Palillo project passes 4-1 at Town Board
June 22. By Dave Vieser. A last-minute reduction in the height and size of a proposed apartment complex was enough to get it passed at the Monday June 21 Cornelius Town Board meeting, but without an opportunity for further public input.
By a 4-1 vote, the Town Board approved the rezoning after developer Jake Palillo said he would reduce the project from 252 to 195 apartments, as well as move one of the buildings farther away from West Catawba Avenue to create more greenspace.
Jake Palillo
‘Quality’ project
“I believe the project is a quality project, one which we would like to see in Cornelius, but I do feel the height and density is too large for this area and I would like to see modifications,” said Commissioner Tricia Sisson.
Palillo also agreed to lower the height of two buildings to three stories and the other two buildings to four stories.
Commissioners Jim Duke, Thurman Ross and Michael Miltich also voted for the scaled-down project.
One ‘no’ vote
Casting the lone negative vote was Mayor Pro Tem Denis Bilodeau, who was concerned by the lack of public input on the last-minute change. The project has bounced around public hearings and received a no recommendation from the Planning Board.
Denis Bilodeau
“I appreciate the time frame concerns of the developer. But we have gone out to the public many times with the earlier proposal and now they have no time to respond to these significant changes. This procedure concerns me,” Bilodeau said.
Chamber CEO
Bill Russell, CEO of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, attended the meeting and spoke out in favor of what’s known as the Junker Proposal, so-named for the late investor, Norman Junker, who assembled the acreage that included the Wher-Rena property next door.
Russell said Palillo is “passionate” about business and his projects. “This project would be a great new addition for this communiity,” Russell said.
Neighbor reaction
Nearby residents were not happy about last night’s vote.
“The Commissioners voted on the fly with changes only spoken by the developer, not in writing,” said Tony Grisanti, president of the adjacent Lake Norman Cove HOA. “It’s a total disregard to citizen input.”
Residents expressed concerns about traffic back-ups on West Catawba.
“Why would we want more traffic added? It is concerning that traffic studies, tax revenue studies and quality of life studies (among others) seem to co-exist in their own universes and are not considered holistically,” said Chris Vasiloff.
It marked the second time in recent months that the Town Board has overruled the Planning Board, which had also recommended denial of the Mayes Meadow project.
When all was said and done, Mayor Woody Washam, who does not have a vote unless there is a tie, directed town staff to “go to work and put this in place as directed.”
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To the surprise of no one. Here’s the way the board will spin it; “The developer, in good faith, met us part way, and now it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Except there was no opportunity for input from the public to address these changes in the plans. But let’s be honest here: The public input wasn’t going to matter. Board members will say otherwise, but all evidence points to the contrary. Was there even a discussion among the board regarding the traffic issues?
We need more people to speak out and we need to vote in new candidates in November who put the voice of the citizens first, not the developers. Nothing changes until we change the board.
I agree. Once again we saw a tragic night at Town Hall with our Commissioners inexplicably approving yet another budget with spending increases 5-6 times higher than our lovely Town’s population or property growth rate. And, in the same meeting, this board approved yet another high density residential project (195 new apartments on West Catawba). Rather than directly addressing our most serious problems (traffic congestion, school overcrowding, recurring tax increases), they make matters even worse.
Town Commissioner Denis Bilodeau, who voted against the apartment proposal, responded:
“Tragic night? The budget was approved with no increase in the property tax rate (3rd consecutive year), a contribution to the general fund and priority given to the feedback from our citizen’s survey. The budget supports the needs of our first responders, maintenance of our parks and greenways as well as funding much-needed road improvements. Setting unrealistic budget targets does nothing to move our Town forward. Growth in our Town is projected to be less than 1% … a budget at that level would truly be tragic!
I do agree with Dave’s second point about the W Catawba apartment approval. I voted against the hastily revised proposal. Overall feedback regarding the project was decidedly unfavorable. I believe citizens and the Planning Board deserved an opportunity to weigh in.”
Commissioner Bilodeau, thank you for taking the time to comment. I don’t know the specifics of what Dave’s issues are with the budget, so I’ll leave you two to hash that out.
But regarding your vote against the project, I do want to thank you for listening the voices citizens you represent. It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s apparently become a rare event these days.
Traffic,Traffic,Traffic,Traffic,Traffic.Oh did i said Traffic…
Development is welcome. Overdevelopment that changes the character of our RESIDENTIAL community is not. Generating tax revenue to pay for the sins of past mismanagement does not take precedence over the will of the residents.
Please everyone remember the names of those that voted for this during their next election. I have voted for most of these individuals in the past but not next time. Time for a change in this gang of “I know whats best for Cornelius”. If they cannot think of the citizens current problem (traffic)then they obviously do not have our (the voters) best interest. WAKE UP
Again, no consideration given to the community input. Oh, input was not allowed? That figures!
Just what we need, another 300 cars emptying on to W. Catawba!
What happened to representative democracy in this town?
What’s going on around Lake Norman with every Board seemingly rubber stamp approving any project developers propose despite objections of the citizens (like the 1700+ housing development in Sherrill Ford over the next 20 years) reminds of other what has been happening in other big cities. Fort Mills just across the border went through massive growth w/o expanding roads and it’s a mess now. Traffic is horrible and top rated schools are getting overcrowded.
Remember, it’s not just traffic that’s going to continue being an issue. They’re going to make that worse before they make it better. But think about things like schools. All these developments means more people, which means more kids, which means they gotta go to school somewhere. Are there any plans to expand the schools or build new ones to alleviate future problems? Or are they going to do what these other places have done and kick the can down the road? Wait until it’s a major issue before doing anything about it and then having to wait several years for a school to be built and by then they’ll flood the area with more developments and now that school is already overcrowded? I’ve lived in an area like that before. I don’t wish it on the people around the lake!