Mooresville woman, 82, gets 2nd chance for 107 homes on her former farmland
Mooresville commissioners unanimously denied a Charlotte developer’s request Monday night to revive its plan for hundreds of homes the board previously rejected.
But, an 82-year-old woman fared better at the same meeting: The Board of Commissioners gave a second chance to build 107 luxury homes for older adults on her 58 rural acres.
Per town ordinance, a developer must wait a year to bring a rejected request back for consideration. However, commissioners may approve a waiver if the developer cuts the number of proposed homes and offers other ways to make the plan more agreeable to neighbors and town officials.
Commissioners voted 4-1 Monday night to grant a waiver for homes planned on June Staton Goodman’s former farmland at Oakridge Farm Highway (N.C. 150) and Wiggins Road, in east Mooresville about 6 1/2 miles east of Lake Norman.
The board denied a similar waiver request by Cambridge Properties for its proposed 64-acre Witherspoon Woods development at Kistler Farm and Rocky River roads in east Mooresville. The board previously denied a rezoning for the development in March.
Developer adds 2nd road for fire trucks
Goodman’s proposed Courtyards at Brumley Farms development would include 107 single-story homes geared to adults 55 and older, according to plans by Mooresville-based Realco Development Corp., which has an option to buy Goodman’s land.
Goodman and Realco sued the town in Iredell County Civil Superior Court after the commissioners rejected a rezoning for the development in August 2023, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.. Commissioners cited traffic safety, emergency response and environmental concerns, namely, the impact on streams.
Goodman and Realco have since come up with a second proposed access road for emergency vehicles through the development, and no homes will be built on a stream on the property, Kevin Donaldson, a Mooresville lawyer representing Goodman and Realco, told commissioners Monday night.
With the 4-1 vote in favor, Goodman can now hold another neighborhood meeting on her plans, seek another rezoning recommendation from the Mooresville Planning Board this summer and then another vote by the town board.
Commissioner Gary West voted no to the waiver because of a lack of left turns with the access roads, he said.
No one opposed Goodman’s plan at her original neighborhood meeting, and the Planning Board voted 6-to-1 last year to recommend the rezoning be approved, the Observer reported.
Opponents pack meeting
In denying the Cambridge Properties waiver, commissioners and Mayor Chris Carney urged the developer to hold more meetings with concerned neighbors.
“I do feel like you’re pressing this,” commissioner Lisa Qualls said, referring to the developer having already scheduled the required neighborhood meeting for Tuesday, July 2.
As a neighbor, “I would be very upset if you scheduled it during a holiday week,” Qualls said.
It also was “presumptuous” of the developer to schedule the neighborhood meeting before the town board voted on the waiver, Qualls and commissioner Eddie Karriker said.
Neighbors packed town hall to oppose Cambridge’s revised request for Witherspoon Woods.
Since its previous rejection by the board, Cambridge trimmed the number of proposed homes from 299 to 235 and the housing density from 4.7 units per acre to 3.7, Cambridge development director Nate Buhler said at the meeting.
That included 63 town homes cut from the original plan, he said. And the developer changed the height of the town homes from three stories to two stories, he said.
Buhler also cited other Cambridge developments in the Charlotte area, including the Publix-anchored, 700-home Harris Farms community underway at Kistler Farm Road and Coddle Creek Highway (N.C. 3) in east Mooresville. The Publix is scheduled to open this fall, he said.
Dr. Heather Linen, a local veterinarian, said she was speaking for many in the crowd in opposing the Witherspoon Woods plan.
Her family moved to the neighborhood in 2019, “believing it aligned with our vision to raise our son,” she said. “Main attractions: Community, small-town feeling, with less housing and traffic density, and a good school system for our son (Mooresville Graded School District).
“Please do not approve the waiver,” Linen said, drawing audience applause.
