Rezoned from rural preservation to business campus then, for tax purposes, back to rural preservation again, the site at one time was rumored to be in the sights of Walmart, which reportedly wanted to build a center there. Access would likely not have been the biggest problem.
For the Blakeleys to be able to sell their land to a developer would, it seemed, require some divine intervention.
Monday night, their prayers were answered as the Cornelius Town Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the first step in developing the 58.5 acres bordered by Liverpool and the Magnolia Estates and Westmoreland neighborhoods to the north and west, and I-77 to the east. The developer, fittingly, is a church — the burgeoning Life Fellowship Church.
Following a similar model in Blakeney in south Charlotte — in fact using the same architectural and legal expertise — Life Fellowship Church plans to develop 17 acres into a 100,000-square-foot church/professional campus that will include a church building constructed in two phases, two other office buildings, and a small chapel overlooking a retention pond. The site will include 302 parking spaces on 6.5 acres, occupants of the commercial space being professional offices, likely including medical.
Dave Benham of the architectural firm LS3P Associates and attorney Susan Irvin of Davidson, speaking on behalf of the church at Monday's public hearing, told commissioners they expect the church-owned business park to kick start further, similar development of the Blakeley property and, as such, will seek reciprocal parking agreements with adjacent properties as they are developed to share parking.
Even a boulevard on the southern end of the property will be built half on the church site — the two northern lanes and half a roundabout — with the remainder deeded as right-of-way by the Blakeley family in an effort to encourage a future adjacent developer to complete the boulevard and the circle to serve as an access point to its project.
Irvin told commissioners the site plan conforms to the intent and spirit of one that was approved for the site in 2005, a plan that prompted the board at the time to rezone the site Business Campus. That development didn't happen, and in 2008 the site was rezoned back to Rural Preservation to save the family from paying higher property taxes. Meetings with adjoining neighborhoods resulted in 14 conditions applied to the plan, including removing an amphitheater, to which the church agreed.
There were no speakers opposing the plan at the planning board meeting nor the town board's public hearing, making easy the commissioners' vote immediately following the hearing.
The only lingering question seemed to be the southern entrance and it's half-boulevard. Commissioner Chuck Travis, an architect by trade who complimented the church and architects on the design, asked Town Manager Bill Brown, "Can you encumber a future developer to finish the boulevard?" The answer was no, but with the dedication of the right of way and a shared parking agreement, a future developer would be encouraged to do so.
"The family has agreed to dedicate the right-of-way to become a future road," Brown said. "If they (future developers) voluntarily want do to that, that's great. ... If that parcel is never sold or developed, you will have a two-lane road with a half-bubble forever."
Travis wasn't completely satisfied with that, but it wasn't enough to oppose the project. The first phase will include the northern access, about half the parking lot and the first of two church buildings that will be connected with a lobby. The first building, which will later become a multi-purpose facility, will include space for 500 worshippers for services. The second phase will include a sanctuary, which will free up Building 1 for other church uses. Both buildings, commissioners were told, are designed to be easily converted into office space in the future, should it become necessary.
Benham said he doesn't expect that to happen, even if membership outgrows the space. "The trend now is for churches to start satellite campuses rather than build 2,000-seat sanctuaries" to accommodate growth in membership, he told the board.
Access to the site should improve in the coming years as well. Continued development of the Westmoreland neighborhood to the west and a condo complex to the south have internal roads designed to eventually connect into the Blakeley property, providing more direct access to Westmoreland Road and to West Catawba Avenue. But it will take a little more development to connect the pieces. About another 300 feet of roadway will be required to finish the connection, and will most likely have to be built by a future developer.
