Meck Times: City Council approves 90‑acre mixed‑use development
By: Tony Brown, Staff Writer April 28, 2014
CHARLOTTE — Waverly got the supermajority anyway, and then some. The Charlotte City Council on Monday night voted unanimously and without debate, 100, to OK the $200 million, 90 acre Waverly mixed-use development, giving a pair of the Queen City’s biggest developers the go ahead to start work as early as midJune.
Crosland Southeast and Childress Klein Properties, who came into Monday’s meeting on a roll, needed only a 65 simple majority of the 11member council after a protest petition was dropped April 24. The petition had been filed by Cranfield Academy childcare center, which will share access to Providence Road with Waverly, which will be built just south of Interstate 485.
A protest from Cranfield’s owners, Todd and Laura Pace, would have necessitated a 9-2 supermajority, which the retail residential office complex managed to achieve despite not needing to.
Mayor Dan Clodfelter recused himself from presiding over several decisions at the meeting because the law firm at which he is an attorney, Moore & Van Allen, was involved with some of the applications, including Waverly. Instead, Mayor Pro Tem Michael Barnes — who would have been the 11th vote — took over the gavel and did not vote.
Childress Klein partner Chris Thomas said after the vote that it had gone as he and the rest of the development team expected.
“It is always wonderful to work through the process, to work through the issues,” Thomas said.
Monday’s vote and the Paces’ withdrawal of their protest came after both the city’s planning staff and the Planning Commission’s zoning committee, by a 70 vote, endorsed the project.
Thomas said that the developers and the Paces resolved their differences by agreeing to get rid of the day care center’s own driveway onto Providence and redirecting traffic generated by the Paces’ business to a driveway that will be developed as part of Waverly. The Paces had expressed concerns about the safety of children at their facility if cars headed to and from the development used their driveway and parking lot, which will be connected to a Waverly parking lot.
Grading on the project – which will include 340,000 of retail anchored by a Whole Foods upscale grocery store – is expected to begin soon after the expiration of the 60 day appeal window that follows the City Council vote, Thomas said.
The grocery store and some of the other major retail could open in spring of 2016, Crosland Southeast partner Peter B. Pappas said, with four office and medical buildings, 150 single family homes, and 375 apartments going up as the development progresses.
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