CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Residents in a Charlotte neighborhood continue to fight a proposed land clearing and inert debris (LCID) landfill.
What You Need To Know
- Charlotte City Council approved a text amendment to the Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance, which took effect June 1, to prevent land clearing and inert debris (LCID) landfills in almost all zoning districts
- Neighbors in the Oakdale neighborhood are fighting an LCID landfill
- A home in the path of construction of this landfill is in the process of historic designation
The landfill is being proposed by Dew Green LCID, LLC.
On Monday, May 15, during a zoning meeting, Charlotte City Council approved a text amendment to the Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to delete LCID landfills as a permitted use with prescribed conditions in almost all zoning districts except one, which is ML-2 (Manufacturing and Logistics).
The UDO took effect June 1.
The landfill, meant for organic debris, would sit behind many of the neighbors’ properties.
However, the amendment will not stop the landfill already proposed by Dew Green.
Council member James Mitchell says the Dew Green application was grandfathered in.
Regardless, Dan Campbell, one of the neighbors fighting the landfill, says this is a small victory because it will prevent this from happening to other people in the future.
“It’s an antiquated code,” said Campbell. “Charlotte is not the Charlotte of 60 years ago.”
Currently, the permit is still under review.
However, Mitchell says if Dew Green has to submit an entirely new application, then their vote would apply to their new application.
Another development in the neighbors’ fight is to save a potentially historic home that is sitting in the path of construction for the proposed landfill.
The Abernathy House sits along Pleasant Grove Road.
Developers said during a December public forum they planned to move the home.
In March, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission voted to kick off the process of historic designation.
They recently released a report that came out of this process, which finds the house was built in 1867.
“The John Connelly and Nancy Blythe Abernethy House is historically relevant as one of the oldest extant farmhouses in Paw Creek Township of western Mecklenburg County,” said the report.
In a HLC meeting on Monday, May 8, the commission voted to recommend to Charlotte City Council the designation of the Abernathy House and associated property as a landmark.
But that doesn’t give it historic landmark status just yet.
Tommy Warlick, with the HLC, says the report must go to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office for 30 days for review and comment.
He says depending on the comments, the HLC may make modifications to the report.
Public hearings then have to be held by the HLC and by Charlotte City Council.
It’s up to City Council to schedule a vote on an ordinance designating the property as a local historic landmark, according to Warlick.
But the HLC’s May 8 vote will temporarily protect the house from being touched.
He says the vote to proceed with designation protects the property from demolition or destruction until the earliest of final designation or a period of up to 180 days in order to allow that process to move forward.
He says no date has been set for when the report could go in front of City Council.
We reached out to Dew Green managing members for comment on the vote. The request was not returned.
Multiple past requests for comment have also gone unanswered.