ?? Talk about a traffic nightmare
You’re correct. The apartments are a Town of Davidson approved project. Mayor Knox neglected to mention this in his Facebook rant. Additionally, the sidewalk will narrow to 6 ft after passing under the trestle because the Town of Davidson did not want a 10 ft path on their side. That decision did not save any land and it would have been paid for by NCDOT and Cornelius. Now they have to fix the sidewalk on their own dime. Not good forward thinking.
One major reason that the roundabout is being constructed is to handle the Davidson traffic on the future north-south Sloan to Potts Street connection spilling onto Main Street in Cornelius. This north- south connector will serve as an alternate route for traffic in downtown Davidson.
It all looks awful and all those poor homeowners adjacent to both clearings!
SOMEWHERE a RUSH fan right now is thinking about the song “THE TREES”, and suggesting that those not familiar with it, find and listen to it.
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.
I came from California where it is an was a beautiful place….an now it is struggling…. to be a beautiful place
North Carolina is the most beautiful place…still
This is what happens when you dont bother to take time to vote. You get Washam not Biledeau.
It is not lost on me that Cornelius hates trees – can’t chop ’em down fast enough!
Need to chop down that jesus saves sign that’s been up forever there despite ordinances.
Kev… you need Jesus.
Why didn’t the Davidson town board simply deny water and sewer to the apartment complex proposal on Potts to save the dense woodland and wildlife habitat there? They have the right to do that as I understand it. Now instead we have an ugly concrete jungle on the horizon and a barren moonscape until then. Who is the beneficiary? A Japanese corporation that owned the property. Seriously? How sad and pathetic.
Asphalt pays the bills. Money talks, trees cannot.
Doesn’t seem like the city leaders in Cornelius have any desire to save trees. Nor do they understand the resulting implications of noise and light pollution, or the impact on losing what was a beautiful restful view. I experienced it first hand at Alexander Farms. I wish I could include before and after pics.
We can complain, write about all this…I agree that it is a mess…do we go to the town mtgs and vote…get involved…this is OUR community -saving trees of that age is needed for our health too!
Was this an NC DOT project?