Southwest Mecklenburg

Once-rural area faces major urban invasion

Residents worry that developments threaten lake, their quiet lives

By SCOTT DODD

When Al Winget was in the seventh grade, he drove a John Deere tractor from southwest Mecklenburg County to Gov. Cameron Morrison's farm. The route took him down what's now Carowinds Boulevard and along Pineville's quiet Main Street.

Barely a car had to swerve around him.

Today, Morrison's estate is SouthPark mall. Carowinds Boulevard runs by a theme park. And Pineville is overrun by stores, motels and restaurants.

But Winget, now 49, still has the family farm in southwest Mecklenburg, in what might be called Charlotte's final frontier.

"Drive out there now and it's like you're going back in time," county planner John Cock said. "Two years from now, it's going to be a completely different place."

Big changes are under way. N.C. 49 is being widened to the state line. Water-and-sewer service is coming. The leg of Interstate 485 that swings through the area should open at the end of 2003. A library branch is going up. Midprice homes and townhouses line the main roads.

Residents who used to shop in Fort Mill, S.C., now have several nearby grocery stores to choose from. Where the Armstrong family store once stood at Steele Creek and York roads, you'll find a big new sports bar, part of an eventual 600,000 square feet of commercial development at the intersection.

On Tuesday night, the county commissioners will consider a new project that could further remake southwest Mecklenburg. It's called The Palisades, a 4,500-home and golf-course development near Lake Wylie, proposed by Crescent Resources and Robert C. Rhein Interests.

Some area homeowners, including the board of the Steele Creek Residents Association, would be happy to see a planned community of high-priced houses to balance out the stock of starter homes.

But many people who live close to the project fear it will clog their roads and contaminate Lake Wylie with sediment and pesticides. They've formed the Lower Lake Wylie Association to try to get the development scaled back.

Even if the county turns down The Palisades, planners say thousands of newcomers will pour into southwest Mecklenburg over the next decade. Ready or not, the frontier is about to be overrun.

"We've been out there a long time and wish it could stay in pine trees," Winget says, "but obviously that's not going to happen."

Officials have already approved two other large-scale projects. Ayrsley, a compact development at the I-485/N.C. 49 interchange, will put 1,600 homes, shopping and an office park on 129 acres.

And Pappas Properties is building 2,880 residences, along with stores, restaurants and a business park, on just over 1,000 acres near I-485 and Shopton Road.

Longtime residents find it hard to believe so much has happened so quickly. Linda Blackwelder helped form the Steele Creek Residents Association more than 20 years ago to fight off a hazardous-waste incinerator. She remembers when a prominent local developer told her the area "wasn't a fit place to live."

The roar of jets from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, a now-closed landfill and Arrowood Industrial Park kept new residents away.

"My goal for the last 20 years has been to show people that Steele Creek is a viable community," Blackwelder said.

Now as other parts of the county fill up, the southwest's time has come. And some of the same people who tried to entice developers for so long are starting to wonder if they did the right thing.

They look to the crowded, traffic-congested University area and worry if they're next.

"My personal hope is that it will develop differently," said Cock, the planner. "The standards for development in northeast Charlotte were 1980s vintage and styles," which meant sprawl and giant shopping centers.

Plans for the Pappas development, Ayrsley and The Palisades are more pedestrian friendly, with a town center-style design.

Still, area roads will become more congested, Cock said, at least until they're widened, the nearby rapid-transit line arrives and a new north-south road is built near the Pappas project.

One factor could limit growth somewhat: Much of the area lies in the Lake Wylie watershed, which means developers face rules to preserve water quality.

So far, though, builders seem willing to work within those restrictions.

The Palisades developers fulfilled a long list of requests from the county's water-quality watchdog, although some residents fear that won't be enough to protect the lake.

Winget, a former planning commissioner, accepts that his corner of the county is changing forever. And he's glad the word is out that southwest Mecklenburg is a great place to live.