Residents blast proposed 500-acre Lake Norman mega community at hearing
At a packed public hearing Monday night, residents denounced a Charlotte developer’s rezoning request for a planned 600-home “mega-community” on 500 rural acres eight miles west of Lake Norman.
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Irongate by Provident Land Services Inc. would rise south of N.C. 73 on the east side of Old Plank Road and south of Brevard Place Road in unincorporated Iron Station, according to the developer’s application.
Tuckers Grove, a historically Black religious camp meeting site, is about 600 feet from the northern edge of Irongate, Joshua Grant, Lincoln County planning and inspections manager, told The Charlotte Observer.
Cheryl Richardson was the first of 26 residents to speak against the plan at the hearing called by the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners and the Lincoln County Planning Board. Votes on the rezoning will be taken by the boards at meetings to be announced.
The Planning Board makes recommendations to the Board of Commissioners, which has final say.
“Commissioners, these Iron Station neighbors and I are here tonight to make sure you understand one simple thing: Saying yes to Irongate would mean a forced cultural change to our rural, large-lot, multigenerational community,” Richardson said.
“Irongate and its developers do not fit in Iron Station,” Richardson said to applause from the crowd at the James W. Warren Citizen Center in downtown Lincolnton. “We say no, and we are counting on you to say no as well.”
Resident Cassidy Beam said county zoning rules require developments to be in “harmony with the surrounding area.”
Instead, Machpelah Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, “will have a giant roundabout in front of it,” Beam said. “It’s kind of appalling.”
Resident Merle Bird revealed data showing how out of proportion she said Irongate would be to the surrounding 18 neighborhoods. They have a combined 591 homes, the largest being 225 homes, she said.
“The proposed development is fundamentally incompatible with the established density and character of the surrounding area, which consists of homes on larger lots,” she said.
Residents said roads are too narrow to handle the added traffic, the sewer system inadequate and schools too crowded. The project would transform a quiet community into one more crowded and with safety problems, they said.
The development team of Tom Waters and Kenneth Holbrooks seeks a rezoning of the property to planned development-residential, with lots smaller than called for in the county’s zoning plan.
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“This property is located within an area that is designated by the Lincoln County Land Use Plan as Large Lot Residential, suitable for single-family homes at densities of 0.2 to 1.35 units per acre,” county planning staff member Jeremiah Combs wrote to the Planning Board and Board of Commissioners.
Still, county planners find Irongate “reasonable” and “consistent” with the county’s land use plan and recommend approval, Combs said.
“Even though configured differently from residential subdivisions in conventional districts that require a minimum lot size of 0.75 acres, which is equivalent to a density of 1.33 units per acre, the proposed development has a density of 1.22 units per acre with smaller lot sizes in favor of conserved open spaces that preserve stream buffers, tree stands and flood zones,” Combs wrote.
Irongate would include “over 250 acres of non-disturbed open space,” Holbrooks told the boards Monday night.
The development would have walking trails and larger-than-required areas of trees and other vegetation between Irongate and neighbors, he said.
He cited numerous planned road and sewer improvements and how Irongate would not overburden schools, which are at only 70% capacity.
Irongate would have a mix of housing types, including traditional homes, ones for ages 55 and older and others higher priced on larger lots, he said.
The development would generate an estimated $2.243 million in annual county revenues, combining property tax and utility revenues, Holbrooks said.
Irongate would have four phases:
• Phase I would have 79 traditional single-family homes and 156 age-restricted, completed in 2029.
• Phase II calls for 161 traditional single-family and 106 age-restricted, opening in 2031.
• Phase III would have 10 traditional homes and 147 age-restricted, finished in 2032.
• Phase IV, completed in 2033, would have 59 single-family homes.
“We believe that this project does fit in with the community, as we are preserving >50% open space and adhering to the (county zoning plan),” the developers wrote in their rezoning application. “The lots may not be what everyone wants, but we believe there is a strong demand for a community like this in Iron Station.”
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This story was originally published August 4, 2026 at 1:56 PM.
