A variety of resolutions and development applications related to the McCandless Crossing retail and office development on McKnight Road were approved by McCandless town council during its meeting Monday night.

The LA Fitness at McCandless Crossing gained unanimous approval of its land development application. Town manager Tobias Cordek said issues regarding lighting and traffic have been resolved, and plans to build the 45,000-square-foot fitness center can move forward.

Sanitary sewers and gas pipeline plans expected to benefit the site's surrounding neighborhood also sailed through approval. But the approval of a subdivision application for LA Fitness will provide the greatest benefit to the town, Mr. Cordek said.

He explained that a traffic study on the McKnight Road and Babcock Boulevard corridor was conducted in the 1990s. It outlined five projects that would improve traffic in that area when development occurs.

Among them was the extension of Duncan Avenue from Babcock to McKnight.

"What's being completed now is the extension of Duncan Avenue West," Mr. Cordek said. "Our study showed that these improvements could handle an additional 6,600 trips, generated by development in the area.

"LA Fitness is now designated 236 of those trips, which means that's approximately how many cars will go in and out of the business' driveway during morning and evening rush hours. This means [LA Fitness] gets to pay its share of the construction costs, which amounts to approximately $10,000 a year for the next 20 years."

Bob McGurk, project manager for AdVenture Development, LLC., the eastern North Carolina company that owns McCandless Crossing's 130 acres, said he was pleased the projects were approved and excited to see many years of planning finally reach reality.

"We did a lot of planning and spent a lot of time with the township's administrative staff to get to this point," said Mr. McGurk, noting that the project is on schedule and the new Lowe's home improvement center will open on Nov. 12.

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