MINT HILL, N.C. — A company is asking to rezone land to build a funeral home in Mint Hill and residents are not happy about it.
A dozen residents shared their opposition to the idea Thursday at a public hearing because they fear it will come with safety and financial implications.
“At the end of the day, a funeral home is a storage facility for dead bodies,” resident James Matthews. “Dead human people. Not really compatible with families.”
Officials with McEwen Funeral Home said it has outgrown its current location on Matthews-Mint Hill Road, and they want to replace it with a new building on five acres of land near McWhirter and Fairview roads.
Mike Vance fears the move will increase traffic near his growing neighborhood.
“They could stay where they are, and not affect anybody,” he said.
He also doesn’t want his childhood home to decrease in value.
“If this happens, all of our investments are going to be destroyed,” Vance said. “And I don’t know why our town commissioners would even consider supporting something that hurts so many people.”
Dozens of people filled the town’s commission chambers for the rezoning request, including state Rep. Trisha Cotham.
Some neighbors said they’re on board with McEwen’s proposal.
“If they’re as classic an organization as they’ve been to this point, I don’t fear their cooperation in being a good neighbor in a good community to support,” a resident said.
Matthews said that he is OK with McEwen moving elsewhere in Mint Hill as long as it’s not near his home.
“There are plenty of other locations where they could go that would have far less impacts on the local community,” Matthews said.
The town’s planning board will vote on the rezoning request later this month and commissioners will give it the red or green light on March 14.
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