The following email was received this morning from Charlotte City Council Member Ed Driggs.

Additionally, and beyond what Mr. Driggs states below members of the community have continued to meet with the developer, Charlotte city staff, NCDOT and Charlotte DOT as well as Mecklenburg County working through additional concerns over the past couple of weeks. 

Our most recent meeting with NCDOT last week, was helpful and we will continue to press forward with our traffic suggestions and efforts. 

The developer RK Investments has we believe made significant concessions in order to meet our concerns about the American Bald Eagles "Piper and Glen" as well as the wonderful natural habitat and wildlife the that call the Gillespie property as well as the adjacent Pooh's Corner wetlands area home.

As Mr. Driggs points out below additional areas of tree save and tree buffer have been added that lessen the damage to the area.

Obviously, this is not the outcome we had hoped for, but given the alternative of development by right we have somewhat reluctantly embraced the developer's revised plans and willingly accept their efforts as genuine. 

We want to thank Mr. Tom Brasse with R K Investments for his sincere and thoughtful consideration and his willingness to compromise. 

Mr Driggs letter follows:

To all,

Following the Public Hearing for the Gillespie rezoning in April, a final round of negotiations took place among representatives of residents (spearheaded by Tom Coyne), the petitioner and myself that resulted in consensus around a solution that I believe is fair to residents and in step with City development goals.

On May 1st, a group of around 60 representatives from over fifteen area HOA boards met to hear the final proposal from petitioners.  Ballots were collected at the end of the meeting.  Of 43 board members who voted (some left before the end of the meeting), 36 expressed support for the final proposal, with seven opposed.

Following the meeting of resident representatives, (city) staff resolved remaining issues and now supports the resolution.  

At its meeting on June 4, the Zoning Committee voted 5-1 to recommend approval.   

Key features of the final petition:

The number of units is reduced from initially 1,100 to 566 (DUA about 10.6).

The traffic improvements approved by CDOT for 1,100 units all remain.
Tree save is 32%.  With planned new plantings, the tree canopy will eventually exceed 60%.

A publicly accessible greenway through the site connects via a pedestrian bridge to Four-Mile Creek greenway (and from there to others), giving residents in nearby Elm Lane neighborhoods pedestrian an ability to access the greenways that they don’t have now.

Petitioners will improve the existing pond to create 100-year stormwater capacity (estimated cost $1 million).

Tree save and new plantings on Rea Road and Elm Lane will render the entire development virtually invisible from either road.
 
If the petition is not approved, petitioner can develop the property under the existing N1-A place type without a Council action or engagement with residents (“by-right”).

City staff confirms that such development could include up to 400 units, similar traffic counts to the current petition (the duplexes and triplexes would generate more traffic per unit), minimal traffic improvements, 12% tree save, elimination of the pond and a virtual flattening of the terrain to maximize buildable area. 

Please note the eagles that became a symbol of the opposition live almost a quarter of a mile from the site and are far beyond the radius that federal law deems necessary for their safety. 

The road to reaching this outcome has been arduous, and I expect there are still many who would like to see no change at the site or at least a different development plan.  However, the only choice facing City Council is either to approve this petition or deny it and pave the way for by-right development. 

I believe the activism of residents was a major force in this whole process and made it possible to gain major concessions from the petitioners.  Your engagement has led to an outcome that is actually better that some other rezoning plans that might have been submitted and is certainly better for all of us who live nearby than the by-right alternative.

Thanks to all.

Thanks

Ed
 
Ed Driggs

Charlotte City Council District 7

(704) 574-7262