Latest news with #LaWanaMayfield
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Charlotte leaders unanimously adopt FY26 budget, effective July 1
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — In a unanimous vote, the Charlotte City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget and the 2030 Capital Investment Plan at Monday's council meeting. The $3.6 million balanced budget does not increase property taxes, maintaining the lowest tax rates among North Carolina largest cities. It also raises the minimum pay for full-time city employees to $50,000 or $24 per hour. The budget funds a 4% pay increase for general hourly employees and funding assistance for employees wanting to continue their education or experiencing hardship. 'This budget includes a way to not only help our employees but also to help continue helping the community,' said Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield. MORE | Another major aspect of the budget is the $30 million over the next four years for a satellite Animal Care and Control adoption facility. In addition, the budget aligns the ACC from under the police department to the General Services Department, allowing for more direct benefits from the administration and operations of the department. The budget also allocates more than $1.8 million in funding to support urgent home repair, affordable housing placement and high-quality naturally occurring affordable housing. Other key takeaways from the budget include launching a four-year plan to improve Solid Waste Services' cost recovery by splitting the Solid Fee into two fees, residential curbside and residential dumpster as well as creating a $1.5 million Small Business Readiness Fund and establishing the Office of Youth Opportunities for promoting economic opportunities for ages 13-24. The fiscal year begins on July 1. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
City leaders pursuing regulations to ensure fair conditions among Charlotte's affordable housing supply
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Charlotte City Council members now have city staff members' recommendations for improving the city's affordable housing supply and ensuring good conditions in those homes. Code enforcement managers presented their findings to a council committee Monday afternoon. The council started looking at where Charlotte could do better after tenants were forced out of the Lamplighter Inn off Freedom Drive in December. The former motel had become permanent housing for dozens and had fallen into total disrepair. Recommendations presented Monday include: Providing guidance on when and how to report poor housing conditions to Code Enforcement Offering additional subsidies for people when they need to be relocated Finding out what tenants need for housing and work before they are moved into a new location 'We have a lot of opportunities to address issues more proactively and more holistically in addition to strong code enforcement,' said Rebecca Hefner, director of Housing and Neighborhood Services. Committee members, like LaWana Mayfield, also want to make sure landlords pay their fair share when repairs are needed or tenants are displaced because of poor conditions. 'This isn't a Republican or Democrat conversation. This is a tax dollars conversation, and we need to figure out a way to be compensated by this bad business,' she said. Recommendations presented Monday will now be brought to the full council who will have to decide and vote on what changes to make. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Historic Charlotte school sold to make way for development that preserves 100-year-old building
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The property that's home to a 100-year-old Charlotte school building sold last week to a developer, county real estate records show. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education on Feb. 19 transferred the historic Wilmore School to Historic Preservation of NC, who then sold the property to Lakemont 77/85 LLC for $8.16 million. The 3.2-acre West Boulevard property was approved for an adaptive reuse development last spring. The primary building will be converted into apartments, but the addition built in the 1970s is not required to be saved, under the sale conditions. New three-and four-story buildings will be added behind the existing structure, with below-grade parking. 2-alarm fire breaks out at West Blvd historic school building The plans have been approved by the city's Historic Districts Commission and renovation will occur in coordination with the HDC and Historic Landmark Commission. The rezoning allows for creating up to 250 multi-family units, 3,500 square feet of retail and 4,300 square feet of office or community center-like uses. The agreement requires 5 percent of the housing to be affordable units at 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). The vacant property also has been the site of several intentionally set fires over since January. Earlier this month, a suspect was arrested on arson charges for his alleged connection to setting four fires, the last coming Feb. 13. It's last usage was as a CMS staff development center. Preservation North Carolina is a nonprofit that aims to find solutions for troubled downtown buildings, abandoned historic schools, empty industrial factories and mill villages, and smaller (and more affordable) houses in urban working-class neighborhoods. At the rezoning approval, City Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield was relieved to see encroaching gentrification staved in a historically Black neighborhood. '(Transit-oriented development) is coming further and further into the community,' she said. 'People who have been there for generations are being pushed further and further away. I appreciate the fact that they are preserving the school and the history of Wilmore. Wilmore is its own area. It is not LoSo or Hi-So or whatever new name. It is Wilmore. I appreciate that it is being maintained for future generations.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Neighborhoods are being abandoned on one side of the Charlotte airport. So why is housing being proposed on the other side?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Members of Charlotte City Council expressed concern regarding the planning staff recommending approving housing in an area known for airport noise. Greystar Development East, LLC is proposing to build 306 apartments across six buildings off Queen City Drive, just north of Interstate 85 and Charlotte Douglas International. The 11.5-acre property is near mostly single-family houses plus a couple of churches but also falls under the Airport Noise Disclosure Overlay. Historic home connected to Charlotte church demolished despite preservation efforts The rezoning would be from a mixed-use development (MUDD) to Neighborhood 2 Conditional (N2C), which is intended for multi-family dwellings with smaller setbacks. The noise overlay designation would remain regardless of zoning. Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield noted how on the south side of the airport, many of the residential areas along Steele Creek Road have been rezoned for industrial uses in recent years. This has been due to the impact of noise related to the ever-growing airport. A fourth parallel runway for CLT is under construction. 'I'm trying to understand the support of planning staff for projects that we already know are in the noise overlay, but also are extremely close to the highway and the environmental impact of noise, gas, fuels coming from highway where traffic is going 24 hours,' she said to city staff. 'Explain why this would be encouraged while at the same time supporting a program to ensure we have better air quality.' Staff recommends approval of this petition. They noted how this property is at the northern end of the noise overlay. Staff approval comes despite the petition being inconsistent with the city's 2040 Policy Map. A 9-acre section of the property was approved in 2019 for a hotel that was never built. Mayfield also was concerned that just because the rezoning process acknowledges the noise from the nation's sixth busiest airport, it's unlikely that this would be disclosed to prospective renters at the proposed complex. 'Being within the noise overlay doesn't preclude housing or that it should be exempt from being considered for housing, just that it should be noticed to future residents,' the staff member said. 'It was identified as a need in terms of equitable framework is being where there is intense need for variety of housing options. Having multifamily, it does speak to that need.' 'This isn't being ignored per se, but we didn't feel it's something that should be considered against the proposal,' she said. 'It was appropriate given its location and need for housing in this area.' Despite the property having a Queen City Drive address, the complex's entrance would be from Tuckaseegee Road, making it more accessible to the schools along that road. An 8-foot planting-strip buffer is required off of Queen City Drive, which is a service road to I-85. For the first time since the '70s, new flight paths could be added around Charlotte In terms of the environmental impacts, Councilman Ed Driggs suggested action being taken that would make this part of rezoning decisions. 'We don't have a policy about this,' he said, noting it would be an extensive process to create one. 'If it is the wish of the council to make a referral whether zoning decisions should be formed by environmental concerns on a location-by-location basis, that's not two sentences, then you have to get deep into circumstances. We don't have that policy, so I'll accept the suggestion of a referral, that would imply that we get a majority to agree that's something to be taken up by the committee.' Councilwoman Renee Johnson reminded the board that it's their responsibility to make these decisions that shape the city's planning policies. 'We know about the environmental challenges,' she said. 'If hearings are not the time to address it, we have to make time to address it.' A date for the board to vote on the apartment's rezoning has yet to be determined. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
