During a town hall discussion Saturday, residents spoke out about traffic, safety, and how new development will impact their neighborhoods.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During a town hall discussion Saturday, residents spoke out about traffic, safety and how new development will impact their neighborhoods.
At Large Charlotte Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield says infrastructure isn’t keeping up with the city’s growth, especially in areas like Mount Holly-Huntersville Road.
“For the growth of our city, what is our infrastructure plan when we have state roads and the state who unfortunately didn’t pass a budget last year, we’re still waiting to find out what investments they’re going to make,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield says recent rezoning petitions prompted Saturday’s town hall discussion. She says traffic congestion and accidents are common complaints.
“What you have is people coming up Mount Holly-Huntersville Road speeding to get to the light, but that’s a turning lane to get to the gas station so we had many head on collisions,” Mayfield said. “You have a developer that is interested in the petitioning of 70 town home units that will feed right into Mt. Holly Huntersville Road, that is a lot of traffic.”
This town hall discussion comes two days after Charlotte Councilmember Malcolm Graham held a town hall meeting to discuss the future of the I-77 South Express Lanes project. This week, NCDOT announced it is advancing and elevated design for the project and that it didn’t go over well with residents.
“Communities will still be torn apart, even if there is reduction, building upward doesn’t erase the impact,” Charlotte resident Taylor Marshall said. “It creates a literal shadow over communities that it’s set to build over.”
Mayfield says previous development decisions are good examples of what happens when growth outpaces planning.
“We have to make sure that the infrastructure can withstand, and we can’t wait on the state and what they might do over the next 30 years, we need infrastructure investment,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield says protecting neighborhoods must remain a top priority.
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