Council Quickies: Airport Plan, Providence Square Project Move Forward

Charlotte City Council held an action review, public forum and business meeting on Monday night, the body’s last such meeting of the year. Council held a vote on whether to send a new noise abatement plan that would shift flight plans for planes departing the Charlotte Douglas International Airport to the FAA for approval. We reported on the plan’s presentation last week.

On the Agenda:

• Providence Square Redevelopment
• Public Forum
• Part 150 Airport Proposal

Providence Square Redevelopment

During the action review portion of the meeting, council heard a presentation on a major Providence Square redevelopment of 105 acres near the intersection of Providence and Old Providence roads, just north of the McAlpine Creek Greenway. 

The plan, which first came in front of council for a rezoning hearing in April, includes 100,000 square feet of grocery space; 80,000 square feet of retail; 45,000 square feet of office space; and 28,000 of recreational and/or daycare space plus nearly 2,000 mixed-income housing units.

A breakdown of the proposal shows developers are asking the city to contribute $6,877,839 million in tax-increment grant (TIG) funding to be reimbursed out of the total of $69.55 million, with $12,122,161 million coming from the county.

The redevelopment would support the city’s goal to create more 10-minute neighborhoods, as it would include walkable restaurants, entertainment, services, enhanced open spaces and direct greenway access for nearby residents, according to the presentation. 

Other benefits of the Providence Square development include 108 affordable housing units with household income limitations for 15 years, a 4.4-acre land donation to be used for a park including a $1 million contribution to activate said park, and 2.1 miles of corridor improvements along Providence Road that include new traffic signals, medians, lane modifications, and new and upgraded pedestrian crossings. 

Later in the meeting, council unanimously approved moving forward with the city’s portion of TIG grants so as to begin Providence Square infrastructure construction, though the county will still need to vote on its share. District rep Tariq Bokhari emphasized that the vote was just the beginning of a multi-step process with multiple rezonings still needed at the site(s).

Also on the action review agenda was another public safety/quality of life presentation, one of a series that CMPD is presenting to council beginning in November. 

CMPD’s presentation included data stating that, since passing a new ordinance increasing penalties for street racing and street takeovers in December 2023, the department has responded to and tracked 41 such events, during that time issuing 14 search warrants and 54 citations while seizing 22 vehicles and making nine arrests.

Ed Driggs said he’d like to see people feel safe going out in Uptown at night again, but he’s heard that people don’t see enough police around in the area. CMPD is reporting a 5% increase in arrests in Uptown and a 200% increase in zone checks compared to last year to date.

Public Forum

Amanda O’Hara kicked off the night’s public forum by stating that volunteers with the city’s Keep Charlotte Beautiful campaign have overstepped their boundaries, removing signs honoring a deceased neighbor from private property.

Community organizer Apryl Lewis discussed the displacement at Lamplighter Inn, where residents have been forced to live without essential utilities for months. Lewis asked that the property off Freedom Drive be turned into a transition center to help residents facing displacement.

Fellow tenants’ rights organizer Jessica Moreno asked the city to implement stronger code enforcement throughout the city to better address property owners like the one at Lamplighter who could not meet the most basic housing standards on his property.

One resident said she grew up in Charlotte and left when she became an adult, but since returning in 2009, “every landlord I’ve had has been a slumlord.” Today, she’s facing homelessness for the third time. “The help for displaced families is slow and unclear.”

Carolyn Toney lived in Tanglewood, another complex where residents are facing mass displacement as new property owners have notified all residents that their leases will not be renewed. “Code enforcement is doing their job but we need the city to back them up,” Toney said.

Housing advocate Wil Russell asked that council step up to help the folks who were speaking about displacement on Monday night rather than take the easy route and do nothing or listen to the special interests that may fund their re-election campaigns.

Rev. Jacotron Potts, associate pastor with Park Church, said community organizers are working diligently to hold slumlords accountable. He quoted Ronald Reagan, asking that council “Don’t be afraid to see what you see” when people present them with the failures of code enforcement in Charlotte.

“I think what you’re seeing is it’s time for us to get back on track,” said Mayor Vi Lyles following the public forum, adding that the city must find better ways to hold bad landlords accountable. “We have to begin to adjust to what’s happening. There are too many people out here that care deeply about this community for us not to do what we have the power to do.”

Queen City Nerve will have more in-depth reporting on what’s going on at both Lamplighter Inn and Tanglewood Apartments in our new issue out on Dec. 11.

Part 150 Airport Proposal

Council also held a public hearing on Monday to get resident feedback about the airport’s Part 150 study, which may lead to changing flight paths for departing flights out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), before council members voted on whether to send the plan to FAA for the approval. 

A number of American Airlines pilots showed up in support of the proposal, saying that the plan will improve efficiency, reduce flight times and reduce carbon emissions significantly.

CleanAIRE NC executive director Jeffrey Robbins spoke in support of the new plan but added, “It is paramount that community engagement be at the center of this effort and discussion.”

The first speaker opposing the plan was a resident of Eagle Lake, which borders the airport to the south, and said he was speaking in support of his neighbors in Steeleberry Acres who wanted to see the vote delayed until the effects on their neighborhood could be better borne out.

One Steeleberry Acres resident said she went to a community info meeting to learn more about the extensive plan but was met with poster boards and told she was free to ask questions. She said the plan was too complex for her to know what questions to ask. She said she wanted to know more about environmental impacts and effects on property values.

Tariq Bokhari said that, as much as the proposal is a “no-brainer” for the airport and therefore the city as a whole, the community engagement outreach wasn’t up to the standard he would’ve liked to see. He believed that there will come a day when there’s an outpouring of reactions from upset residents who didn’t know this was coming, and for that reason he would not support it. 

Dante Anderson emphasized that there would be no benefit in delaying Monday night’s vote because the vote was only to send it to the FAA, which will then put the plan through its own review that will include more rounds of community engagement.

Renee Johnson said she has an issue with the lack of outreach, adding that the map included in last week’s presentation to show potential new flight paths was not specific enough to show what streets and neighborhoods will be most affected.

CLT CEO Haley Gentry said community engagement for the plan started in 2022. 

District rep Tiawana Brown said there were things that could have been done better in regards to transparency with the community outreach, but she was in full support of the plan not only for her district constituents but for the city as a whole.

Council voted 8-2 to approve sending the plan to the FAA for further review. Bokhari and Johnson were the two No votes.

Council will hold its final meeting of the year, a zoning meeting, on Monday, Dec. 16.