In March, Troutman Town Council turned down a convenience store and gas station at the corner of Perth Road and State Park Road. That's the same stretch of Perth Road where Winding Forest Drive meets it at Clontz Hill Road. Council members who voted no said the project didn't match the town's land use maps and its vision for the site.
That map is being replaced right now. Troutman is writing a 2055 Comprehensive Plan. It goes to the Planning Board on November 23, and council could adopt it on December 10. Whatever happens next at that corner, and along the rest of Perth Road, depends more on those two meetings than on any developer's next application.
What Council Weighed on March 12
The applicant was J.T. Alexander and Sons, the Iredell County company behind Home Run Market. Its president, David Alexander, told council his grandfather started the business in 1935. The proposal covered a 4.5-acre tract and a convenience store of about 5,000 square feet with fuel pumps. Between the first community meeting in October and the council vote, the plan changed a lot, as Iredell Free News reported.
| Element | October community meeting | March 12 council hearing |
|---|---|---|
| Car wash | Proposed | Removed after neighbors objected |
| Building design | Standard | Changed to fit the residential area around it |
| Lighting | Standard | Redesigned to stay inside the property |
| Buffer | Required landscaping | Extra 4-foot berm and 8-foot fence |
| Screening | Required landscaping | Plantings to hide the pumps from across Perth Road |
| Intersection | Turn lanes required by the traffic study | Plus a $512,000 offer to rework the State Park Road Y, if NCDOT approved |
None of it changed the result. The Planning Board had already voted unanimously on February 27 to recommend denial. It cited conflicts with the land use plan and said the use didn't fit the area. Council voted 3–2 against the rezoning. Tonya Bartlett, Felina Harris and George Harris voted no, and Nick Jaroszynski and Eddie Nau voted yes. After the vote, the company withdrew its request to be annexed into the town.
The traffic study for the project covered four intersections. One of them was Perth Road at Clontz Hill Road and Winding Forest Drive. So the town treated this corner as part of the same stretch of road Winding Forest drives every day.
A 2022 Map Change Made the Decision
The town staff report explains what the corner was zoned for, and when that changed. Troutman's 2018 Strategic Plan put the corner inside an overlay called the HWY 21/State Park Gateway. That overlay called the area the gateway to Lake Norman State Park and said "limited commercial and residential development may be appropriate."
In 2022, the town updated the map and changed the area to "Special Lake Uses." That category calls for low-density development of two to three single-family homes per acre, with room for parks, greenways, nature preserves and farming. Under its current zoning, the parcel could hold about eight homes on half-acre lots.
Speakers at the March hearing leaned on that designation. Several said they bought their homes counting on the plan that marked the area as residential. The same staff report also says the town began writing a brand-new land use plan as of January 1, 2026, because growth had far outrun the projections in both the 2035 Future Land Use Plan and the 2018 Strategic Plan.
The town is replacing the map that decided the case less than a year after the vote. "Special Lake Uses" will carry weight in the next rezoning fight only if the 2055 plan keeps it.
The Y Intersection Stays as It Is
Neighbors who spoke in March listed traffic backups, curves that block the view, poor sight lines when turning left onto State Park Road, and what Iredell Free News called "the awkward intersection turn." The developer's $512,000 was meant to remove the dangerous right turn at that Y.
Without that offer, there's no money set aside to change the intersection. Town Planner Andrew Ventresca told council the fix isn't funded in the State Transportation Improvement Program. He said that means it would likely be well over a decade before NCDOT considers or pays for it. The site plan did set aside extra land along both Perth Road and State Park Road for any future improvements NCDOT decides to make.
Council left a way back for the project. Iredell Free News reported that Councilmember George Harris named three things a new request would need:
- Guaranteed NCDOT approval of the intersection redesign.
- A firm, quick timeline for building the intersection and moving the traffic light.
- Support from neighbors for both the store and the road work.
He also said the earlier planning and community meetings had shown "zero" community support for the project.
What the New Plan Has Heard So Far
Kimley-Horn is the consultant writing the 2055 Comprehensive Plan. In a June update, survey respondents named traffic and road conditions, along with limited retail and restaurant choices, among Troutman's biggest challenges. That was before the summer and fall input sessions.
By late September, Iredell Free News reported that about 100 residents came to two feedback sessions at Town Hall. The process had collected views from more than 200 people, over 4,500 data points and more than 475 written comments. Asked how Troutman has changed over the past 10 years, 46.3 percent of online survey respondents said for the worse, 42.6 percent said for the better and 11.1 percent said it stayed the same.
The same report listed five guiding directions for the plan:
- Safer connections and less congestion
- Growth that keeps pace with infrastructure
- Conservation and recreation
- Housing choices that respect neighborhood and rural character
- Investment downtown and in local businesses, with economic development in the right places
The input also favored selective retail such as grocery stores, restaurants and professional services. It described Lake Norman and Lake Norman State Park as part of Troutman's identity. Perth Road sits between those two points, so these themes bear directly on it, even though the summaries don't name the road.
In June, officials did a mapping exercise that pointed commercial growth toward Main Street and industrial growth toward I-77 Exits 42 and 45 in the 2036 to 2045 window. More retail near I-77 and Highway 21 came later, in 2046 to 2055. The plan's online comment map lets anyone pin a comment to a specific spot, including places along Perth Road.
The Calendar Between Now and the End of 2027
Two other timelines shape how fast Perth Road can change. Since September 24, 2025, Troutman has been under a development moratorium because its wastewater system ran out of capacity. The moratorium stops new residential subdivisions and limits most new nonresidential projects. As of the July council meeting, it was reported to continue through the end of 2027. The first big fix is a 24,000-foot sewer line from Weathers Creek Road to the Wiggins Road pump station, which connects Troutman's system to Mooresville's.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| March 12, 2026 | Council denies the Home Run Market rezoning, 3–2 |
| August 5, 2026 | Fuller & Co. Construction submits the low bid of $7,084,377 for the Phase 1 sewer line |
| September 2026 | Second round of comprehensive plan workshops at Town Hall |
| October 2026, date to be announced | Joint Town Council and Planning Board session on the draft plan |
| November 23, 2026 | Planning Board takes up the 2055 Comprehensive Plan |
| December 10, 2026 | Possible council adoption |
| Summer 2027 | Phase 1 sewer line completion forecast in the town's project sheet |
| End of 2027 | Moratorium reported to continue through this point |
The bid results are posted on the Town of Troutman's website. Under the bid documents, the contract has to be approved by Town Council and the state environmental agency, NCDEQ, before it can be awarded. Until the town has more sewer capacity, the moratorium keeps new residential subdivisions on hold, no matter what the plan says after December 10. The plan's future land use map, which goes to the Planning Board on November 23, will show what the town expects to sit at Perth Road and State Park Road once that capacity arrives.
For more context on how Troutman ties the state park to downtown, see our look at what's new on Wagner Street. Our Winding Forest neighborhood page covers the community itself.
If you live off Perth Road and want to understand how the 2055 plan or the sewer timeline could affect your home's value, I'm happy to go through it with you. At Preston Realty Group, I follow these Troutman decisions closely because they shape the streets my clients live on. Let's Connect.
