CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Monday night, the Charlotte City Council will decide on a controversial development proposal in the Elizabeth neighborhood.
The plan is to bring more apartments to the area on Central Avenue and Piedmont Street, but many surrounding homeowners are against the project.
"They're gonna tear down and continue to tear down history," neighbor Joe Duke said.
Duke has lived in the Elizabeth neighborhood for over 30 years and tends to the rose garden at the end of Sunnyside Avenue. He worries the park and quiet street will be strongly impacted by the apartments.
"It’s going to transition a quiet, dead-end street into a driveway for 315 apartments," Duke said.
The building would be 85-feet tall along Central Avenue, 65-feet tall in the center and 50-feet tall on the outer edges on Piedmont and Sunnyside that face housing. It would replace offices on Central Avenue, along with a house and an empty lot on Sunnyside Avenue.
The developer’s attorney Keith MacVean said at the public hearing in August the building's planned architecture blends with existing houses.
"We’ve worked hard to create that transition," MacVean said. "We understood from the beginning there were concerns about including the two parcels at Piedmont and Sunnyside."
MacVean added that the exterior design tries to mimic duplexes and quadruplexes in the neighborhood.
Another point of concern for Duke, is the continued support for growth in the Plaza Midwood area due to the proposed future Silver Line.
"They haven’t faced the reality that it’s not going to happen there," Duke said.
Earlier this year, plans for the Silver Line were cut in half, and will no longer run through Plaza Midwood to Matthews. However, the Silver Line is still mentioned in the developer's rezoning petition documents.
Duke also added that flooding is already an issue in his neighborhood due to run off from Central Avenue businesses. He worries the apartment building will worsen the impacts.
"It runs through our yards like a river," Duke said.
As the Plaza Midwood and Elizabeth neighborhoods continue to grow, Duke hopes builders keep neighbors in mind.
WCNC Charlotte reached out to the developer and property owner but have not heard back.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.