Huntersville nixes Birkdale Village expansion, citing building height, traffic concerns

Joe Marusak
·2 min read

The developer of Birkdale Village lost its bid Monday night to add 450 parking spaces and a multi-story mixed-use building to the longtime mixed-use community in Huntersville.

The Huntersville Board of Commissioners denied North American Properties’ rezoning request to grow with a Class A building that would have included 150,000 square feet of offices and 25,000 square feet for commercial businesses.

NAP wanted to replace an existing building with the larger building and an existing parking deck with one that had 450 more spaces.

The proposed 110-foot building and the parking deck would have been higher than allowed by the town’s zoning ordinance, town staff said in a memorandum to the town board. Town staff recommended rejecting the request.

The development is near Lake Norman, off Interstate 77 Exit 25.

Citing public opposition, NAP previously removed a planned hotel and 350 apartments from its request to enlarge Birkdale Village, The Charlotte Observer reported in January.

The developer later proposed a seven-story Class A office building and 450 additional parking deck spaces.

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Handling Huntersville’s growth

The expansion would have helped address ongoing and future explosive population growth in Huntersville, Tim Perry, managing partner of the developer’s Atlanta office, previously told the Observer.

Huntersville’s 2040 Plan predicts the town population will increase 74% between 2018 and 2040, to 106,567 people.

Residents both panned and praised the developer’s proposal at a March 6 town board of commissioners meeting and again during the public comments section of Monday night’s meeting. Many raised concerns about traffic and the height of the proposed office building, while others praised the potential benefits to the local economy.

The debate grew so heated over the past year that Huntersville Mayor pro tem Stacy Phillips said she and her family received death threats.

Planning staff didn’t support the height of the building, which would have “substantially exceeded” the height of office buildings in town ordinances, a planning staff member said Monday.

“If there was a request to take a floor off, we could consider that,” an NAP representative told the board Monday night before the board voted down the proposal.

Phillips voted in favor of the expansion. As the lone small business owner on the board, she said, “I believe in supporting our local economy. I believe this whole ordeal has been a shame.”

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