HUNTERSVILLE – Commissioners approved plans Monday, May 16, to allow mega-retailer Walmart to build a 150,000-square-foot store at the Bryton development along N.C. 115.

This is the first major retailer for the massive 400-acre mixed-use development planned across N.C. 115 from North Mecklenburg High School.
Walmart will take up about 3 1/2 acres of the site.

Alison Nichols was the only resident to oppose the move. Bringing Walmart to that development would hurt the home values and types of homes planned for Bryton, she said.

“I’m really surprised anyone would think Walmart is part of transit-oriented development,” she said. “ … This is not the type of development I expect from this town.”

Commissioner Charlie Jeter said the board could only vote on the legality of the sketch plan and not their personal opinion. “I may agree with everything the speaker just said,” Jeter said after Nichols make her comments, “but with that being said, from a purely legal perspective, there is nothing in this plan that we can cite to turn it down.”

Construction on the store could begin later this year.