Growing Gastonia: Charlotte’s population boom spreads across the Catawba River

GASTONIA, N.C. — There are 30,000 new homes already planned for construction in Gaston County, and the new building boom has leaders taking a new look at planning for the growth.

Channel 9’s Gaston County Report Ken Lemon found that the growth is already having a big impact on the community.

Take the area off New Hope Road at Hudson Boulevard, for example. This time last year, it was a grove of trees. Next year, there will be houses filling these mostly empty lots.

All of them back up to David Keim’s home. He’s one of several people who can look out their back window and know there are at least 30,000 new people on the way.

“So large, it was rumbling our house,” Keim said, talking about the machinery nearby.

It was supposed to be his retirement home when he moved in 20 years ago.

“Cheated really, we have a lot of neighbors that are moving out,” Keim told Lemon.

He lives in southeastern Gaston County, which is seeing big growth. There are more homes under construction right across the street from the new development in his backyard.

“It’s a shame,” he said.

April Jakel lives nearby, and she sees the same issue.

“You drive down the road and you don’t know if you are on the right street because everything that looked familiar to you is gone,” Jakel said.

Wil Neumann, a former state representative from Gaston County, says he’s watching the growth like a hawk.

“The projects coming in are some of the biggest that this county has ever seen,” Neumann said.

He said as Charlotte has grown, so have the surrounding counties. He said people moving to Charlotte have avoided the Catawba River Crossing, and now there’s nowhere else to grow.

The county’s director of planning and zoning says this growth spurt far exceeds previous ones.

Quicker. It’s a lot quicker," said Jamie Kanboroglu, the director of planning and zoning in Gaston County. “We have over 220 developments that are either proposed or already approved.”

And that doesn’t include apartments or numbers from every part of Gaston County. This year, they decided the county needs a new plan to handle all of the growth.

“We have hired a consultant to assist us with redoing the comprehensive land use plan,” Kanboroglu said.

She said they’re working with local governing bodies to prepare for growth, and to help people like David Keim. He doesn’t object to growth; he just doesn’t want so much of it, so close to home.

Kanboroglu said growth is slowly spreading to other parts of the county. She hopes the new comprehensive plan will help them keep the growth spread out with resources to support each new development.

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