MINT HILL, N.C. — As plans for a funeral home relocation in a Mint Hill neighborhood continue to linger, so do mixed reactions from folks who live near it.
"I think it’s a bad idea to locate it right here," neighbor James Matthews said.
"If it's going to be a business, I would rather have dead people there as opposed to living people coming there shooting it up," said a speaker at the public hearing.
McEwen Funeral Home currently sits less than a mile from this site on Matthews-Mint Hill Rd.
The owners say they’ve outgrown their current location and are pushing for a new one, with efforts to move their facility on McWhirter and Fairview Road.
"The building's floor plans are not conducive to today’s families' wants and needs it has a lot of unusable space," McEwen Funeral Home owner Steve Hodge said. "Mint Hill continues to grow and a new building allows us to better serve families."
Some neighbors argue a funeral home at the entrance of their neighborhood could drive the property value of the more than 60 homes surrounding the location to the ground.
"A lot of people don’t want to live in a neighborhood behind a funeral home," neighbor Mike Vance said. "Neighborhoods around funeral homes lose value by about 6%. That's anywhere between $16,000 to $65,000 per house in loss."
Residents also discussed privacy issues along with growing concerns about infrastructure and congestion.
"It takes anywhere between four to seven minutes to get out on this road sometimes," Matthews said. "This neighborhood is a one way in and a one way out, it can only contribute to the problem."
They said the delays would also impact emergency crews trying to enter the neighborhood.
"It’s a nightmare, we would be literally trapped here," Vance said.
As the controversy continues, it's up to town leaders to give the official thumbs up or thumbs down on the relocation.
Town leaders recommend having another town meeting for residents as they continue the discussion.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.