Kannapolis and Landis enter agreement on development

Published 12:10 am Friday, January 31, 2025

By Elisabeth Strillacci

elisabeth.strillacci@salisburypost.com

 

KANNAPOLIS — After almost three years of discussion, Kannapolis and Landis are moving forward with a development that crosses the lines of both communities.

SH Irish Creek Club LLC and Shea Homes Carolina LLC are proposing a development on 758 acres, about 600 of which are in Kannapolis and the rest in Landis. The development will contain 744 homes, with about two thirds in Kannapolis.

Because the development will cross city and town lines, the two communities needed to enter into an interlocal agreement for the exchange of water and wastewater. This agreement acknowledges the system connections between the two systems as well as the charges for water and sewer provided by each other.

The Kannapolis City Council held a public hearing at its most recent meeting Jan. 27 but no one spoke for or against either the development or the agreement.

According to Planning Director Richard Smith, the reciprocal agreement “clarifies and streamlines the relationship” because there are currently a number of agreements between the communities, and this will bring it all into a single agreement.

The plan calls for the construction of a regional pump station that is jointed owned by Kannapolis and Landis. The new station will be close to Cannon Farms Road and close to the Kannapolis Lake, but city officials noted that there is an awareness of the need to protect the lake and all appropriate buffers and protections will be required and installed.

The council approved both the development agreement and the interlocal agreement.

The council also approved a proposed development of 7 acres along North Main Street and Laureate Way that includes 310 rental apartments. The development will include a pool and community room but it was pointed out that parking for the development will be in the center of the project, so what faces outward on the street sides will be homefronts. It will be consistent with the appearance of the neighborhood.

Finally, the council gave Town Manager Mike Legg permission to move forward with the sale of city-owned property at 6106 Old Macedonia Court. The property is the last parcel in the former parkway project the city was involved in twenty years ago.

Smith told the council that the city had a purchase contract last year that fell through. He explained that part of the problem has been the cost of getting water and sewer services to the parcel. It has to be run from the other end of the property and the cost is considerable. The city has been asking for $550,000 for the parcel, but there is a current bid of $460,000 from Scooter’s Coffee for the parcel and the council agreed to let Legg pursue negotiations.

Because CDBG funds were used in the initial project, 81.4 percent of funds from the sale will have to go back into the CDBG fund, and 18.6 percent will go into the general fund.

Scooter’s Coffee is essentially a drive-through coffeehouse chain founded and headquartered in Bellevue, Nebraska. As of June 2024, the chain has 800 franchises in 29 states, and is currently the second-largest drive-through coffee chain and the fifth-largest coffee chain in the United States. Currently the closest Scooter’s Coffee to Kannapolis is in Denver, NC.