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Waxhaw residents worry proposed roadway could impact their homes

By Elsa Gillis
By Elsa Gillis

WAXHAW, N.C. — Residents of one Waxhaw community are worried that their neighborhood could be destroyed by a proposed roadway.

A few months ago, members of the Gardner family, who have owned and operated Story Book Farm for eight years, discovered maps showing the Waxhaw Parkway going right through their property.

[MAP: Waxhaw future land use plan]

“Literally, you can see, it goes right near our treehouse, probably destroys our treehouse, splits our farm in half, and effectively destroys our farm,” Alan Gardner said.

The Gardners' neighbor, Taylor Searcey, just finished building his home this year. He told Channel 9 that from what he’s seen, the parkway could go through his front yard.

“We built our dream home,” Searcey said. “Obviously, we didn’t know, so that’s a disheartening thing.”

Town officials told Channel 9 that the project has been 20 years in the making, and there have been numerous public input sessions.

Officials added that there is no funded project or approved alignment for the Waxhaw Parkway, but a “preferred route” was updated by the town in 2016. Channel 9 did not receive confirmation on what that route was or who would be impacted by it.

Neighbors said they never knew their land could be affected.

“It just seems that the right process would be, especially for people that have a stake, that it's going to ruin their homes, that they would be contacted," Searcey said.

The proposed parkway is a piece of the Charlotte Regional Thoroughfare Plan.

Waxhaw officials said that in September 2017, the parkway was submitted for assessment by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. If NCDOT finds the parkway a viable project, it will go through an alternative route analysis.

[LINK: Comprehensive Transportation Plan]

Waxhaw residents said that while they understand there has been growth in the town and that they’re not opposed to the parkway, there needs to be more involvement from the community before it happens.

Town of Waxhaw statement: 

There is no funded project or approved alignment for the Waxhaw parkway.

The proposed parkway is a piece of the Charlotte Regional Thoroughfare Plan, a long-term wish list of recommended transportation improvements.

A potential parkway route was adopted back in 1998. Thoroughfare planning enables private interest to plan their actions with full knowledge of transportation intent. Its design is to minimize the future impact to people in business.

Over the past 20 years there have been numerous public input sessions and workshops hosted by the Town, NCDOT and the regional transportation group where the parkway was discussed.

In 2016, Waxhaw was asked by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization to update the Town's preferred route alternative so that the Comprehensive Transportation Plan could be adopted. The Town updated its preferred alignment for planning purposes.

In Sept 2017, the parkway was submitted for NCDOT assessment, a step that required a mandatory 30-day comment period.  At this point in time, there is no commitment to this project. If and when NCDOT considers this a viable project, then it will have to go through an alternative route analysis.

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