Council Quickies: Forest Park, Brookhill and Shuffletown in the Spotlight

Charlotte City Council held its monthly zoning meeting on Monday night, voting on a petition that involves the displacement of dozens of families in northeast Charlotte and getting a first look at a petition in northwest Charlotte that is drawing strong opposition from neighbors.  

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 of the most notable discussions and decisions from the meeting.

On the Agenda:

• Forest Park Displacement
• Brookhill Village Overlay District
• Other Decisions
• Shuffletown Childcare Center
• Other Hearings

Forest Park Displacement

Renee Johnson was the first to speak on a petition involving Forest Park mobile home community off Prosperity Church Road that would displace 60 households. She said she was “deeply sympathetic” to the families but emphasized that city council does not have the authority to stop the sale of the Forest Park land.

“Our hands are tied in respect to stopping the land sale itself,” said Johnson, adding that residents on Monday received a notice on Monday to vacate the property by June 21, 2026, regardless of how Monday’s vote went. She said she has worked to ensure that all the affected residents, many of whom do not speak English, are receiving clear info.

Johnson said she mediated a deal with the developer, who agreed to provide financial assistance for residents, additional rent relief in the coming months and an extension of the move-out timeline to reduce disruption for the families.

Read more: Forest Park Residents Face Displacement

“My vote to approve this rezoning does not reflect a lack of concern for the residents impacted, it reflects the legal framework within the city that we must operate [within],” said Johnson, who promised to continue working with the displaced families to find affordable housing.

Most Forest Park residents own their mobile homes, if not the land they sit on, though some told council in June that they had built additions onto their homes that made them immobile. 

Council member JD Mazuera Arias addressed the struggles of Charlotte’s Latino population, stating, “In a community that’s continuously under attack and criminalized, this is unfortunate, this is devastating.” 

He said he would support the rezoning but also committed to working with affected community members.

Ed Driggs said he had never seen a situation like this one in his 12 years on council, stating it’s been “difficult for all of us.” He thanked Johnson for helping navigate the issue. 

The rezoning was approved unanimously. Developers will build a mixed-use development comprising 400 housing units, retail, and other uses on the property after the residents leave next summer.

Brookhill Village Overlay District

Council moved on to a vote on whether to enact a unique overlay district created specifically to allow for more uses on the land that was home to Brookhill Village.

The overlay district petition was created because the city technically owns the land but there is a 99-year lease on the property that was signed in 1950 and doesn’t expire until 2049, which limits what sorts of development happens there.

The overlay would allow for short-term uses on the land including pop-ups, markets, food truck rallies and other similar events. 

City staff had concerns about streets and other infrastructure that’s gone neglected for years, but the current lease holders don’t want to fund any such changes because whatever temporary development they put there won’t generate enough revenue to justify it.

Dave Pettine with the city’s planning department said staff was working with developers to find a compromise right up to the start of the meeting. 

They introduced an amendment to the petition ensuring that if certain long-term developments come on line for the property — not markets or food truck rallies but buildings with certificates of occupancy — they will trigger a commitment for the lease holder to fund infrastructure improvements. 

Ed Driggs said the proposal does not go with the rules that the city operates by but this is a unique situation that allows council to create solutions at a property that “was an eyesore to Charlotte … a blight.”

Driggs said council will “exercise its discretion in the public interest” to approve the petition “despite the reasonable position taken by the city staff” not to recommend it.

Council approved the petition, so folks should expect to see more activation on the Brookhill property in the new year.

Other Decisions

Council approved a petition greenlighting the development of 73 townhomes and up to 324 apartments on IBM Drive near Innovation Park in University City, with a commitment to reserve 30% of all units including for-sale townhomes to remain affordable for at least 15 years.

In a rare denial motion, Dante Anderson moved to deny a petition to build an affordable apartment community comprising 168 units in Hidden Valley across from Tom Hunter Park due to “concerns from the community and other reasonable issues related to public health, safety and welfare.”

Anderson said she worked with developers for months but was only able to come to an agreement to install a hybrid pedestrian light beacon that the city is helping pay for. “The majority of issues have not been addressed,” she said. 

Anderson said District 1 is open to affordable housing but cites “an over-concentration of a particular housing type” in this Corridor of Opportunity, adding that the development doesn’t offer infrastructure to support residents, socially or otherwise, creating economic segregation.

That petition was denied to applause from residents with the Hidden Valley Community Association in attendance.

Council approved a petition to build a Dutch Bros. drive-thru coffee shop at the corner of North Tryon Street and Orchard Trace Lane. The Hidden Valley Community Association supported the petition though there were concerns regarding the need for a drive-thru business on a light rail corridor.

Before the vote, a Charlotte Department of Transportation rep confirmed that there will be access for pedestrians and cyclists to patronize the business.

Shuffletown Childcare Center

Moving on to hearings, council got its first look at a petition to build 70 townhomes and an 18,000-square-foot childcare center on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road east of Rozzelles Ferry Road. Dozens of people signed up to speak against the proposal.

Cooks Memorial Presbyterian Church, which owned the land, specifically sought a buyer that would commit to building a childcare center. The petitioner will commit $50,000 to be applied toward future intersection improvements at Rozelles Ferry and Mt. Holly-Huntersville roads.

Though there were 47 people signed up to speak against the petition, only three served as representatives for the rest as they were given 10 minutes to speak in aggregate.

Traffic was the primary concern for neighboring residents. They’ve asking for alternative entry points to the new development outside of exclusively entering and exiting from Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road, but said, “We do not feel these alternatives have been seriously considered or meaningfully pursued.”

The existing church facilities generate an estimated 316 trips per day while the new development would be estimated to generate 1,330 trips per day.

While the intersection improvements will be part of the development’s construction, a CDOT rep admitted to LaWana Mayfield that there is no actual timeline for the widening project planned for Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road at some point in the future.

“There are no sidewalks along this road. If this project was to move forward and if people actually needed to get to the grocery store, there is no walkability to get from where this site would be to where the closest grocery store,” said LaWana Mayfield. 

“They can take their chances to cross the street to go to the vape shop, because that’s the closest store in the immediate area outside of the fast food or takeout restaurants, but if they actually need to get to the grocery store, that would be a pretty difficult task,” she continued. 

Renee Johnson continued to voice her long-held concerns about the cumulative impacts of rezonings rather than simply judging one petition at a time. “We can’t plan our development like a Jenga game until it all collapses.”

Other Hearings

Prosperity Alliance is partnering with Park Church to propose the development of 317 homes — 130 senior living units, 91 townhomes, and 87 single-family homes — off Beatties Ford Road.

The partnership will offer affordable for-sale opportunities including financial assistance that will provide residents with an average of $50,000 of equity in their homes upon moving in, with a goal to build generational wealth among first-time home buyers.

Charter Properties is proposing a large project on West Mallard Creek Church Road along I-85. Broken into five development areas, the project would include 860 residential units and 30,000 square feet of commercial/retail uses including 130 hotel rooms on 65 acres.

The project, which will also include a 16-pump gas station, is expected to generate 9,776 car trips per day on the surrounding roads.

With this project proposed for her own district, Johnson returned to her concerns with cumulative impact, calling the Charter Properties petition “too much.” She insisted that residents are pushing back on development along Mallard Creek Road despite the fact that no one signed up to oppose this project on Monday night.

Charlotte City Council will come together for committee wrap-up discussions on Jan. 5, 2026.