CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A proposal last summer to build an apartment complex in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood drew opposition from some residents.
Now months later, the complex is officially coming, but a new issue has come up that has to do with a tree.
When Jason Newton and his wife purchased their mill home in NoDa last fall, they knew the lot next door wouldn’t stay empty for long.
“The real estate agent had heard that this lot next door was bought by the developer and there will be an apartment going in,” he said.
After months of opposition, the Charlotte City Council recently approved a rezoning petition to allow a new apartment complex at Alexander and East 36th streets.
But a tree that Newton has fallen in love with next to his home is now in danger of being torn down.
“Running down where the tree is, is what’s called a 'paper street,' which is a piece of land that developers here don’t own, we don’t own and actually the city does not take responsibility for,” he said.
Paper streets are just that, streets that only appear on maps but haven’t been built.
Newton learned there’s a variety of paper streets in NoDa, but since there is no official owner, the tree near his home could end up being destroyed.
“Why is the city saying the trees are important but when they have this chance to kind of come in and adopt these paper streets or take some action to preserve the trees, they aren’t doing it?” Newton said.
Newton has been meeting with City Council members and an urban forester, and he even launched an Instagram page working to save this tree.
Newton says he’s all for growth coming to Charlotte, but he hopes it's not at the expense of the city’s environment.
“Can we think about growing this city and making some compromises so that we can save green spaces, trees and things like that,” he said.
City officials release this statement:
“This site received a lot of coverage a few weeks ago when all those tree canopy articles were published in the Observer. City council approved a conditional rezoning plan with a special requirement that the developer had to make reasonable attempts to preserve the tree. I would say it’s not completely resolved yet and won’t be until permitting and construction are over. The city is working with the developer during permitting to ensure attempts are made to save the tree.
The city is unable to assist beyond regulatory enforcement efforts. The tree is located in a paper r/w and the city has no authority or responsibility over the tree.”
The developer, Ascent Real Estate Capital LLC, said it is trying to save the tree and plans to work with a licensed arborist to ensure it is taken care of during their construction process.
