MATTHEWS, N.C. — The clock is ticking on Charlotte's deadline to acquire the O-Line, the tracks that would become the Red Line commuter train to communities north of Charlotte. City leaders are expected to present their updated plan at a Council Action Review meeting on Monday.
However, residents and leaders of East Charlotte neighborhoods say the plan still doesn't include them.
"When you look at what's potentially going to be asked of our community without a definitive baked plan, it's not an equitable sell," said Greg Asciutto, Executive Director of CharlotteEAST. "It's not one that really can be done in the name of equity."
The draft legislation includes a countywide 1% sales tax to fund transit projects and create a regional transit authority to oversee the spending.
Each town and city in support of the tax is being asked to pass resolutions publicly supporting the plan. If it passes, the proposal will then head to the General Assembly for approval before making it to the ballot in 2025.
While communities east of Charlotte expected to get a light rail proposal as well, the Silver Line plans turned into a Bus Rapid Transit system.
Matthews town leaders already voted against the proposal at a meeting earlier in August. The opposition became a hot topic at a Charlotte City Council meeting the next day.
“It’s like South End in Charlotte," Matthews Mayor John Higdon told WCNC Charlotte at the Aug. 12 meeting. "Lots of action, very vibrant. You don’t get that from a bus station. And so we’d be missing out on decades of tax growth, tax revenue if we just went with buses.”
CharlotteEAST works to bring social and economic growth to that part of the city, something he says could be more difficult without a light rail.
"The Silver Line was supposed to be an economic shot in the arm and an injection of money investments, folks coming to our community that we have been lacking, like I said, for the better part of two decades," Ascuitto says. "This is huge. I mean, this is a generational project for us."
After Monday's meeting, the council will have another meeting on Sept. 3rd to officially authorize the purchase of the tracks and support the sales tax legislation. That's all ahead of the Sept. 9th deadline to purchase the tracks from Norfolk Southern, which currently owns the O-Line.