Brake check: Charlotte to get city’s first car-free housing development

CHARLOTTE — Dozens of affordable housing units will soon be available in Charlotte, but with an interesting catch: If you live there, you can’t have a car.

The Charlotte City Council on Monday night approved the city’s first car-free development. The complex will be in Seversville, which is near Blue Blaze Brewing.

There will be 52 affordable housing units in the 104-unit building, and tenants with a vehicle will be evicted, the developer said.

[WSOC SPECIAL SECTION: Affordable Housing Crisis]

The complex is next to a greenway and about a mile from the streetcar expansion. Several nearby residents opposed the project and Councilman Malcolm Graham sided with them, saying the development would be better somewhere else.

“This is simply the right project at the wrong site,” Graham said. “There will be an overwhelming burden of cars that will come over into the neighborhoods. There is no doubt about it.”

Other council members, like Larken Eggleston, disagreed, saying the city needs to take a chance on developments like this.

“There’s plenty of places in this country, some of people’s favorite cities in this country and around the world, where the best neighborhoods and the ones where everybody wants to live, work and play in are places where you cannot park -- at least certainly not easily,” he said.

The project barely passed with a 6-5 vote.

Graham, who represents the district, said he plans to work with CATS and the developer to find more transportation options.

Channel 9′s Gina Esposito checked out the closest grocery stores. Currently, Aldi is the closest and it takes about 18 minutes to walk there. It takes about 35 minutes to walk to the nearest Harris-Teeter.

The complex will have 6 parking spaces for visitors, but it will not have a parking lot, which saves the developer money and allows for cheaper rental rates.

The developer is required to have bike space for all residents and at least 60 lockers for grocery delivery.

According to the Charlotte Business Journal, the developer won’t break ground until the second half of 2021.

Firm denies Brookhill neighborhood’s funding request for affordable housing project

Cox Media Group