By DAVID BORAKS
CorneliusNews.net

Cornelius commissioners will start Monday night’s Town Board meeting with a changing of the guard as Mayor Jeff Tarte resigns to join the state Senate, and Lynette Rinker becomes interim mayor. The meeting also is expected to include a vote on a proposed 88-unit residential project off Bailey Road and more discussion of I-77 toll lanes.

The meeting begins at 7pm in the Town Board meeting room at Town Hall, 21445 Catawba Ave.

The board also will hold its usual 8am agenda preview meeting at the Acropolis Restaurant, 20659 Catawba Ave., and a 6pm “pre-meeting,” where commissioners and Planning Board members will will get a review of the town’s quasi-judicial and legislative process for rezonings.

BAILEY FOREST

The board is expected to hold a public hearing and then vote on a request by developer Bluestream Partners LLC to rezone 62 acres to allow 22 lots with up to 88 residential units.

The Planning Board voted 7-0 to recommend denial of the rezoning, and the town planning staff also has recommended denial. In an analysis of the project, the planning staff says the project is not in keeping with the town’s Cornelius East Vision Plan, which calls for the area to remain rural, with single family detached housing.

Read more and find related documents on the town website. See also our related Real Estate page article, “88-unit Bailey Forest project up for a vote Monday.”

I-77 HOT LANES

Commissioners also are expected to discuss the state’s proposal for high-occupancy toll lanes on I-77 north of Charlotte.

Commissioner Dave Gilroy has been pushing the board to make a public statement urging state officials to consider alternatives to tolls as a way to pay for widening the congested stretch of I-77 from Charlotte north to Iredell County.

On Thursday, the town-board-appointed Cornelius Transportation Advisory Board voted unanimously for a resolution opposing toll lanes and supporting Mr. Gilroy’s call for a study of alternatives.

Mr. Gilroy previously had offered a motion at the Town Board that would have called on the Lake Norman Transportation Commission and state officials to look at other ways of widening the road.

MAYORAL CHANGE

Mayor Tarte, who was elected to the 41st District State Senate seat in November, will formally step down at the meeting, and be sworn in as a senator by federal district judge Frank Whitney. He then will swear in Ms. Rinker as the new mayor. The board also will have to choose a new mayor pro-rem, to replace Commissioner Rinker.

Commissioners voted unanimously last month to appoint Commissioner Rinker to finish Mayor Tarte’s term. Still undecided is how the board might fill her now-vacant board seat.

RELATED LINKS

See the full agenda for Monday’s meeting on the town website.