STEELE CREEK NEWS
Schools, Crime,
Medical Facilities were Featured Topics at SCRA Meeting
(February 23, 2008)
The Steele Creek Residents Association held its 2008 Annual Meeting
last Thursday at Southwest Middle School. Featured speakers included
Guy Chamberlain,
Associate
Superintendent for Auxiliary Services of
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), Captain John Williams,
Commander of the
Steele Creek Division of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Department, Chris Hummer, Administrator of
Carolinas Medical Center in Pineville, and Tim Gibbs and
Andy Grzymski of the
Charlotte Department of Transportation.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Guy Chamberlain
discussed plans being developed to provide new school facilities in
response to the rapid growth that is occurring in Mecklenburg
County. CMS staff have updated their 10 year plan for consideration
by the school board. The plan identifies needs that are expected to cost $2.5
billion over the next ten years. The school system needs to spend
$250 million a year just to keep up with growth.
Much of this funding
will be determined in the future, but several projects are already
funded and scheduled for the next few years. Much of the funding
will come from school bonds approved by voters in 2007.
Two elementary
schools are expected to open in August 2009. The first is on the
north side of Berewick. The school will share a site, which is
already owned by the county, with a new district park. This school
will help relieve Steele Creek Elementary School and will provide a
neighborhood school for Berewick residents, who currently are
assigned to Berryhill Elementary School.
The second elementary
school is called
"New ES #6 (Youngblood Rd/Steele Creek Rd)" on CMS lists and maps,
but it actually will be located on property already owned by the
school system on the northwest corner of Hamilton Road and Smith
Road. This school also is scheduled to open in 2009.
A third elementary
school is expected to open in 2010 and will be located in the Red
Fez Club Road area south of York Road. It generally will be located
on the west side of the proposed Palisades town center. CMS is
working with Palisades developers to identify the precise site.
The two Lower
Steele Creek schools will help relieve Lake Wylie and Winget Park
Elementary Schools. Winget Park significantly reduced the
overcrowding at Lake Wylie when it opened in 2006, but both of these
schools are experiencing increasing crowding issues as a result of the
rapid growth in Lower Steele Creek.
Also to be funded by the
2007 bonds are improvements to the football stadium and track at
Olympic High School. Construction of a new field and track will
begin in November or December 2008, after the end of the Olympic
football season. Improvements include an 8-lane rubberized track and
a synthetic turf field. These should be ready by fall 2009. In
spring 2010 Olympic finally should be able to host a track meet.
A 4,000 seat stadium
with a field house, concession stand, and restrooms should be ready
for the 2010 football season.
Mr. Chamberlain also
discussed other plans for new schools and renovations in and around Steele
Creek:
-
$7 million renovation of Steele Creek Elementary School. #54 on the
priority list. Funding probably would be included in a 2011 bond
referendum.
-
Comprehensive renovation at Olympic High School. #38 on the priority
list. Funding probably would be included in a 2011 bond referendum.
-
Renovations at
Kennedy Middle School. #58 on the priority list. Funding probably
would be included in a 2011 bond referendum.
-
A new elementary
school to relieve Berryhill Elementary School to open in 2012.
-
A new high school in
the Palisades area to open in 2012.
-
A new middle school
in the Palisades area to open in 2013.
-
Renovations at Southwest Middle School.
These plans depend on approval by the school board and
availability of funding and certainly could change over the years.
Mr. chamberlain encouraged the audience to e-mail him at
g.chamberlain@cms.k12.nc.us if they had questions about
school construction and renovation plans.
Steele Creek Division, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Captain John Williams, Commander of the
Steele Creek Division of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Department, said that the officers of the Steele Creek Division are
working hard to address crime issues in Steele Creek. He said that
although crime certainly should be a concern, crime in Steele Creek
is no worse than other areas in Mecklenburg County. He said there's
"nothing out here to worry about that's any different from other
areas in Charlotte."
He said the area with the biggest concentration of crime in the
Steele Creek Division is the Arrowood/Archdale area along Nations
Ford Road, where violent crime is common. The area has a large
Hispanic population, and they tend to hold on to their money rather
than putting it in banks, which makes them targets for crime.
The major crime issue in Steele Creek is property crimes, the
majority of which are committed by juveniles. The police can't
resolve that issue; it's up to parents to do that.
He said that property crimes drive violent crimes. He said that
500 guns were stolen out of vehicles in Charlotte last year. These
guns wind up on the street where they contribute to violent crimes.
He encouraged the public not to leave guns in vehicles where they
could be stolen.
He recommended that the public should sign up for e-mail
notification of crime alerts and meetings on the
NOTIFY ME: CMPD ALERTS web page.
Captain Williams said that a major issue that the Steele Creek
Division has to deal with is the same that most other local
government agencies face: growth. Although residential and
commercial growth continues in Steele Creek, the division has
received no additional officers to keep up. He said this is a major
issue that will need to be addressed when the new police chief is
named in June.
Carolinas Medical Center Healthplex
Chris Hummer, Administrator of Carolinas Medical Center in
Pineville, discussed plans for a healthplex and medical office
building to be located on the south side of S Tryon Street west of
RiverGate (behind the volunteer fire department).
The healthplex is a freestanding emergency room. Unlike an urgent
care facility, the healthplex will be staffed by board certified
emergency physicians on a 24 hour basis. Typically only 10% of
patients who come to emergency rooms are admitted to the hospital.
Those cases would be transferred to another facility, but the
healthplex would be able to treat and release at least 90% of the
patients who come there.
They expect the healthplex to receive 12,000 visits in its first
year, but it will be designed to accommodate up to 20,000 visits a
year.
Also on the site will be a 60,000 square-foot
medical office building. This building will have an additional floor
and increased size over the 40,000 square feet building that was
originally planned because of growth that has occurred in Steele
Creek.
The urgent care facility operated by Carolinas
Medical Center on S Tryon Street near Westinghouse Boulevard will
remain open. Presbyterian Healthcare is also opening a medical plaza
across S Tryon Street in Steelecroft that should open sooner that
the healthplex.
In the future, Steele Creek residents will have
several choices for urgent care or emergency services. Health care
providers will need to work to educate the public on when to go to
an urgent care facility, when to go to an emergency facility within
Steele Creek, and when to go to an emergency facility in Pineville
or elsewhere.
Charlotte Department of Transportation
Tim Gibbs (tgibbs@ci.charlotte.nc.us)and
Andy Grzymski (agrzymski@ci.charlotte.nc.us)
of the
Charlotte Department of Transportation discussed current
and future roadway projects in Steele Creek.
They said that three major projects recently have
been completed in Steele Creek: the additional lanes added to I-485
between Arrowood Road and I-77, the widening of Highway 49 from
Tyvola Road to the Buster Boyd Bridge, and new sidewalks along Sandy
Porter Road.
Two upcoming projects are the realignment and
intersection improvement of Shopton Road West and Dixie River Road
at Steele Creek Road in the vicinity of the future Berewick Town
Center.
Steele Creek Road is expected to be widened
sometime between 2021 and 2030. (See
Garden Parkway, Steele Creek
Road Widening on Long Range Road Plans.)
Road improvements are needed in areas like Steele
Creek where formerly rural farm roads are becoming busier as the
area transitions towards urbanization. Upgrades will be needed to
handle traffic better and to provide safe places for pedestrians and
bicyclists. However, as with most other local government agencies,
city and state transportation departments are experiencing funding
shortfalls and are having trouble keeping up.
Comments and Questions?
If you have comments or questions about issues
presented at he meeting or about the meeting itself, please contact
the speakers, send a message to
info@steelecreekresidents.org, or talk about it on the
Steele Creek Residents Association Message Board. |