CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some people in south Charlotte are fighting designs for a new apartment complex.
It would replace an old complex on Carmel Road near Quail Hollow Road.
Virginia Thompson and Ann Niehaus live just off Carmel Road. Thompson is president of the Montibello Homeowners' Association. Niehaus is president of the Mountainbrook Civic Association.
They said congestion is commonplace along Carmel Road and that left turns can be next to impossible.
"So many of our residents right now complain about how hard it is taking a left out of our neighborhood onto Carmel," Niehaus said.
So they became worried when they discovered developer Fasion-Hollow wants to bulldoze the Quail Valley Apartments and build a bigger complex. They believe it will bring more traffic to the area, and that the design is too big and urban for south Charlotte.
They and other neighbors put together a list of concerns. including the size of the complex, its proximity to the road and its proximity to neighboring homes.
"We don’t want an urban development," Niehaus said.
Monday night, they met with Faison-Hollow representatives to present them with the list.
Right now, the complex has about 230 units but the new plans call for up to 404.
City Councilman Andy Dulin said if both sides can come to a compromise, he believes the project would be good for the area.
"They're old and dilapidated in some cases, so I'm in favor of a refreshed development," he said.
Tuesday, the attorney for Faison-Hollow, Jeff Brown, said the group is responding, pushing back the public hearing from May to June.
"What we're doing is making design changes to address those issues and those design changes may result in a small number of unit reductions," Brown said.
Niehaus and Thompson, who have met with the developer four times, said it's a start.
"If they can address some of these concerns of ours, it will go a long way," Thompson said.
CDOT estimates the project would add about 1,200 more trips to the area each day, which is about double what it estimates the current apartment complex can produce.
However, CDOT said it would be a minor impact.
Attorney Mark Brown said the developer is working with the city to do more traffic analysis.