Southwest Outer

The vast majority of the people living in this area have NO access to public transportation.

New home are being built south of 49 - the new homeowners will need to drive to work.

But how do you get there, and where do you put the almost almost always necessary car to get you there?

Tryon is not friendly to pedestrians. Further, ON STREET PARKING IS NOT AVAILABLE.

Corporate employees are encouraged to drive Upton with parking vouchers; guests are not always so lucky.

Your could always park at the Dunhill Hotel - for about $25.

The "within 2 miles" by bike only works if there are sufficient lanes for use that are not dangerous. Route 160 is not safe for bikes.

Have lived on Island Point Road for 22 years. Not part of the Sanctuary but adjacent on both sides. Lots of new building towards the Island Point Homeowners Association on the end. The city chickened out of the 1st UDO years ago by not taking on the challenge of Airbnb or VBRO .We have people renting out short term rentals for 4 days, usually all weekends, BIG parties all weekend long. Rock and roll, parties all night long. In a Single Family Neighborhood. As many as they can get, occupancy doesn't matter. ABSOLUTLY NO OVERSIGHT!!! Even little York County has rules and regulations and oversight on these types of rentals. There is on oversight as to septic, which everybody has, some have outdated system or its directly into Lake Wylie, no city sewer, but available city water. This has to be addressed, and then I see you want ADU units on Single family residential lots? what about the waste? Its already a problem for residents who live here year round. Its out of control. This area cant support duplexes, tri or quadplexes. North Carolina already stripped our restrictions on single family lots where there were only to be single family structures. Anything older then 30 years got stripped away. VBRO people came in and bought any dilapadated structures and made them into VBRO's and subdivided any lots that could not have been before under the 30,000 sq ft language we had when we bought the property, and building Huge 6000 sq ft housing and saying they are only 3 bedroom. Septic systems fail, but most of the 2040 planners likely don't know what a bedroom is classified as, and how builders get around it and nobody cares. Something needs to be done to prevent our neighbors from being driven out of our homes to let your ADU units and VRBO people take over. make a plan, make some rules, some permits required, some oversight, it can't continue to just be a free for all. All this 2040 stuff seems warm and fuzzy, but you all run when someone gets killed or shot at these parties, and still no one who comes up with these pages and pages and pages of "STUFF" does anything about it. Let it happen in your neighborhood and see how it works out for you.

"Impervious Surface" is a negative to environmental justice. In addition to this term credit should also be given to "Previous Surface" areas in the region. this section should also note the Lake Wylie and Lower Lake Wylie water shed ordnances which address water quality and limit construction in the region. Additionally credit should be given to housing developments in the ETJ which have effectively addressed the issue of Stormwater Management and water quality.

thank you for the partnership to get 2 creek crossings

street lights are a private expense in the ETJ. how does the City intend to pay for that?

showing CITY fire in the ETJ ignore reality. There will be no future annexations. we are and will remain VFD

these are all very urban concepts not aligned with life in suburbia.

how many fountains & plazas does Rivergate have to have for you to acknowledge it?

continues to ignore the large portions of the geography in the ETJ with NCDOT roads and rules.

Grand Palisades Prky has a sidewalk and a SUP. it has pedestrians & cyclists consistently throughout the day . why would you choose to say it is not aligned with Aspirations? this chart is wrong

the drawing appears to ignore the portions of Steele Creek that are in the ETJ. NCDOT does not allow all of the improvements your graphic contains. We need reality not fantasy.

it is safe to assume when we move to Steele Creek we knew we were in suburbia. If we wanted to live within a ' a comfortable tree-lined 10 minute walk' to multiple services (2040 plan) then we would have chosen to live in Dilworth. Please respect that 61,000 of us still choose to not live in the urban core and quit trying to make us what we aren't

And how do we improve the quality of CMS public schools? They are hurting.

What impact do we expect the River Community to have, and when will it be done? Will it be affordable? What public schools will support it?

Is manufacturing and commercial being spread around the city, or does Southwest Outer need to bear the entire burden?

Adding too many malt-family residences will increase density and change the vey nature of neighborhood housing.

River Cabin Lane is quiet and residential and should reman so.

HOW exactly does CLT plan to do that?

There is very little public transportation in Steele Creek - a car is required. Busses are available on 160 - but this can be far from housing.

Bicycle lanes are rarely used - and feel dangerous on 160.

Not sure what is meant by "Activity Center". Note that most people want to live in their own homes.

Education needs to be the top priory - it is the proven way u of poverty.

On the negative side: Steele Creek is currently overbuilding. Green space is being gobbled up by developments, and single family homes are being razed. HOA rules deter people who understand the full ramifications - but this can only be remedied by state law.

Traffic is really bad during rush hours. Public transportation can be a two-three mile walk from housing.

On the positive side - there is good access to medical care.

In the demographics section, you note that current demographics for Southwest-Outer has 19% foreign born vs 8% city wide. This is reflected in our schools as well, yet there is little to no additional support for the teachers and staff of our schools for ESL students, especially at the Middle School level. If we aspire to provide Diverse and Resilient Economic Opportunity, we need to ensure that we are providing quality education for those that will join the workforce. Southwest Middle School has been overcrowded and underfunded for decades!

There is currently no public transit options beyond Rivergate area because of the current City boundary. What transit options are proposed to alleviate congestion and allow residents in the areas south of HWY 160? Additionally, when will bike lanes and sidewalks be added. Many of the connector roads (HWY 160, South Tryon, and Youngbload) do not have continuous sidewalks and therefore no access beyond using a car.

Additionally, we need to increase access to Health services in this area. Currently, the closest hospital is CMC Pineville which is at best a 30 min commute time (with traffic - 45-60 mins). This is unacceptable for an area that has grown significantly in the last 20 years and is projected to grow even further.

To meet the 10 minute neighborhood goal, you will need to address the infrastructure in the Southwest-Outer area. Youngblood Rd, Steele Creek Rd, and South Tryon were not built for the current traffic load and can not accommodate future expected growth, let alone the proposed growth in the 2040 plan. Additionally, roads South of Youngblood to Lake Wylie are not City owned but rather County owned due to City boundary. Grand Palisades is listed as a connector road, yet it is a HOA maintained road due to the County not taking ownership of the road and being outside of the City limits.

This plan needs to reconcile the current traffic load with the expected traffic from this plan, but also the anticipated additional traffic coming from new developments that are underway in South Carolina, just over the Buster Boyd Bridge as well.

Over half of the Southwest Outer is ETJ - extraterritorial jurisdiction. The city only provides minimal services to this area. Roads, sidewalks, bike paths are not maintained by the city. The city only imposes regulations on to the ETJ with no assistance. ETJ areas are not eligible for the city arts program. The 2040 plan starts off as a failure in the Southwest Outer because it excludes almost 50,000 residents.

As this plan anticipates substantial residential and commercial growth across the Southwest Outer area, I urge the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to proactively align public safety resources—including CMPD patrols—with projected population and traffic increases. Road congestion, denser housing, and expanded mixed-use centers inevitably bring new safety challenges that cannot be met with static staffing and outdated coverage patterns.

Specifically, I recommend that the plan include a commitment to proportional public safety investment—including increased officer presence, response capacity, and traffic enforcement—as part of the implementation framework. This should apply especially to areas like Steele Creek and Grand Palisades Parkway, where growth is accelerating but visibility and enforcement remain limited. A safer, more responsive system is essential to the livability and long-term success of this area's development vision.

The tree canopy indicator's setting on orange is a direct result of City and County approvals for clear-cutting. Perhaps and asterisk would help explain referencing the permits granted for lot after lot, acre after acre of clear-cutting.

The plan highlights the importance of preserving and enhancing the tree canopy, which is encouraging to see. However, in practice, there appears to be a disconnect between this goal and the rate of tree removal approved for new developments—especially near environmentally sensitive areas like Lake Wylie. To align policy with action, I urge the city to adopt enforceable canopy preservation targets and limit clear-cutting unless offset by verifiable, localized reforestation. The long-term health, livability, and resilience of this area depend on treating tree canopy not as a talking point, but as a protected asset. Also please enforce not just at the homeowner level, but at the developer level. Developers, it seems, have disproportionate impact on the tree canopy.....

Despite acknowledging the need for infrastructure improvements, particularly concerning Youngblood Road and Grand Palisades Parkway, the plan does not outline specific, funded projects to address these concerns. This omission could lead to increased traffic congestion and safety issues, especially as new developments emerge in the area. I respectfully invite authors of this plan to drive down Youngblood during rush hour, any rush hour. Let me know when you are planning to do that so I can borrow a bike and tie up traffic for far too long, risking life and limb to prove a point. It is dangerous.

The town center has some appeal for sure. With it comes traffic on already congested roads in the area, of course.

Can the Activity Center plan include traffic calming, signage, or restricted access to prevent overflow into Riverpointe?

Will the City or County monitor cut-through data if congestion increases?

Is there a plan to support HOAs with maintenance if cut-throughs on privately maintained roads become a safety issue on our residential streets?

As shown in the Southwest Outer Streets Map, Youngblood Road and Grand Palisades Parkway are only labeled as Collector roads, with no planned upgrades or reclassification. This is a serious mismatch between the map and the lived experience of residents. These roads carry volumes well beyond collector expectations—they serve schools, entire neighborhoods, and would be primary evacuation routes in an emergency. If this map reflects future priorities, then the plan is effectively abandoning these communities to congestion, risk, and isolation.

🟣 Youngblood Road
Marked mostly as a Collector road (solid purple line).

No major upgrade plans shown—not slated as a boulevard, parkway, or future avenue.

This implies no transformation is currently prioritized, even though it connects major neighborhoods and schools using two lanes, no bike lane, no sidewalks, and a terribly tragic history including the death of a student running for a school bus.

Perhaps this is an oversight in the planning. It must be because a brand new firehouse was just erected due to the increase in housing in the area. It must be understood then that more houses mean more cars...and this road is far too narrow, fast, and dangerous as-is.

Charlotte’s 2040 Plan is commendable and ambitious. It commits to safe, connected, 10-minute neighborhoods, yet Youngblood Road and Grand Palisades Parkway actively hinder these goals. Without sidewalks, bike access, or even consistent maintenance, these roads violate Goals 1, 3, 5, and 6. It’s not just a traffic issue—it’s a structural failure to neglect these main roads and deliver on Charlotte’s equity and mobility vision. I urge the city to align this plan with its values by immediately investing in safety, capacity, and state-supported upgrades for both roadways.

I strongly urge the planning team to:

Condition all new rezonings in this area on confirmed road infrastructure upgrades.

Actively support NCDOT takeover and investment in Grand Palisades Parkway.

Accelerate safety improvements along Youngblood, especially near schools and intersections.

As a resident of the Southwest Outer area, I urge the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to immediately prioritize traffic relief on Youngblood Road and Grand Palisades Parkway. These two roads—already overburdened—serve as critical access points for thousands of residents, multiple school campuses, and emergency services. Yet neither is equipped for current volume, let alone additional development.

Youngblood lacks proper turn lanes, sidewalks, and lighting, creating daily bottlenecks and unsafe conditions—especially near Palisades Park Elementary. Grand Palisades Parkway, still privately owned, is not maintained to public safety standards despite being a heavily used thoroughfare and evacuation route. Continued approval of high-density developments without immediate infrastructure improvements—such as state takeover, widening, signalization, or alternate traffic routing—will place residents at increased risk and compromise long-term sustainability.

Grand Palisades Parkway, which is listed as an avenue on this map is not even a publicly maintained road. The state, county, nor city has taken ownership of the road. This is currently privately maintained by the Palisades HOA, the plan should not highlight Grand Palisades PKwy as an artery unless the county will take over maintenance

Housing is not a priority for this area. Housing has been overdeveloped already as indicated by the gridlock traffic during rush hour and overcrowded schools. Infrastructure and schools need to be addressed before adding more people to the problem . HWY 160 was supposed to be widened 8 years ago and the additional traffic flow from the SC side of the lake causes huge traffic problems on both NC 160 and NC 49.

the city can't accept another just apartment development in this area - needs to be a mix of commercial and apartments.
this parcel was designated to be palisades town center

not near the lake - cant generalize

the apartment built on the lake still causes water run offs during rains - it is environmentally unsafe

we have over 43 apartments available on the lakehouse development - we dont need more apartments, we need commercial - we need the promised town center

this area should be Community activity center
All Charlotte households should have access to essential amenities, goods, and services within a comfortable, tree-shaded 10-minute walk, bike, or transit trip by 2040. Not all neighborhoods are expected to include every essential amenity, good, or service, but every resident should have access within a ½ mile walk or a 2-mile bike or transit ride.

The number one priority in 10 out of the 15 neighborhoods is for housing availability? There is no shortage of housing or apartments we have vancancies because they overbuilt! So the only reasonable conclusion is that the study suggests our housing prices are too high? That's capitalism...you can't control the market prices or the macro-economic environment. Just because I want to live in quail hollow doesn't give me the right or mean they should build cheap duplexes so I can. This study focuses on a far-left socialist agenda rather than real ways to improve the city. Genuinely curious how many tax dollars were spent on this study to tell us we need more of this race here and that race there. Charlotte councilemen let me save you some of our money in the future build bike lanes and improve walkability.