Location change will make hotel, conference center more visible

Mooresville town commissioners have given a thumbs-up to Langtree Properties, LLC's request to provide its Langtree at the Lake development with what many businesses are desperate for in this struggling economy: a little more visibility.

At their monthly board meeting on Monday night, commissioners unanimously approved a conditional use rezoning request from the $880 million development to shuffle around the uses and intensities of the approximately 137 acres on three tracts of land at Exit 32 on Interstate 77 that will be developed in phases as part of the project.

Town Planner Craig Culberson said the primary purpose of the request was to move Langtree's proposed Embassy Suites hotel and conference center from Tract A, located north of Langtree Road and parallel to Alcove Road and I-77, to Tract B, located south of Langtree and parallel to Mecklynn Road and I-77.

The move, said Culberson, will give the hotel and conference center more space for development and will provide more visibility from the interstate and easier access.

"The biggest change before you tonight is moving the hotel and conference center from Tract A to Tract B," he said. The hotel and conference center, he said, "needed more acreage than could be afforded on Tract A."

Culberson said Mooresville town staff and the Planning Board recommended approval of the request. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), he said, has signed off and approved a phased development for Tract B in two stages: Tract B1 and B2, with several conditions, including prohibiting left turns at the two Tract B site driveways nearest the intersection with Alcove and Langtree Roads, making them right in/right out only.

Staff has suggested several conditions of approval, he said, including requiring Langtree to complete all roadway improvements for Tract B1 to be complete before vertical building can begin and requiring them to complete a revised Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) before any further development can take place on Tract B2, Tract A, or Tract C.

If approved, said Culberson, the request would allow Langtree to develop Tract B first in two phases, Tract B1 and B2, and then the other two tracts "as economic conditions allow."

According to the town staff's analysis of the request, Langtree is amending the conditional use rezoning conditions first approved by the board in Dec. 2006 and amended in August 2007 and December 2008.

The new plan changes Tract A from potential development as 232,000 square feet of non-residential use, a 250-room hotel and 319 residential units into potential development as 177,000 square feet of non-residential use, a 125-room hotel and 318 residential units.

Tract B is changing from being used as 465,904 square feet of non-residential use, a 150-room hotel, and 254 residential units to use as up to 480,750 square feet of non-residential use, a 300-room hotel and 384 residential units. Tract C is shifting from use as green space only to use as up to 400,000 square feet of non-residential uses.

Commissioner Mac Herring asked what reallocating the green space in Tract C would mean for the amount of green space in the entire project.
"Will that be a net gain or loss?" he said.

Contrary to appearances, said Culberson, the changes would reallocate the space for different uses but would not actually eliminate any green space in the project.

Because the project falls within the critical area of the WS-IV Catawba-Lake Norman Watershed, the development of the project cannot exceed 50 percent impervious coverage or development. The current plan, said Culberson, addresses the 50 percent requirement in one large chunk in Tract C, but the proposed change would distribute that 50 percent requirement among the tracts.

"What the plan does is put green space within walking distance of the units in each tract," he said.

Herring moved to approve the request. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Mitch Abraham and passed unanimously.

Also at Monday's meeting, the board:

*Heard an update from Town Manager Steve Husemann on this year's town board planning retreat. Husemann said the agenda for the retreat, which will take place from Feb. 18-20 at the Charles Mack Citizen Center, will likely be finalized by Feb. 12.
*Continued until the board's March meeting a text amendment request from Gryphon Development LLC regarding Article 4.5 Office Overlay of the Mooresville Zoning Ordinance.
*Adopted a resolution endorsing the Lake Norman Regional Bicycle Plan.
*Heard the results of the Midnight-Oates Alignment Study and agreed to hold a meeting on Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall to further discuss the proposed project.-