STEELE CREEK NEWS
Neighborhood
Bonds will Support Steele Creek Projects
(October 17, 2016)
The November 2016 ballot for Charlotte city residents will include three
bond referenda. One of them, for Neighborhoods, will provide funding to
continue the planning and development for several projects for the
Comprehensive Neighborhood Improvement Program
(CNIP) in Steele
Creek. The three bond referenda are
Transportation Bonds ($148,440,000) will fund street and intersection projects,
upgrades to traffic control systems, repairs to and replacements of
bridges, construction of new bridges, development of Cross Charlotte
Trail (XCLT), and measures to improve pedestrian safety.
Projects include Dixie Berryhill area roads. Create
transportation infrastructure to support and promote
economic development around the Airport Intermodal Facility
as well as provide needed access and improvements to
underdeveloped land west of the Airport and I-485 to
facilitate future economic development of the area. |
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Housing Bonds ($15,000,000) will provide affordable and well-maintained
housing for low- and moderate-income individuals and families that
addresses a continuum of housing needs from homelessness to
homeownership. |
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Neighborhood
Bonds ($55,000,000) will improve infrastructure in established
neighborhoods showing signs of distress and emerging high-growth
areas in need of connectivity. Infrastructure improvements include
sidewalks, streetscape, curbs and gutters, storm drainage,
landscaping, and pedestrian lighting.
These bonds will
provide funding to continue planning for the Comprehensive
Neighborhood Improvement Program in the Whitehall/Ayrsley
area of Steele Creek. |
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For more
information on the bonds, see
Vote Yes for City Bonds.
To check your voter registration and view your sample ballot, see
NC Public Voter Search. Note that Early Voting begins on
Thursday, October 20. See
Steele Creek Early Voting Site Moves to York Ridge Shopping Center.
Comprehensive Neighborhood Improvement Program
The
Comprehensive Neighborhood Improvement Program (CNIP)
makes strategic investments in several neighborhood geographies in
Charlotte that will promote highly connected networks of streets,
bikeways, sidewalks, and greenway trails. Of the $55,000,000 Neighborhood bonds,
$40,000,000 is for the original five CNIP areas. The additional
$15,000,000 is for other neighborhood projects such as bike and trail
connector projects as well as the addition of the South Park CNIP
area. Funding for CNIP will come from bonds approved in 2014, the
2016 Neighborhood bonds, and additional bonds planned for 2018 and
2020.
One of the CNIP geographies is
the emerging high-growth Whitehall/Ayrsley area
of Steele Creek.
The Whitehall/Ayrsley area is slated for $30,000,000 in improvements
over the four bond cycles. The map below shows the six projects
announced by city staff at a meeting on
September 29, 2015. To view a more detailed map
showing the CNIP projects, click
HERE or on the map.

The six projects are:
South Tryon Street/Whitehall Park Drive/Ayrsley Town Boulevard Intersection Improvements
Provide pedestrian improvements along the south leg of the intersection. Improvements may include striped crosswalk, pedestrian signals, and pedestrian refuge area within the existing median.
The intersection
already has marked crosswalks with signals on the other three legs
of the intersection. This improvement should be completed quickly as
it should require little planning, design, and construction. This
project will be coordinated with the Ayrsley Town Boulevard traffic
calming. The
estimated cost is $1 million, but this is a placeholder estimate in
case additional lanes or other improvements are deemed necessary.
Ayrsley Town Boulevard Traffic Calming
Provide traffic
calming measures along Ayrsley Town Boulevard. Traffic calming
measures and other improvements may include adding curb extensions, restriping to two lanes
from the first cross driveways to the theater entrance, adding
crosswalks, and adding reverse angle parking.
Improvements are
being designed by city staff. Planning should be complete by the end
of the year, and the projects should be put out to bid in 2017. Estimated cost is $500,000.
Sandy Porter Road
Upgrades
Upgrade roadway
from South Tryon Street to Williams Glenn Road with planted median,
intermittent left turn lanes, curb and gutter, bike lanes, planting
strip, and sidewalk on both sides of the road.
The picture to the
right is an example of a two-lane road with a median and other
improvements. To see additional pictures of example projects, click
HERE or on the image to the right.
In late 2016 or
2017,
residents in neighborhoods adjacent to Sandy Porter Road should be
receiving information on community meetings where they will have an
opportunity to provide input into the design of the improvements.
The project could take up to five years to complete.
Estimated cost is $16.1 million.
Brown-Grier Road/West
Arrowood Road Upgrades
Upgrade roadway
from Steele Creek Road to Whitehall Park Drive with planted median,
intermittent left turn lanes, curb and gutter, bike lanes, planting
strip, and sidewalk on both sides of the road.
In late 2016 or
2017,
residents in neighborhoods adjacent to Brown Grier Road and West
Arrowood Road should be receiving information on community meetings where they will have an
opportunity to provide input into the design of the improvements.
The project could take up to five years to complete.
Estimated cost is $8.2 million.
Westinghouse
Boulevard Sidewalk
Construct either
sidewalks (6 feet) or multi-use paths (10 feet) along one side of
Westinghouse Boulevard from South Tryon Street to Shopton Road West.
Planning for this
project likely will occur after planning for the road improvement
projects. Estimated cost is $4.1 million
Steele Creek
Greenway
Construct a
multi-use path and wayfinding emblems along Steele Creek from
Westinghouse Boulevard to Steele Creek Neighborhood Park or Olympic
High School.
Estimated cost of this project is $3.5
million.
However, greenways
are the responsibility of the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation
Department, and the greenway trail would be built on county property
or easements. In order for bond money to pay for this project, the
wording of the bond issue would have to be written to allow
expenditures of city money on county property. Alternatively, the
city could encourage the county to increase the priority of this
project among its planned greenways. The Steele Creek Greenway,
however, is low on the county's priority list.
The Steele Creek
Greenway could be one of the last CNIP projects to be started or may be
dropped altogether. Although this project would not typically be the
responsibility of the city, planners included
it in the project list because it had significant support from the
community, and they hope to work with county staff to make it happen.
Public Art
Approximately half
of 1% of the cost of Charlotte capital projects is reserved for
public art, so there will be artwork included in the roadways and
other projects. Estimated cost is $180,000.
Steele Creek Road
Widening
This project
received significant support from the community, but since Steele
Creek Road is a state highway, improvements are the responsibility
of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and cannot be
included in the CNIP.
Construction of a
four-lane road with a median, sidewalks, and bike lanes along Steele
Creek Road (NC Highway 160) between
Shopton Road West and South Tryon Street is planned
as part of the North Carolina State Transportation Improvement Program.
Right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation is scheduled to
begin in 2020, and construction is scheduled for 2022 and 2023. See
Highway 160 Projects Approved by FHWA. Additionally,
in October 2016 NCDOT announced that it is recommending funding to widen
Highway 160 from South Tryon Street to the South Carolina state line
on the same schedule as that part north of South Tryon Street. See
NCDOT Recommends Funding to Widen Hwy 160 to State Line.
Alternate Funding and
Adjacent Projects
When private development occurs, the developers typically are required to provide road improvements, which may include road widening,
curbs, sidewalks, and left turn lanes. CNIP staff will coordinate
with developers to ensure that improvements they make are consistent
with the goals of the CNIP projects. Additionally, if private
funding pays for some infrastructure improvements that would have
been part of CNIP, funds may be
freed up to add additional projects to the CNIP list.
Apartments are
under construction at the corner of Sandy Porter Road and Brown-Grier Road.
Developers will be required to contribute to road and sidewalk improvements on adjacent
streets.
The city also recently announced a project to build some sidewalks on
Brown-Griers Road and Gallant Lane between adjacent neighborhoods
and schools. (See
Sidewalks Planned on Brown-Grier Road and Gallant Lane (April 7,
2015.) These will be coordinated with CNIP projects planned along
Brown-Grier Road and Sandy Porter Road.

Comprehensive Neighborhood
Improvement Program Overview
Charlotte
identified five neighborhoods across the city where it planned to make strategic
investments to address a broad array of community needs as part of
its
Comprehensive Neighborhood Improvement Program (CNIP). One of
these areas was designated "Whitehall/Ayrsley."
It covered areas of northern Steele Creek located between I-485 and
Westinghouse Boulevard. Over the next several years, the city
expects to plan, design,
and implement $120 million in proposed community improvements in
these five areas, including $30 million in the Whitehall-Ayrsley
target area. The South Park area have been added to the original
five areas.
Projects
will be funded through Neighborhood Improvement Bonds. Voters
approved the first $20 million bond in 2014, and a $40 million bond
is on the 2016 ballot. Additional bond issues
are planned in , 2018 ($40 million), and 2020 ($20
million).
At the first
Whitehall/Ayrsley neighborhood meeting
in March 2015, residents marked up maps with notes and stickers to
identify areas where improvements to roads, intersections,
sidewalks, trails, parks, and other infrastructure are needed.
At the second community meeting
in April, project representatives presented a list of 59
potential projects and asked attendees to identify the 10 that they
believed were the most important. City and consultant staff tallied
the responses to identify the six projects that have been selected
to move forward and presented these at the September 29 meeting. In some cases, projects on the list were combined
(for example, road improvements, sidewalks, and intersection
improvements along the same road). Click here to view
the
Public Meeting Boards that were presented at the
September 29 meeting.
Where new apartments,
single-family neighborhoods, or other development occurs along the
project roadways, developers may be required to contribute towards
project planning, construction, or other costs.
To comment on this
story, please visit the
Steele Creek Forum or the
Steele Creek Residents Association Facebook Page.
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