Council Quickies: New Housing Developments in the Works

Charlotte City Council held its monthly zoning meeting Monday night. Zoning meetings are split into two parts: zoning decisions, in which they vote on whether to approve or deny petitions; and hearings, during which developers are able to present their plans, residents are able to speak in support or opposition, and council members are able to discuss before the decision is scheduled for a later date.

Below, we’ve included some notable examples of both from Monday night’s meeting, including a few newly proposed housing developments.

On the Agenda

• Zoning Decisions
• Zoning Hearings

Zoning Decisions

Council unanimously approved a petition for Mecklenburg County to build a new community resource center between East WT Harris Boulevard and North Sharon Amity Road in east Charlotte. 

District rep Marjorie Molina said she had spoken with Mark Jerrell, her counterpart on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, who filled her in on an exciting range of state-of-the-art amenities that will be offered to residents at the site, including dentistry.

The new center will be located only about a 4-mile drive from the Ella B. Scarborough Community Resource Center, which opened in October 2023. 

Council also approved a petition allowing for construction of 70 multi-family attached units on a 12-acre parcel on Sunset Road across from Peachtree Road in northwest Charlotte. The project will include sidewalk connectivity between the site and a neighborhood center at Beatties Ford Road and Sunset Road located just over a half-mile away. 

Zoning Hearings

Moving on to the hearings portion of the meeting, council got a first look at a petition that would allow for construction of a 306-unit apartment complex on 11.5 acres between Queen City Drive and Tuckaseegee Road in west Charlotte.

LaWana Mayfield asked why staff recommends residential housing developments in an area that is both located in the airport noise overlay district and bordering I-485. She asked for staff to clarify how that squares with the city’s environmental efforts. 

Staff said the project was deemed to be appropriate due to the high need for housing in the area.

Mayfield pointed out that, while the city must notify potential developers about the airport noise overlay, owners are not necessarily then going to notify potential renters about the noise. 

As a point of order, Ed Driggs stated that there is no policy requiring staff to consider such things and suggested Mayfield bring any new policy suggestions up at the committee level.

Renee Johnson agreed with Mayfield, relating it to an issue that both reps bring up regularly about looking more deeply at cumulative impacts of all proposed developments in an area rather than just considering the impacts of one petition at a time as is the current policy.

“If the hearings aren’t the time when we should bring this up, then when?” asked Johnson. 

Another petition would pave the way for the construction of 78 triplex units and 79 single-family units along Moores Chapel Road across from Performance Road in far west Charlotte. Two neighbors attended in support of the petition, citing the developer’s agreement to increase the minimum backing buffer to their property up to 80 feet.

Some council members on Monday night flagged what Renee Johnson called a “trend” of rezoning petitions like one proposed in Castleton Gardens in which developers are asking to split a parcel in half and build two single-family homes. 

There were two such petitions presented in the same neighborhood during Monday night’s meeting and a third near Nevin Park in north Charlotte — all of which are asking to split parcels that are already under an acre. 

“We hear what the conversation has been” surrounding these types of petitions, said Dave Pettine with the city’s Planning, Design & Development Department. “We are taking that into consideration and we hope to have some additional dialogue to share with y’all in the coming months about how we can continue to evaluate these, their appropriateness and what that means for development patterns.” 

Speaking on the same subject, Marjorie Molina said, “As we continue to see these as a body we’re going to have some additional convos … we have new constraints and new realities beyond our control but in the interim as we make these decisions we have to be very responsible with the trust that’s given us.” 

Crosland Southeast is proposing an affordable housing development off Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road near Brookshire Boulevard. Of the 80 apartments to be built, 70% will be reserved for households earning less than 80% average median income, depending on approval of Housing Trust Fund dollars.

LaWana Mayfield, who lives in the area, asked about traffic impacts, specifically referencing an existing turn off of Mt. Holly Huntersville that she called a “Mario Go Kart, state-created turn that is extremely confusing.” She asked for an additional community meeting before council makes its decision so area residents can better understand the project. 

Read more: All of our past Charlotte City Council coverage.

Tim Sittema with Crosland emphasized that the project is on a tight timeline and holding another community meeting could make them miss deadlines for tax credits and Housing Trust Fund dollars that would make the project possible.

He pointed out that the plan is for affordable senior housing, which would lessen the traffic impacts as compared to housing for families and other residents. 

Charlotte City Council will hold an action review, public forum and business meeting on Monday, Feb. 24.