Residents fear plan to protect historically Black Lake Norman community is too late
A minority-owned, Charlotte-based architectural consultant unveiled a 10-year plan Tuesday night to preserve Huntersville’s historically Black Pottstown community and help it thrive.
“The focus of this plan is community preservation,” Eric Orozco, an urban designer with Neighboring Concepts, told the Huntersville Board of Commissioners during a public hearing on the Pottstown Community Preservation Plan. Commissioners will vote on the plan at a later date.
The plan calls for establishing a coalition of residents, nonprofits, churches, developers and others to see to completion the many community preservation and betterment initiatives outlined in the document.
Eight residents spoke during the hearing, most in support, but a few also warning of encroaching development.
“I thought it would be more quickly done,” Pottstown resident Betty Jane Caldwell told the board. “The focus has been on the future, when I thought it would focus on the present. We still have no sidewalks. The community is still looking like it did when I was born in 1946.”
Residents said developers will quickly gentrify Pottstown if the 1% sales tax transit referendum passes in November.
“Gentrification is segregation,” Pottstown resident Shion Mayfield said. “You are forcing the Black community out for money. You are killing history. Killing it.”
“One of the things we definitely want to do is to protect the community from displacement and gentrification,” Huntersville commissioner Edwin Quarles said.
He asked representatives of the consultant if Mecklenburg County’s HOMES program would be available to Pottstown residents, and officials replied yes. The program awards grants up to $650 toward the tax bills of qualifying homeowners.
48 residents contributed thoughts to the plan
Pottstown began as a settlement for formerly enslaved people after the Civil War and was officially named in 1909.
The community is southeast of downtown Huntersville, bordered on the west by N.C. 115 (Old Statesville Road) and railroad tracks; on the north by Dellwood Drive; and on the south by Holbrooks Road.
The consultant went door-to-door and held community meetings over nine months to gather input for the plan. Forty-eight Pottstown residents offered recommendations.
“This plan is created with one purpose in mind: to ensure that Pottstown remains a vibrant, inclusive, and thriving community for current and future generations,” Neighboring Concepts partner Daniel McNamee says in the foreword of the plan.
“Pottstown’s strength lies not only in its historic buildings or landmarks, but in the people, traditions, and relationships that make it home,” he said.
The plan is intended to guide residents, nonprofits, town leaders, developers and others to:
• Preserve and reinvest in “historic anchors,” including Torrence-Lytle High School, northern Mecklenburg County’s first and only public high school for Black students; Torrence-Lytle Community Center (formerly Dellwood Center); and neighborhood parks.
Such locations should “remain active places for community life and symbols of pride,” according to the plan.
• Create a community development corporation, or partner with a nonprofit, to build and manage affordable housing and rehab homes.
Most of the homes in Pottstown date from the end of the 19th century to 1975, Neighboring Concepts found. Owners of homes 50 and older are eligible for historic building rehab programs, officials said.
• Preserve Pottstown’s character by maintaining its “modest homes, tree cover, and open space, while guiding new construction to respect scale, history, and context.”
• Celebrate Pottstown’s Black heritage with outdoor signs and an annual awards and community update meeting.
• Create a special zoning district that preserves historic homes, churches, schools, community centers and other buildings and discourages rampant development.
• Design pedestrian friendly streets that slow traffic and include sidewalks to encourage walking and biking over cars.
“The plan is very much appreciated,” Pottstown resident Janelle Harris told the board.
She said she agrees with the need for a coalition to see the plan through.
“We have a blueprint for how we can come together,” she said. “We can thrive with this plan.”