Commissioners hear plans for 166-unit Evolve North townhome project at Azalea Road; planning staff recommends approval

A 27.72-acre site at 1614 Azalea Road, 1608 Landis Highway and 116 Knight Lane is the subject of a conditional rezoning and voluntary annexation request that would allow 166 townhomes under a traditional neighborhood zoning, planning staff told the Mooresville Board of Commissioners.

Erica Martin, the town’s planning director, said the site is owned by Jack’s Heavy Property LLC and is currently zoned community commercial. Under the proposed conditional zoning the developer requests 166 attached residential units; by right the commercial zoning could yield different residential forms and densities, Martin said.

Staff and the planning board recommended approval and suggested updating the town’s land-use map to reflect higher density at the parcel. Martin said the site sits in the Bat Creek watershed protection overlay, which limits impervious surface to 30 percent and constrains how many units can be built; she said the maximum practical number of townhomes at the site is tied to that impervious-limit constraint.

Martin described project amenities including a pool, dog park, community clubhouse, enhanced landscaping, and a 10-foot multi-use path along the Landis Highway frontage; she said existing industrial structures on the site — an old factory and mini-storage — would be demolished.

Commissioner West questioned three-story layouts and the common design that places garages beneath living areas, saying residents sometimes object that bedrooms require multiple flights of stairs. Martin said building elevations had not been conditioned but that the applicant could be asked to change the product.

Allison Craft, the town’s water resources director, told the board early project plans once contemplated a pump station and force main but that the applicant was able to secure a gravity sewer connection, which the town prefers. Craft said that gravity connection avoids the cost and maintenance of a new pump station.

Commissioner DeWeese told colleagues that neighbors near Azalea Road welcomed the project in part because the development would address chronic flooding on the adjacent properties and could make it feasible for some houses to connect to town water and sewer. DeWeese also said the property has a complicated zoning history: initial approvals for apartments were changed by an ordinance amendment that made apartments conditional uses, which altered allowable product types for the site.

Martin said children from the proposed development would attend Mooresville schools and that the applicant held a neighborhood meeting in which local residents attended. The planning board recommended approval and staff asked the board to consider updating the land-use map to reflect the proposed residential designation.

No final vote on the rezoning or annexation is recorded in the transcript; the items were presented and moved toward scheduling and hearings.