Fate of mansion may come down to Town Board vote in January
Mansion on Smith Circle would be torn down
Dec. 15. By Dave Vieser. The long-awaited public hearing on rezoning for the Reserve at Smith Circle Project will be held Tuesday Jan. 17, beginning at 7 pm in Town Hall. Commissioners will be reviewing a development which received a unanimous approval recommendation from the Planning Board following their Dec. 12 meeting.
Background
The project applicant Steve Terpak is requesting to rezone approximately 3.9 acres on Smith Circle to develop a 12 lot, single-family residential subdivision. The location is near Cornelius Elementary School. All lots will front on a new internal public street and two driveway access points will be located at the west and south Smith Circle frontages.
The property is currently occupied by a stately mansion that was once the home of the Smith family. The density of the project is under four units per acre, which is the recommended limit for that location pursuant to the town Land Development Code. Projected prices for the new homes have risen from the mid-$400,000 range to above $600,000.
Residents not happy
Over a dozen nearby residents, many from the Twin Oaks subdivision, left Town Hall very briskly once the approval vote was taken, but not before making their feelings known. “The increase in traffic is of serious concern to me,” said Jean Murphy. “The new Town Board had recently talked about controlling new development. I don’t consider this controlling new development.”
Some residents have also expressed concern that little or no attention has been focused on the historical value of the existing stately home at the development site.
There’s no official word from the town’s Historic Preservation Committee on the proposal.
No official town recommendation
In an unusual twist this development did not come to the Planning Board with a town recommendation. The Town Board formed a Growth Management Task Force one year ago and they have not yet formally released their findings. As a result, town planners did not feel it would have been appropriate to provide a recommendation at this time.
Planning Board members apparently did not feel this should delay their decision.
Whats’ next?
The public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday Jan. 17, the day after the MLK Holiday. The Town Board could render a decision that evening or continue the matter to a later date. The meeting will begin at 6 pm.
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With most of the large plots of land already approved for residential development the town board is going to be seeing more of these modest size proposals.
What they need to keep in mind is that for every “smaller” development they approve, the cumulative effect will end up being the same as a large scale residential development. We voted them in with the promise of preserving what little green space remains. I’m curious to see how they vote here. I know we’ll be at the meeting.
Infill projects are a given and older outdated homes are out. Nothing is going to stop growth. Growth for a property owner is their right. They invested and waited and who has the right to stop them from maximizing their profit? What if they told you you had to sell your property at a set price with restrictions placed on what can be built there? How would you like that? If one really wants to invest in making traffic better figure out how to help the state of North Carolina find more funding to build and grow our roads and other infrastructure as the current taxes are not enough to keep up with what is needed.
First, many people think the house and property are beautiful- hardly an outdated eyesore. Second, I’m pretty sure the property owner/developer don’t have carte blanche to do as they see fit. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having a hearing to decide the property’s fate, right? And yeah, nobody likes that state of our infrastructure, but the fact is we won’t be seeing significant improvements any time soon. On top of that, the prior board approved numerous large scale residential developments that will only make a bad situation worse. These facts, along with loss of more green space, leads to the logical conclusion to vote against this proposal, as most people seem to feel.
Meet the new “boss”. Same as the old “boss”. The Lake Norman area is doomed and has been for years. Shame on them.
Please don’t allow this to happen to my former family home. There has to be a better use for the house and property. It was a tremendously hard pill to swallow when I had to sell the home I cherished. Please find a way to preserve my Father’s legacy.
Rosie- I hope you will email our town commissioners or attend the next meeting to speak out about this. We agree with you – there definitely should be a better plan that does not involve ruining this historic home, the property and the land that wildlife currently consider home.
More money and greed from the great town council. NO concern for citizens, NO concern for overcrowding and WAY TOO MUCH traffic.
Lake Norman is ruined and has become just another big metropolis.
Apparently, those who were voted into office over voiced concerns of over-development have proven to be either deceitful in their intentions or weak in their stated convictions.
Either way, they have failed miserably and do not deserve their seat on city council.
While I’m all for historic preservation, a house built in 1955 doesn’t exactly qualify. Adding 12 homes is nothing compared to the huge apartment/townhouse complexes going up all along Catawba. Pick your battles wisely–we can’t object to everything. I’m assuming the house needs extensive restoration with bathrooms and kitchen since built in 1955?