Commercial Electrician in Waxhaw, NC

The railroad crossing at North Carolina 16 and Broome Street in Waxhaw will be closed several days next week.

WAXHAW, N.C. — A railroad crossing in downtown Waxhaw will be closed several days due to maintenance work, CSX announced Tuesday.

The railroad crossing at North Carolina 16 and Broome Street in Waxhaw will be shut down for four days while crews perform essential maintenance, the company announced. The closure is scheduled for the week of Oct. 30.

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CSX said detour signage will be prominently posted along North Carolina 16 to help drivers get around the closure while the repairs are being made. Heavy traffic is expected due to the disruption. Drivers should plan accordingly and allow extra time if they must drive through downtown Waxhaw next week.

The town of Waxhaw says it appreciates everyone's patience as CSX works to ensure the safety and efficiency of the railroads. Drivers can view the status of the road closure on the Union County Sheriff's Office app.

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Union County school board members are publicly criticizing the town of Waxhaw’s willingness to entertain large development projects that could add to already-crammed schools in the area.

Gary Sides, who has served on the Union County Public Schools’ Board of Education since 2014, spoke at two different meetings this month — the school board and Waxhaw Board of Commissioners — about his displeasure with plans that could see hundreds of homes built within the city limits.

Sides and UCPS board chair Kathy Heintel say the plans will bring families with school-aged children to the district and that the district has no room to put them in the Waxhaw area.

“I would not support any type of student realignment to accommodate, in my opinion, this foolish undertaking,” Sides said during the school board meeting Sept. 6. “This many homes, and undoubtedly this many students, is going to cause the need for an entirely additional cluster — high school, middle school and at least one elementary and maybe more. Folks, everybody in Union County is going to be sharing the pain.”

Waxhaw is already considering Adelina, a project that would bring nearly 500 homes. American Engineering also has proposed the project Polo Grounds, a large mixed-use plan that would include miles of greenway trails, parks, shops, restaurants and homes that could bring hundreds, maybe thousands, more people, according to the plan. The project’s website states the development team is “collaborating with town staff to create the best project possible.”

Waxhaw Mayor Ronald Pappas and the town board of commissioners in a joint statement to The Charlotte Observer say they share the citizens’ concerns about the potential impacts that ongoing and future development projects may have on UCPS.

Town officials also say the Polo Grounds project is not under consideration because the developer’s application was not complete. They say completed applications are reviewed by town planning staff and distributed to outside partnering agencies, including NCDOT, Duke Energy, and UCPS.

The joint statement said, “After review, town planning staff would make their recommendations on any project based on comments from our outside partnering agencies and if the project meets all town requirements.”

While Waxhaw commissioners make the final decision on projects, the school system will have to figure out where to send new residents’ kids.

Sides says he plans to fight any attempt at redistricting to support the new developments.

“I am not going to move existing UCPS families to make room for new ones,” Sides said.

Pappas and Waxhaw’s commissioners say they have seen the increasing strain on the school system, and it’s “a concern.”

“We are particularly concerned about UCPS’s reliance on bonds for funding,” the joint town statement reads, “and note with concern that while bonds have been approved for projects, implementation has faced obstacles such as sewer constraints, preventing the realization of these essential facilities.”

A day after Heintel and Sides spoke at a town commissioners meeting Sept. 12, Waxhaw’s planning board scheduled a special meeting for this Thursday. Among the agenda items: conditional rezoning for Adelina, a residential and mixed use development that includes 486 single family homes off of Providence Road South.

A public hearing on the development is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 10.

If Adelina is approved, Heintel told commissioners Sept. 12, those families will be districted to Marvin schools, where both Marvin Ridge middle and high schools are at or above capacity.

Heintel asked: “How can we put students from 480 houses into the Marvin cluster?”

U.S. Census estimates have consistently listed Union County among the fastest growing in North Carolina and the United States, according to the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.

In the past 30 years, Union County has added more than 150,000 residents. It’s projected to add nearly the same amount in the next 30 years, according to its 2050 Union County Comprehensive Plan.

Waxhaw’s population has more than doubled from April 2010 to April 2020, U.S. Census data reports, and it estimates the town’s population climbed 9.7% from 2020 to 2022.

That growth and talk of adding more development projects led to concerned residents questioning town officials, including Pappas, about school planning at a Waxhaw Town Hall forum in August.

Of eight elementary schools that include Waxhaw students, three are over capacity and the rest are nearing capacity, according to a UCPS 2022-23 enrollment data report. Kensington Elementary is at 138% capacity. All three middle schools are either slightly over or nearing capacity, and both Cuthbertson and Marvin Ridge high schools are over capacity. Parkwood High, the only other high school that draws Waxhaw students, is at 77% capacity.

Enrollment district-wide is forecast to decline each year by less than 1% across the next 10 years, according to a McKibben Demographic Research report presented to the school board May 2. It is unclear if yet-to-be approved developments are included in that forecast.

“Waxhaw is at capacity,” Heintel told Pappas and commissioners Sept. 12. “We worked hard on moving new developments where there was capacity so that families wouldn’t worry about redistricting. It seems that one town can change it all. We are all elected officials, and our residents are your residents. They don’t want redistricting.”

Timing is making the situation worse in Waxhaw, too.

UCPS falls in the top 10 in the state with facility needs above $400 million, and the district already has a 10-year bond plan in place. The long range plan addresses multiple older high school buildings, including the decades-old Parkwood High, additional land and a replacement building.

Cuthbertson and Marvin Ridge high schools are newer buildings and not on a list to add facilities to accommodate more students. The 10-year plan includes the $134 million bond Union County voters approved in November that will replace buildings at East Elementary in Monroe and Forest Hills High in Marshville.

“We have a long range plan. We should continue working on our older high schools,” Sides said. “I’m not going to shove them out of line for a new cluster.”

Sides says the earliest the district would be able to propose another bond package for school construction in Waxhaw is 2030. And even if voters approve money, the need for land would be close to 200 acres.

“Will your developer give us that? Sides said. “Will the town buy it for us? I would dare say you wouldn’t get students into (a building) until 2034. So, what do we do in the meantime?”

The answer, Sides proposes, is forcing students to schools that have room: the Marshville area of Union County (where Forest Hills High is located and west of Waxhaw) and Monroe. Marshville is more than 35 minutes from Waxhaw. Busing students that far would mean having to set up transportation hubs, where parents would be responsible for getting their child to the hub, and the district’s buses would pick them up from there.

“That’s an absolute transportation nightmare,” Sides said.

Heintel at the meeting Sept. 12 told the mayor and commissioners discussion needs to happen in person “instead of posting on Facebook.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2023, 6:00 AM.

Residents in Waxhaw are seeing rapid growth throughout the area and are questioning how the city plans maintain it.

WAXHAW, N.C. — Growth is coming to the town of Waxhaw and fast. Some living in the town have growing concerns with how leaders will adjust to so much change. The impacts could affect neighborhoods, schools, roads, and even businesses.

Jody Hoffman is a relator in Waxhaw and has called the town home for decades. She highlighted all the positives that drew her family to Waxhaw.

“You get a lot of people who are drawn to the quaintness and the quietness of Waxhaw, but with growth comes its own issues," she said.

As growth comes to Waxhaw, community members want to know how the town plans to adjust. Waxhaw's Planning Director Lisa Thompson told WCNC Charlotte there are several plans.

"We work with outside agencies, including Union County Public Schools, Union County Public Works and CBOT, we want to make sure we have the infrastructure as we're moving forward,” Thompson said.

Not every proposed project is getting the "green light" from town leaders. the Polo Grounds project is not under review for Waxhaw.

"We did not receive a complete application for the Polo Grounds," Thompson said. "So that's not under consideration at this time.”

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Waxhaw is one of the fastest-growing areas in North Carolina. Neighbors like Hoffman worry the rapid growth could build clusters throughout the area. Now, she’s questioning how city leaders will handle the rapid uptick of new homeowners.

"We don't have the industrial base to support great growth here," she said, "and no one wants to pay more in taxes than they can, so infrastructure depends upon the tax base."

Several community members described the growth in Waxhaw as "rapid" and "uncontrolled". However Thompson shares their data says otherwise.

"So folks would be surprised to learn that we three years ago, we're close to 400 new housing starts," she said. "This year from January through August, we've had 13. We expect that trend for the next two or three years."

WCNC Charlotte reached out to city leaders about the growth and its impact on Union County Public Schools. They sent us a statement saying in part, "We are steadfast in our commitment to working collaboratively with all stakeholders, including the UCPS and the BOE (Board of Education), to find sustainable solutions to our education system's challenges.”

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WCNC Charlotte also reached out to the district about the ongoing growth. A spokesperson sent us a statement that reads, "The Union County Board of Education and UCPS staff will continue to monitor the development plans as discussions move forward and information is released."

Hoffman hopes there will be more community involvement with the ongoing developments.

“We want to keep the town small and maintain it, it's lovely, small-town America flavor,” she said.

The next public hearing in front of the board of commissioners for the proposal of the Adelina project is scheduled in November.

Homeowners voiced their concerns over rapid growth in Waxhaw.

WAXHAW, N.C. — Waxhaw is one of the fastest-growing areas in North Carolina.

Residents said some of the reasons for moving to the western Union County town included a small-town feel, good schools and safe neighborhoods.

However, some voiced their concerns over Angelina, a proposed project for 500 homes off Providence Road, which is often congested.

Several residents of Providence Grove and Inverness on Providence attended a meeting on August 2 and heard from developer, Shea Homes Carolinas and its request to annex and rezone over 200 acres.

That would affect the existing developments by redirecting traffic from Cuthbertson Road to Providence Road (Route 16).

Dan Yanik moved to the area from another part of Union County to escape traffic.

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"We're backed up to a nice wooded, walking trail preserve area. And it's been fantastic living here," Yanik said. "But now that road looks like it may follow us down here, same problem as we had at our old home."

Like many of his neighbors, Rich Zapata, who serves on the board for Providence Road, said he has two concerns.

"By adding over 500 homes to this proposal, you're adding at least 1000 to 1200 new vehicles. You're inviting people that don't belong in these neighborhoods to freely drive through. So, that's one concern," Zapata told WCNC Charlotte.

The other concern, Zapata said, is about safety.

He said, "If you're creating these roads to alleviate the traffic flow of Providence Road or Cuthbertson, you're inviting people to take a shortcut to our neighborhoods onto Providence Road. You have children here. There's a bus stop behind us. There's a playground here all the kids come to the main road and the bikes all day long.

Resident, Caitlin Baily, agreed.

"There was never originally intent for a road to connect through Inverness on Providence, and then on to Providence Grove. Now that has completely been altered, and it's making our communities a direct bypass and that's very concerning," Bailey said. "With kids in the road and cutting into Providence Road neighborhood, it's very concerning for me as a mom, a parent, a runner."

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Zapata added that they don't mind the growth in Waxhaw but the infrastructure is not in place for the rate the town is growing.

"The three local schools are already over capacity. You have a sewage plant that is local to the neighborhood and that's at capacity," Zapata explained. "You only have one road into Waxhaw and one road out so you don't have those elements to add all the people, all the cars, all the extra sewage concerns. You don't have the schools. Growth is great but you have to be ready."

Myles Spatz, who moved his family to the neighborhood 10 years ago, said the road running through their neighborhood is already busy just for the families who already live there.

"If we were to connect a proposed development to our neighborhood, we would add from what I have heard, an estimated 2000 cars a day from the Cuthbertson Road area, the new development, all bypassing Providence Road by coming through our backyards and turning out to Route 16," Spatz said. "That's further compounded by the fact that there are no plans, as of yet, to improve the existing exit from our neighborhood onto Route 16."

Joe Luminoso, President of Inverness on Providence's Homeowners Association, said the builder has talked to them.

"Developer says they're looking into it but the town is forcing them," Luminoso said. "The town is forcing them to do the connection. So, the builder is kind of marching to the town's side."

When asked if he thought there was a solution, Luminoso suggested, "Don't build, but we know that's not gonna happen right. Progress is progress. For our immediate concerns, the best solution is going to be if you must connect the street, put a security barrier between it, so only emergency vehicles can come through. Not a cut-through for traffic from Cuthertson up to 16."

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A spokesperson for the town of Waxhaw sent WCNC Charlotte the following statement:

"The applicant for the development on Providence Rd is in the early phase of a comprehensive planning review process. Nothing has been approved. Inverness residents reached out to the Town of Waxhaw and Staff will be meeting with their HOA next week."

Luminoso also said the residents of Waxhaw who are complaining need to get involved.

"People complain. People push," he said. "Don't expect your neighborhood to be pushy. If you don't like something, you got to be vocal. In a unified voice is what the town, what the state will listen to."

A town hall forum is scheduled for Monday night from 6:30 to 8:00 at Five Stones Church in Waxhaw. All of the area's development will be up for discussion.

Great Wagon Road Distilling Co. is opening a new location in downtown Waxhaw, adding to the company’s flagship location in NoDa and bar in Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

“We’re excited to be part of the Waxhaw community,” owner Ollie Mulligan told CharlotteFive. “We’ve created an industrial, yet cozy feel — it’s going to be a great cocktail experience.”

The new 3,000 square foot location on Waxhaw’s North Main Street is expected to open the second week of September. The distillery takes the place of the former Bike Depot — which was owned by a friend of Mulligan’s.

“When I moved here in ‘94, he was one of the Irish guys I hung out with — and now I’ve bought this building from him,” Mulligan said, laughing about the full circle moment.

For the Great Wagon Road Distilling team, it’s been a family affair putting personal touches on the space. For instance, Great Wagon Road distiller Michelle Piechowicz made all of the light fixtures. “They’re chandeliers made out of whiskey barrels that look like they’re exploding,” Mulligan said. “You’ll never have seen them anywhere else.”

Other touches include a dropped tin ceiling and extensive soundproofing to create a relaxed ambiance. Plans call for a 60-foot long bar — where you can get, as Mulligan says — “the best old fashioned you’ll ever have.”

Perhaps the most special feature of this new location is an Irish snug, or private room. “The snug is a nice intimate addition to the space,” Mulligan said. “In Ireland, a snug is where marriages are arranged, cattle are sold, and quiet deals are done.”

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The Waxhaw location — branded as GWR WXW — will have similarities and differences compared to the NoDa location. Like NoDa customers, GWR WXW guests can also enjoy whiskey pulled straight from the barrel, yet there will not be a kitchen. There is, however, a heavy duty electric hookup outside of the building so that food trucks can plug in without noisy generators.

GWR WXW will produce some spirits that will only be available in Waxhaw. “We’re getting honey from a local beekeeper, and are working to make more local partnerships,” Mulligan said.

Also expect Great Wagon Road Distilling staples like Rúa American single malt whiskey, Quinn’s barrel aged whiskey, 704 gin and Salamander vodka. The distillery also has a tequila in the works now that they’ve secured a partner in Mexico.

GWR WXW will sell bottles to go, however the bar experience is the big draw. “We’ll make everything right in front of you from scratch,” Mulligan said in his relaxed, Irish accent. “And we have the best gin and tonic you’ve ever had.”

Location: 610 Anderson St, Charlotte, NC 28205

Location: 122 W North Main St, Waxhaw, NC 28173

Instagram: @gwrnoda