A reader asked about a slowdown in the construction for the Lakestone subdivision on the north side of Wait Avenue just east of the Smith Creek Reservoir, and Senior Planner Charlie Yokley said the had slowed. “The developer had to work out an agreement with Food Lion for the extension of sewer to serve the subdivision from the Quail Crossings development. That agreement is now in place so development of the parcel should pick back up soon.”
Lakestone was approved in February of 2015 with 49 single-family lots on 29 acres, a plan that was amended in August to add nine lots after it was found a suspected stream was neither intermittent nor perennial. Bolus family members inherited the land, part of a larger tract owned by their grandmother, Mary Bolus, who donated most of the tract to the town for the reservoir in the early 1960s. Mrs. Bolus and her husband, George, operated one of the department stores in town from about 1917 up through the 1980s.
Yokley also said there has been no interest from anyone in reviving Quail Crossings shopping center. Food Lion owns that cleared tract in the south east corner where Jones Dairy Road meets the Dr. Calvin Jones Highway (N.C. 98 Bypass and Wait Avenue). The shopping center project on 13 acres was approved in 2008 for five buildings and one outparcel. The anchor store was to be Food Lion’s upscale Bloom grocery store. The project was abandoned in 2009 after clearing, grading and infrastructure installation. Reportedly the grading company went into bankruptcy but the then owner, JDH Capital of Charlotte, was suing Food Lion and its owner, Delhaize America, at the same time. The property was purchased by Food Lion in July 2012 for $1.7 million.
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Commissioner Margaret Stinnett asked a question many of us have had, how does the town use the $15 vehicle license fee found on the property tax bill from the county? The money goes into a fund for road improvements on streets the town owns and maintains, Finance Director Aileen Staples said.
