BY STACIE LETT CAIN

The Statesville City Council on Monday night approved the first reading of a plan to build almost 1,400 homes on 600 acres of farmland near the intersection of Shiloh Road and Nabors Road.

The approval, by a 5 to 3 vote, came after neighbors pleaded with the council to deny a rezoning request for the development.

“Look at the beautiful mural behind you,” Josh Van Drake pointed out to council members. “The first word up there is agriculture, then industry. But what you are doing is turning all of that agricultural land to developments. Is that what you want this city to be about? Homes jammed together to make the most money?”

That sentiment was shared by many in the audience, who said their opposition was based on concerns related to higher taxes, school overcrowding and insufficient public safety services.

“I have been here speaking to you on more than once occasion, and honestly you don’t listen to a thing any of us say anyway,” Terry Gentle told the council. “We need schools now, we need fire protection now. What’s it going to be like once this development is done? We do not have the infrastructure to support a development of this size.”

Leigh Polzella, on behalf of BRD Land Co., petitioned the council to rezone the tract from Iredell RA (Residential Agricultural) to Statesville R-5MF CZ (High Density – Multi-family Residential – Conditional) to accommodate the 1,300-plus new homes. The developer proposes 1,002 single-family homes and 376 townhomes. The development would also include 271.6 acres of open space, which would include greenways, walking paths and pocket parks.

“This proposal is a culmination of over two and a half years of work and planning, and we believe this isn’t just a development but a destination for the City of Statesville,” Polzella said in her presentation to council. “ We have worked with city officials, utilities, public safety and the school board to make this as seamless as possible. We have worked with neighbors in the area that have agreed to sit down with us and have listened to and tried to address their concerns.”

That effort did not win over many in the council chambers.

“I have 231 signed letters from residents and land owners on Shiloh who are against this project,” Leslie Long said during the public hearing. “It is every land owner that touches this proposed development. We don’t want the traffic. It’s bad enough already. This development could put as many as 3,000 more vehicles on an already congested road. School buses will never be able to get through here. We will see the crime rate increase and our schools can’t support the influx of additional students.

“We don’t have the infrastructure to support any of this,” she added.

On the other side, Rex Bell and Whit Honeycutt, both of whom own land in the proposed development, asked council to proceed with the rezoning.

“I realized at age 33 that my dream was farming,” Bell explained. “But I’m 77 years old. I’ve had two knees replaced, surgery on both shoulders and open heart surgery. My son served 16 years in the Air Force, and did eight tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. He is 90 percent disabled. I can’t farm this land anymore, but I worked my entire life to have it. I’ve served on numerous committees for this city and county and never asked for a penny for it. I have no choice but to sell this land now. Please look at the good it can do for the city and allow me to sell my land as I feel is best.”

City Manager Ron Smith addressed some of the concerns as he clarified information on the development following the public hearing.

“Based on census data and using their calculations, there will be an estimated 3,321 people occupying this development,” he explained. “This will include 459 children that will added to the schools in that area.”

Although Third Creek Elementary School and Third Creek Middle School are both under capacity, South Iredell High School is currently at 103 percent occupancy and would be the high school for the proposed area.

“The proposed Weathers Creek High School would theoretically take some of the burden from South Iredell High School,” Smith explained.

The other concern Smith addressed was the defunding of Wayside Volunteer Fire Department by Iredell County.

“The county has reached out to us to try to find a solution to the funding problem with Wayside Fire,” he explained. “I anticipate that something will be worked out and they will be able to be available through automatic aid for that development.”

The development, which is six minutes response time for Statesville Fire Department, falls outside of the four minutes response time that is the norm for the SFD’s ISO rating. But, according to Chief Kurfees, once the development is completed, 12 to13 years from now, that problem would be corrected.

“Statesville Fire would still respond to any incident within this development, even though it is outside of our required response time,” he explained. “Wayside Volunteer will hopefully be available to respond as well, but we also anticipate that before the development is completed we will have made changes that would allow us to respond within that four-minute response window.”

Despite many concerns about fire protection and traffic voiced by council members, including a plea from Lisa Pearson for Iredell residents to reach out to county commissioners for farmland preservation concerns, the council voted 5 to 3 to approve the rezoning request. Council members C.O. Johnson, Steve Johnson and Kim Wasson were all opposed.

Even though the council approved the first reading of the rezoning request, Council member Doris Allison wanted residents to know that their concerns were heard.

“I want to thank everyone who took the time to come out tonight to share your feelings about this,” Allison said to those in the gallery. “We hear you, but we also have to admit that growth is coming. Some may not like it, but it’s coming. We are working hard as a council, as a city, to make sure that happens the best way we can. I want to thank council, the mayor and the city staff because it takes a lot of hard work to do that. We have to make sure we have a safe, productive place for the future of this city.”