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Council hearing on Brookhill Village overlay surfaces infrastructure and affordability questions
Summary
Developers and planning staff outlined a novel overlay for Brookhill Village to allow temporary community uses during a 25‑year ground lease; staff raised unanswered infrastructure and pedestrian‑improvement costs while the developer committed at least 100 income‑restricted units at 80% AMI for the lease term.
Charlotte planning staff and the developer presented a contested Brookhill Village rezoning request that would create a site‑specific overlay to allow temporary, community‑oriented uses on a 42.47‑acre property subject to a long ground lease.
Planning staff told the council the overlay is intended to create flexibility for uses the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) does not currently allow — such as outdoor amphitheaters, temporary events and food‑truck programming — while limiting building height and site form because the property remains under a 99‑year land lease with roughly 25 years remaining. Staff said the petition includes a commitment to at least 100 residential units that would be income‑restricted to households earning 80% of area median income (AMI) or less for the duration of the lease, but staff recommended the petition not be approved “in its current form” because the site lacks adequate pedestrian infrastructure and other details on how needed improvements would be funded.
Colin Brown, representing the petitioner Brookhill Investments, described the site’s constraints and the owner’s work to stabilize the property and preserve existing low‑rent units operated by the Harvest Center. Brown said the owner is pursuing temporary activations to bring the site back into use while the lease remains in effect and asked the council for direction on infrastructure priorities. "We have some city departments that say…they're going to require everything to be brought up to standard; there's no money to do that,'" Brown said, adding staff had estimated possible infrastructure needs at about $7 million.
Council members expressed support for activating the site but raised questions about precedent, affordability levels, how long commitments will remain in place and whether the overlay approach could be replicated elsewhere. Council member Luana Mayfield emphasized the need for clarity before a final decision: "We have 3 seats that did not receive enough votes…would those categories be identified to ensure parity?" she asked about earlier board appointment procedures tied to the PAVE Act.
Why it matters: Brookhill is a long‑standing site in Charlotte with legacy residents and a complex land‑lease structure. The overlay aims to permit low‑infrastructure uses that can animate the property in the short term without large permanent investments, but it raises city policy questions about when exceptions to UDO standards are appropriate.
What’s next: Staff and the petitioner said they will continue negotiations with council and community stakeholders to define the infrastructure investment priorities and whether the petition can be modified into an acceptable conditional plan.
