Public forum on N.C. 3 corridor draws a concerned crowd to ask questions about future plans

Last Tuesday’s public forum on the future of the N.C. 3 corridor, sponsored by the Centralina Council of Governments, drew about 120 people to Bethpage Presbyterian Church.
Even though most local elected officials stayed away, residents brought up concerns about water restrictions, public transportation, utility connections and traffic problems.
Not all of those problems were focused on the meeting’s central issue, the future of land along N.C. 3. But the residents’ comments reflected a frustration with what many see as unbridled growth in the area.
Bill Duston of the Centralina Council moderated the meeting. He had to remind residents several times that its purpose was to gather feedback for lawmakers.
“This is not a debate,” Duston said. “There are no right or wrong opinions here.”
All spoken and written comments from the meeting, as well as a similar one held in Mooresville, will go to a steering committee appointed by governments who control zoning along N.C. 3: the Kannapolis and Mooresville city councils and Iredell and Cabarrus county commissioners.
That steering committee will issue a report in several months meant to guide those governments in making decisions about land use, zoning and improvements to roads and utilities.
Residents were not required to identify themselves before speaking as they are at many government meetings. A number of people who spoke at the forum declined to give their names to The Citizen afterward.
But many who spoke said they would like to limit development and maintain the corridor’s rural character.
Several residents spoke in favor of keeping N.C. 3 as a two-lane road outside of Kannapolis. A project to widen the road to four lanes from the city center to its intersection with Kannapolis Parkway is in the works.
But others said they would like to see the road widened further toward Mooresville to alleviate traffic concerns. Two suggested adding stoplights to the road near Kannapolis.
One resident said he’d like to see a bus line use the corridor to transport residents between Kannapolis and Mooresville using N.C. 3, citing the high cost of fuel.
But despite these suggestions, some residents had a negative outlook at the meeting’s close.
“It doesn’t matter what we said tonight. They’re going to do what they want to do,” said Connie Goodman. “And it’s going to benefit some people and hurt others.”
Goodman and her husband own 75 acres off N.C. 3, but it lies within a protected watershed area where development is limited.
Due to those restrictions, she said, the Goodmans won’t be able to benefit as much by selling or developing their land even if property values adjacent to them rise.
Peggy Austin, who also lives off N.C. 3, spoke of the traffic congestion resulting from development along N.C. 73 nearby, where industrial and heavy commercial use clog the roadway.
“I avoid 73 at all costs now,” Austin said.
“I would love to see it (N.C. 3) stay two lanes and as it is,” she said, but added that the road was already being affected by people who cut through the area.
At the close of the meeting, Duston provided his e-mail address — bduston@centralina. org — as an avenue for those who want to stay involved and be informed about upcoming steering committee meetings.
He also encouraged residents to stay in touch with their elected officials and to watch newspapers and roadsides for any notices of rezoning, which are the true sign of changes to come.
“You can be as informed as you want to be,” Duston said.