May 7. By Dave Vieser. The developer of a proposed 99-unit housing development on South Street  has paid $3,750 to keep his application active through Oct. 31. Joe Roy, representing Charlotte based Meeting Street Cos, paid the triple application fee for a zoning change permit on April 30. The town code permits such extensions of the initial $1,250 fee, but with increasing amounts every six months.

The Antiquity Woods project has generated considerable concern among local residents because the only entrance and exit would be precisely where traffic from Davidson approaches Antiquity’s  narrow covered bridge. Because of congestion on Main Street, South Street is used more frequently as a connector between Cornelius and Davidson.

Mixed-use

The proposed development would be a combination of town homes, along with a central garden and the Village Tavern Inn, a mixed-use building. It is currently zoned Neighborhood Residential but a change in zoning to a conditional zoning status would be needed to permit the desired density.

As envisioned by the developer, Antiquity Woods would encompass 16 acres of vacant wooded land bounded by the closed Curtis Screw Factory, Antiquity and the linear park greenway, the covered bridge, Davidson Elementary and McEver baseball field in Davidson.

Under the current neighborhood residential zoning, Meeting Streets could erect approximately 50 homes without getting a change in the zoning. However, their plans call for about 100 townhomes, or a density of about twice the amount they could build “by right.”

No matter how big the project is, residents will eventually have a chance to officially make their concerns known. “As a proposed major subdivision, the application, in whatever form and density it finally takes, will have to go before the Planning Board and Town Board,” said Planning Director Wayne Herron.