Well, the “McMansions” have officially arrived in the old Belmont city limits. The newly re-zoned/de-zoned property at the “Point” of North Main and North Central has its first of three, large, and some might say, out of place, homes facing the Sacred Heart Campus.
If you remember, a group led by Griffin Keel, sought to rezone/de-zone the former Lineberger property. The first step was to remove the “Historical Property” designation from the 1920’s-era mansion, then rezone the property to accomodate up to four lots on the remaining “empty” portion closest to the “point”.
Property tax hungry city council members quietly and quickly agreed to the deal and plan for “new homes”. Through this spring and summer, more than 40 huge 100+ year old oak, poplar, and maple trees were removed to accomodate the homes of the new water-users and (hopefully) contributing community members.
The older homes in the neighborhood, most dating from the 1930’s and older, are large and welcoming, but neither pretentious or out-of-place. There are just a few empty lots along Main Street and Central. We hope they don’t meet this fate.
McMansions occur when people feel the need to fill-in established neighborhoods with oversized homes for their oversized “need”. Your home may be worth a lot, but beware, “a lot” means something completely different to the carpetbagger developers who have discovered our fair town.
The Belmont Front Porch 
We agree – however, the three homes being built have already been purchased, and not by yankees. It was unfortunate that the City Council vote to rezone the property did not take into consideration the “Neighborhood Preservation” that was unanimously voted in as part of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Three of the incumbents who are running for reelection vote for these typse of rezones, but live in fully-built out neighborhoods. We wonder why it has taken so long for a skatepark to be built at Davis Park. Could it be that the former police chief lives in that neighborhood? The land (the lower tennis courts) has been available for use since 1990.
These homes are a travesty! Who in the world would want to buy one – except a Yankee who is used to living in a row house on a busy street up north?
I was sad to see the trees go.
This property is lodged between 2 busy streets and is only steps away from a McDonalds for goodness sake. I wouldn’t want to live there, but you are over reacting.
And as far as beeing “oversized”, have you seen the sizes of the historic homes on Main street? These new homes are in keeping with the area.