KANNAPOLIS — After months of back and forth, the Kannapolis City Council approved the rezoning request for the planned neighborhood development located at Trinity Church and Stirewalt roads on Monday night. One of the last measures up for discussion was what kind of zoning it would have, with council voting for R2 general zoning instead of R4 conditional.

The initial proposal by petitioner Jack McKinley, called for 56 housing lots to be constructed on the 35 acre plot. R4 usually has each lot’s width at 75 feet and can not exceed four units per acre. Council decided to proceed with the request with R2 zoning instead that has a lot width minimum of 100 feet and can not go over two units per acre. The total number of lots would decrease to 50. 

“It appears it’s the best I’m going to get out of Kannapolis. I expected more, but Kannapolis still has the highest tax rate and this doesn’t do much to abate it, but that’s the decision they made and they’re the elected people in Kannapolis so we’ll live with it,” McKinley said.

Many people living nearby have had their reservations about this undertaking through out the hearing process due the lot sizes, buffers, the kind of septic system that would be used, and making sure the neighborhood fits in with the rest of the community. 

Bob Doty, a Kannapolis resident, spoke out during the meeting about his concerns with R4 conditional zoning. Doty said he was worried about the clustering of the septic systems on the property and questioned who would oversee that the R4 guidelines were being met. Doty wished for the development to have R2 general zoning so that there would be less of an impact to the area.

“Well, I think it was a fair ruling and the reason why was it was based on many of the council members going out to the neighborhood to visit the site where they wanted to have the zoning changed and see how it affected the overall ambiance of the neighborhood,” Doty said. “We’re accepting of progress and we’re accepting of R2 because that’s as good as we could do.”

Brad Johnson, CEO of T&J Panel, a manufacturer of on site wastewater panel block systems, specified to council that McKinley had hired his company in an attempt to discover the best septic option available. McKinley is looking at alternatives until it is clear when sewer is accessible.

Council member Doug Wilson said that he felt that this ruling was the best option for all parties.

Now that the zoning has been authorized, McKinley will follow up with the city soon and will begin speaking with developers regarding the next steps in the project’s timeline.

“I’ll take a few days to rest and relax and talk to my team to work it out,” McKinley said.