Interest grows in idea of Ballantyne becoming separate city

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There's growing interest in the idea of Ballantyne breaking away from Charlotte and becoming its own city.

City Councilman Warren Cooksey said Monday he decided to bring in a planning expert who's done it before in other cities to help answer people's questions.

Oliver Porter has walked several Georgia communities through the process of incorporation, although they were previously unincorporated parts of a county -- not existing parts of a city.

"It's pretty unprecedented to create a city out of an existing city," Cooksey said.

He said he's been asked questions by constituents and decided to do his own research to find out what exactly it would take.

Cooksey said an in-depth petition would need to go to the General Assembly with the signatures of 15 percent of the voters in the proposed new city limits and a map of what it would look like.

He suggests south Charlotte south of McAlpine Creek become not the city of Ballantyne, but the city of Providence -- because the area was called Providence Township in the 1860s and because the area would include a lot more land than what's considered Ballantyne currently.

The new city would need to figure out its own police, fire and other services like water and sewer.

By phone, expert Oliver Porter said privately contracting out for those services can save a lot of money.

"It's the most cost-efficient," he said. "It also turned out to be the best way to provide better service. The savings were just enormous."

But there would be a cost for Charlotte.

The proposed area counts for almost 17 percent of what's called Charlotte's real property value.

That means if it did break away, Charlotte would stand to lose about $56 million a year.

That could be partly offset by not having to shoulder the cost of services in that area, Mecklenburg County tax officials said, but it could also lead to a tax increase.

"You can't create a new city and damage Charlotte in the process," Cooksey cautioned, emphasizing that residents need to understand what the move would entail.

He is also quick to point out there is no guarantee the new tax rate would be lower.

Some residents said there is no reason to fix something if it's not broken.

"I'm happy with the status quo," Richard Ramsey said. "I don't see anything wrong with the way the situation is right now."

Porter is scheduled to speak at the Ballantyne Hotel on Saturday at 9 a.m.

WSOC