BY STACIE LETT CAIN

The Statesville Planning & Zoning Board met encountered resistance from neighbors on Tuesday as it began discussing plans for another housing development in an area that is revered for its quiet, rural character.

Many concerned residents who addressed the board during a public hearing expressed their frustration at having their community tainted by everything associated with larger housing developments.

“I have been part of this area for 23 years,” Jason Jones, an Arey Road resident, said. “I moved out here to be part of a community that was a mix of residential and nature. I didn’t expect that I would be facing safety concerns, noise and traffic because of 160 new homes being built out here.”

Eddie Moore, a representative of McAdams Company, applied for rezoning on behalf of Taylor Morrison Homes for a 75.23-acre tract on Arey Road and Buffalo Shoals Road between Old Airport Road and Wallace Springs Road. The developer wants the city to rezone the property from Iredell County R 20 Single-Family Residential to R 8 CZ Medium-Density Multi-family Residential Conditional.

The speakers were clear that they did not want the traffic, light pollution, crime and noise associated with the 160-plus unit development. They were also concerned that the area’s infrastructure could not support the development. With fire response times being nearly eight minutes — well outside of the four-minute standard, some board members also had concerns.

“I understand that we are growing and I think everyone in this room understands that,” Planning & Zoning Board alternate Laury Brown said. “I think people here are concerned with the nature of the growth.”

Explaining that the board’s goal should be to reflect responsible growth, and considering most of the surrounding area is zoned as R20 Single Family Residential, the change in zoning to R8 Medium-Density Multi Family Residential does not mesh with its surrounding area, Brown said.

“It’s not that I don’t like this development. I do,” she explained. “It’s a well thought out and planned development, but I just don’t believe that it belongs here in this community. These houses are 10 feet apart and that isn’t what this community needs.”

But for Brown it wasn’t just the density, it was also the lack of adequate fire protection.

“Where I live we were annexed in the 1980s and promised that we would be seeing a four-minute fire response time once we were annexed,” she explained. “We are still waiting for that and 44 years is too long to wait to get adequate fire protection.”

But not all board members shared her concerns. Board member Roger Bejcek moved to approve the rezoning request stating the growth was coming regardless.

“As populations grow, things change,” he said. “It’s a viable development, the staff recommends approving it. Police and fire grow as the number of people grow and that’s how it happens. People want to live here and these developments that we are adding aren’t sitting vacant. People are coming to town and they need someplace to live. I think we need to move forward with this.”

But Angela Matthews, a resident of Arey Road, saw the move as a personal one.

“We moved here because of the character of this neighborhood,” she explained. “We wanted to be in a rural area and you are threatening to destroy that. This development will disrupt our continued enjoyment of properties that we worked hard to purchase and maintain.”

But beyond just the personal loss she feared, Matthews also reminded the board what duty they owed to the residents of Statesville.

“You have a duty as a board for the City of Statesville to do what is best,” she advised. “What is best for the residents of this area is not putting this development here. You have seen the detriment this development will bring to our community with noise, traffic and safety issues.”

Bill Gunther also had concerns about the development but his concerns were with the disappearance of the natural enviroment this area has always enjoyed.

“Pretty soon you will have a bronze oak tree outside of city hall here commemorating the last oak tree that you guys cut down to build these overcrowded developments,” he warned. “You are bringing in a tax base, but who cares? You are destroying a way of life for the people who are already here and have been paying taxes all along.”

The board could not reach agreement on how to proceed with the rezoning request and ended with a tie vote. The matter will be sent to the City Council for consideration without a recommendation from the Planning & Zoning Board.