STEELE CREEK NEWS

Upscale Development Planned on Lake Wylie

(December 30, 2002) In 1990 Crescent Resources had plans to build 3,600 residences on an 1,800-acre parcel of land along Shopton Road West and east of Lake Wylie. The development, known at the time as Island Pointe, never materialized.

Now Crescent plans something totally different for the parcel. Instead of 3600 homes, they plan only about 400 homes in three sections.

The largest section comprises 1300 acres on the western portion of the area along Lake Wylie. They plan to have 184 single family estates on lots ranging from 2.2 to 12.6 acres. The section has 7 miles of Lake Wylie shoreline, and 43 of the lots will have waterfront. These will be custom homes on mostly gated lots and may not be visible from the street.

The lots will be connected to CMUD water but have septic tanks for sewer.

Crescent plans to clear as few trees as necessary to build the houses and septic tanks. Homes will be at least 200 feet back from the lake shoreline (three times the 50 feet currently required) and have a high country style architecture -- or "elegant rusticity."

They plan the streets to have ditches rather than curbs and gutters. This is not allowed by the current R-12PUD zoning, and Crescent plans to apply for conditional MX-1 zoning.

The streets will be public and not gated. The streets will have 7 miles of public, hard surfaced trails that meander around trees. The development will have an additional 20 miles of biking and walking trails running through green space.

This section also will contain a community area, with a lodge, pool, tennis courts, 10 boat slips, and other amenities for use by homeowners.

The second section contains 204 acres and generally lies along the western side of Shopton Road West, just south of the bridge over Neal Branch. This section will have smaller lot sizes--with about 1 unit per acre. They will have CMUD water and sewer.

The third section lies east of Shopton Road West and contains 301 acres. Plans for this area include a private, non-residential golf course and about 25 golf villas.

The only current plans for area road improvements are to build turn lanes off of Shopton Road West.

The plans for low-density development are welcome in the community since the development would have less impact on the traffic along the current rural roads and on the water quality in the Lake Wylie watershed. However, it would contribute to urban sprawl, which is something area planners have been trying to avoid.