03-06-2025
Cornelius commissioners unanimously deny Bailey Road business park
CORNELIUS, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Residents of a prominent Cornelius neighborhood came out in force Monday night to express concerns over a proposed business park, and their voices were heard.
In a project on its second life from 2023, GGW Flex Holdings LLC was seeking a rezoning on 36 acres along Bailey Road for near 200,000 square feet of commercial space across four buildings. The site is across from Bailey Road Park and less than a mile from Bailey Road Middle School and Hough High School.
It's also just down road from the main entrance to the Bailey's Glen 55+ community. The community's denizens packed Cornelius Town Hall, explaining the long backups created by the schools' pickup and drop-off times. Many students walk or bike to school, and have to cross Bailey Road.
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This wasn't just a not-in-my-backyard case by residents, though. The town's planning staff also recommended denial of the project. And the Board of Commissioners followed suit in unanimous fashion.
In summarizing the project's drawbacks, Mayor Woody Washam said the conditional rezoning would create an unprecedented combination of uses along Bailey Road. It's currently zoned Rural Preservation but town's land-use plan encourages business campus there.
'We heard this project doesn't incorporate a business campus, a vision that staff and board members expected on this site,' he said. 'Instead, this project is an industrial park. We heard from Commissioner (Robert) Carney that nowhere in Mecklenburg County does an industry park, schools, residential developments and public park exist on a two-lane road. That's a fact.'
In recent years the town has been working to find ways to have more people who both live and work there, instead of doing either in Charlotte. Creating affordable housing is one of those solutions, but commercial development is another.
The GGW project initially promised 'high-end' tenants when introduced to the board in 2023. But the finalized proposal was not what town leaders had in mind.
'Our staff has recommended against this project because the site would be more appropriate for corporate offices or research park that would be more internally oriented with limited service and vehicle traffic as well,' he said.
The developers planned to build a roundabout at the site's entrance and an internal road, and incorporate a greenway on the edge of the property.
Support came from the Lake Norman business community and representatives of the Hunter family attempting to sell the former farmland.
Also at Monday's meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of a 0.066-acre lot near Town Hall — for $500,000.
It's along Main Street between lots that area already town-owned, including the veterans' memorial. The parcel was sold to Cornelius business Legacy Pointe Residential, LLC for $447,500 in 2017.
Town manager Andrew Grant said the purchase was necessary so they could 'facilitate future development' in conjunction with nearby properties.
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