Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Members of Charlotte City Council:

The Gillespie Property located in South Charlotte, between Rea Road and Elm Lane and bordered by the Four Mile Creek Greenway and Bevington Place to the north, is the final holdout from development in an area that was once nothing more than rural southern Mecklenburg County farmland. 

The more than 53-acre site has remained basically unchanged for the last four decades as Charlotte has grown around it.

Now developer RK Investments Charlotte LLC has requested to change the zoning from the current single family detached N1-A (Formerly R-3) with approximately 159 homes to UC (multifamily rental) allowing for the construction of more than 1,100 rental units and towering six story (1) apartment buildings. (Rezoning Petition 2022-121) A more than sevenfold increase in density. (2)

We the undersigned citizens ask our Mayor and Charlotte City Council to deny the request with a NO VOTE. 

The reasons the zoning change is unacceptable are as follows:

• Charlotte’s population and traffic has grown dramatically during the last decade as have the demands for City/County Services. Unfortunately, the ability to provide these services has not kept pace with the growth, in fact across the full spectrum of government services (Public Safety, Sanitation, Water, Schools, Utilities, U.S. Mail, Roads and Transportation) there has been a decline in staffing and frequency, efficiency and quality. In short this area of Charlotte does not have the infrastructure to accommodate 640 additional rental units and the resulting traffic as well as unforeseen costs to the city and taxpayers.

• Charlotte property owners have the reasonable expectation that the continuity of their neighborhoods will remain unchanged, and that property zoned N1-A single family detached (Formerly R-3) will remain zoned single family and not abruptly become a towering multifamily rental complex which is not in keeping with the character or continuity of the area.

• The wildlife in this area includes beavers, coyotes, an abundance of deer, racoons, opossums, hawks, and owls large and small, who have adapted to the incursion of suburbia admirably. We as citizens have a duty to actively preserve, protect, and conserve our natural resources. The 35 acres of wetlands immediately adjacent to the property that often serves as a rookery to both Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons, would be adversely impacted by the hardscape surface water runoff from the development. It is of utmost concern that a pair of American Bald Eagles who have called Piper Glen home during the last two decades are also in jeopardy, as the development will come within 900 feet of their nest, they have maintained for 16 years or more.

•    Development of this property as proposed will destroy at a minimum 37 acres of native natural Carolina Forest Habitat and Tree Canopy. This area is the last remaining large untouched green space inside the 485 Beltway within Southern Mecklenburg County. Removal of this protective Tree Canopy will create a massive area of impervious surface and subject this area to increased stormwater runoff, an area already experiencing increased flooding concerns. 

We hereby request that that the property remain zoned N1-A (Formerly R-3) and be only developed as a complement to Piper Glen and the surrounding area and NOT dramatically alter the continuity of the neighborhood, overtax public resources, or threaten formerly endangered species, our Nation’s most recognizable symbol the American Bald Eagles that call this property home.

Signed,

Your Fellow Charlotte Citizens

(1) The developer has reduced the height of buildings to 68 feet or five stories.

(2) The developer has reduced the number of rental units to 640 which is still a more than fourfold increase over R-3 zoning.