Albemarle council approves major cluster subdivision off St. Martin Road
Published 11:05 am Tuesday, May 16, 2023
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The Albemarle City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a major cluster subdivision to be located on 30 acres off St. Martin Road near N.C. Highway 24-27. It would consist of 227 single-family attached town homes.
The council approved annexing the property, which had been entirely within county limits, and rezoning the land as R-8 Neighborhood Residential District during its Nov. 7, 2022 meeting.
Each lot would be between 2,400 and 11,600 square feet and the subdivision would have 5.74 acres of open space, according to subdivision application.
The subdivision, which is being called St. Martins Development, is being developed by Joseph Burleson, through his company Burleson Development Group, LLC.
“With the recent success of economic development in the area, there is a tremendous need for additional residential housing in Albemarle and Stanly County,” Joseph Burleson wrote as part of the staff analysis document in November. “Additional housing options will help fulfill the demand people have for a place to live near their jobs.”
The site still requires a traffic impact analysis, which Burleson is working on with the city and NCDOT. The development stands to add approximately 1,000 to 2,600 trips per day to N.C. 24-27 and St. Martin Road and turn lanes would likely be required by NCDOT.
Road designs in the development would be 26 feet wide with five-foot wide sidewalks to be included on each side of the road.
In the November meeting, Planning Director Kevin Robinson told Council the city’s planning staff calculated the influx of new homes would bring in between 242 to 629 new residents, increasing the city’s population by as much as 4%, and add as much as $534,000 to the city in terms of projected annual revenue.
St. Martins Development is one of many subdivisions the council has approved in recent years, as more and more people have come to the city.
“We’re getting a lot of people from Charlotte and elsewhere that are getting priced out of that area and Albemarle is popping up on everybody’s list right now because we have sewer capacity, water capacity…we’re not too unaffordable and we’re not built out yet,” Robinson said. “It really opens up a lot more opportunities.”
Councilman Bill Aldridge said while he supports growth and development within the city, he was concerned about existing capacity (police, fire and schools) with more people moving into the city.
“Do we have the infrastructure to take on another opportunity like this?” he said.
With new developments being built each year, the city has talked with Stanly County Schools and has been planning ahead with police and fire to make sure such growth can be supported, Robinson said.
About Chris Miller
Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.
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