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Residents oppose Aviation Metals rezoning near I‑85 over creek, tree‑save and quality‑of‑life concerns
Summary
Neighbors told council April 21 they oppose a seven‑acre rezoning on Business Center Drive, citing loss of forest buffer, creek impacts and traffic noise; petitioner says truck and trip generation will be lower than current entitlement and commits a 100‑foot buffer.
Neighbors from the Morris Park and Moore Park II area urged Charlotte City Council on April 21 to deny petition 2024124, a request to rezone a wooded 7.33‑acre parcel on Business Center Drive from N1A (neighborhood) to ML1 (light industrial/logistics) with a conditional airport noise disclosure overlay.
Planning staff recommended approval subject to transportation clarifications; staff noted the site is adjacent to existing industrial zoning and interstate frontage, and that petition commitments include a minimum 100‑foot class A landscape yard, a single driveway placed at the eastern edge of the property (furthest from single‑family homes) and a limit to 45 feet in building height.
Petition counsel John Carmichael told the council the petition would allow up to 70,000 square feet of primarily office/warehouse/distribution uses and that CDOT trip‑generation calculations show fewer daily trips under the proposed use than under the site's current entitlement. "According to CDOT, if the site were developed with its current entitlement, it would generate 241 daily trips. The proposed zoning would generate 149 trips," Carmichael said.
Opposition speakers raised other concerns. John Gallegos, a biologist, testified that the parcel contains the Tyser Branch Creek drainage basin and that development could increase stormwater volumes and velocity, saturate groundwater, accelerate soil erosion and endanger an underground petroleum pipeline crossing the creek. Neighbors described a thick mixed hardwood/softwood forest that buffers the nearby homes from I‑85 and Business Center Drive and said the loss of that buffering would harm air quality, noise levels, wildlife and property values.
Petitioner representatives responded that the project must meet Charlotte post‑construction stormwater requirements, will include a stormwater pond, and will preserve a minimum 100‑foot undisturbed buffer along the rear of the property; they said the design intends to avoid increased erosion and groundwater impacts.
Councilmembers asked staff and petitioner for more detail about stormwater controls, tree‑save surveys, noise and the petition's transportation commitments. The public hearing was closed with no vote; council directed staff to work with the petitioner to resolve outstanding technical and environmental issues before further action.
Outcome: Public hearing held; no vote. Staff and petitioner will provide additional technical information including tree surveys and stormwater design commitments before the matter returns to committee.
