The Huntersville board voted unanimously Oct. 20 to approve Northline Row, 106 townhomes on N.C. 115, over staff objections. Rentals are capped at 20% of homes.

The Huntersville Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve Northline Row, 106 three-story townhomes on Old Statesville Road (N.C. 115) just north of Sam Furr Road. Town planning staff had recommended against it.

The vote came at the board’s Oct. 20 meeting, which is on the town’s YouTube channel. The Northline Row item starts about 31 minutes in. Minutes have not been posted yet.

What the board approved

Veer Development LLC asked to rezone about 9.1 acres in the 17100 block of Old Statesville Road from Neighborhood Residential to a transit-oriented residential district. The details of the plan are in the Oct. 20 agenda packet. We covered them in our preview of the vote.

The motion approved the rezoning with 10 conditions. They include:

  • four affordable townhomes, spread across the development and across home sizes
  • a 255-foot sidewalk on N.C. 115 to Coach Lane, paid for and built by the developer before half the homes are occupied
  • land for a wider N.C. 115, with the developer dedicating the future right of way along its frontage
  • the brick and window details the developer showed the Planning Board, with matching designs for the new, narrower units
  • landscape screening along the southern property line, with the existing driveway easements and utilities moved to make room
  • at least $10,000 for public art, chosen with the Huntersville Public Art Commission and installed within two years of the first certificate of occupancy, or sooner if the last home is finished first

At the meeting, the developer’s lawyer added three more commitments:

  • covenants, recorded before the first home is occupied, that allow no more than 20% of the homes to be rented at any time
  • $2,500 to the Carolina Raptor Center
  • an application to the National Wildlife Federation to be certified as a wildlife-friendly community

Why staff still said no

Planning staff told the board the developer had made changes since the Planning Board vote. It agreed to a 10-foot landscaped strip and committed to the sidewalk, subject to NCDOT approval. It also added smaller units to reach the district’s minimum of 15 homes an acre.

Staff were still not in a position to support the plan, the planner presenting it said. The reason was the roads and transit around the site. Staff wanted to be further along in talks with regional transportation planners, NCDOT and the Charlotte Area Transit System about what N.C. 115 will need. Staff would work around those limits if the board approved it.

A commissioner asked whether apartments could be built on the land without a rezoning. Staff said that was possible but would be tight, because of a 30-foot buffer the site would need.

Why the board said yes

The motion found the plan consistent with the town’s Huntersville 2040 Community Plan. It said the site sits in a designated mixed-use center, within 2 miles of the I-77 and N.C. 115 corridor. It also cited the planned Red Line commuter rail station near N.C. 115 and N.C. 73.

The board said the townhomes would give more people the chance to buy a home near shops, services and North Mecklenburg Park.

“It does little good for this board or any future board to approve new homes, town homes or condominiums if they ultimately become predominantly rental communities,” Commissioner Nick Walsh said before the vote. He thanked the developer for agreeing to the rental cap.

The rest of Tuesday’s agenda

The board also voted unanimously on three other items:

Item What it does
Second Street Village, Phase 2 (R26-11) Lets an approved townhome plan at North Church Street and First Street grow by four units, to 18 townhomes
Accessory buildings (TA26-03) Lots of 5 acres or more may now have sheds, barns and garages totaling up to twice the home’s heated first floor
Consent agenda Includes the Beatties Ford Road and signal mast arm contracts described in our preview

On the accessory building change, staff told the board about 533 residential lots in town are 5 acres or larger. On smaller lots, the limit stays the same size as the home’s heated first floor.

The two road contracts total about $1.6 million. Blythe Development LLC will add a turn lane and signals at Beatties Ford Road and Bud Henderson Road. Traffic Control Devices LLC will put up new signal mast arms at three intersections on Gilead Road and Beatties Ford Road.

What it means for you

  • If you live near N.C. 115 and Sam Furr Road, expect a site plan and construction permits next. Neither has a date yet. The site sits inside the half-mile ring around the planned Sam Furr rail station.
  • If you drive Beatties Ford Road or Gilead Road, work at four intersections now has contractors. Our road construction page will carry the dates when the town posts them.
  • If you own 5 acres or more, you can now apply for a larger accessory building. Ask the Planning Department at 704-875-7000 before you build. More on the process: building permits and zoning.
  • The board meets next at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, at Town Hall, 14704 N. Old Statesville Road. The agenda posts on the town’s meeting portal the week before.

The same meeting heard a Charlotte Area Transit System update on the Red Line and on microtransit in north Mecklenburg. We report it in Red Line trains to Huntersville are 8 to 10 years away.