GASTONIA, N.C. — A development dispute is brewing in Gastonia.
A developing said they want to transform more than a dozen acres into new homes for several families.
People who live in the neighborhood said this change could be too much.
Channel 9′s Ken Lemon spoke with neighbors who put up signs expressing their frustrations.
The developer plans to build 194 new homes at the intersection of Robinwood and Kendrick Roads. Almost all of them are expected to be apartments in what’s now 17 acres of woods.
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Kate Hamad walked through the woods from the other side of the lot to demonstrate where the road around the back edge of the planned development would begin.
“This right here is 60 feet,” Hamad said.
That’s 60 feet away from her home in Planter’s Ridge. Hamad said her home is the closes to the new development.
Hamad said the developers even used her house, address included, as an example in their drawings.
“The proposed units will basically look down into my house,” Hamad said.
The developer, however, disputes that so Hamad and other neighbors from her subdivision are rallying support from other communities near the planned site.
“There is an obscene number of units planned to be built in this section,” neighbor Bob Ferguson said.
Ferguson is pushing a petition drive with about 400 signatures against rezoning the land. He is also working to build opposition at a planning commission meeting scheduled for Feb. 3.
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Ferguson said it will increase density in the area by 600%.
“The noise. The lighting. The things that’s going to be intruding into our neighborhood that none of us bargained for,” Ferguson said.
Developer Will Ratchford of Southwood Reality said Gastonia is a growing fast.
“Something that Gastonia needs,” Ratchford said.
Ratchford said there will be high end rentals starting at $1,500 a month and the project will look like others he has developed.
Ratchford also said there will be extra buffers around the lot.
“We are leaving existing trees behind and then planting carnivorous trees in front of it to create a very dense buffer,” Ratchford said.
He said some of this land is already zoned for single family and commercial homes.
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However, a grocery store made a failed bid to develop here.
“It will be developed with something. And we put, what we believe is the best possible produce for that corner,” Ratchford said.
Ratchford also pointed out that the city has completed a traffic study that he says reveals the roads can handle the extra traffic.
Neighbors in Planters Ridge said there is only one way in and out of their community.
They said it’s hard getting out now and that entrance is just a couple of blocks away.
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