Charlotte council committee picks top choice for Eastland Yards. But they’re not done yet
Just two weeks before its primary election, the Charlotte City Council could make its choice for a potentially transformational economic development project on the city’s east side.
If the council waits any longer, it could delay other previously approved sections of the former Eastland Mall’s redevelopment, too, a representative of master developer Crosland Southeast told a council committee on Monday.
The council’s economic development committee voted 3-1 Monday to rank the QC East development — which would include a soccer academy, esports hub and amphitheater — ahead of an indoor sports complex proposal that’s drawn support from hundreds of east Charlotte residents.
Council members Malcolm Graham, Ed Driggs and Marjorie Molina voted in favor of the measure, while Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera voted against it.
Monday’s decision gave the developers behind both proposals for the remaining 29 acres of land at the former Eastland Mall site until Friday to file more “clarifying information” to the city. It also won’t preclude the council from talking about both at a full council meeting on Aug. 28.
Tim Sittema, Crosland managing partner, said his company must start grading and some utility work on the acreage currently in limbo, which is underway or complete on the other 80 acres.
“We really don’t have all the time in the world,” Sittema said.
Sittema said that while his company “doesn’t have a dog in the fight” between QC East and the indoor sports complex, he’d back QC East if he had to make a choice.
“You guys have a tough decision,” he said. “... The QC East proposal I think has a higher probability of success.”
The committee heard from Sittema and the teams behind both proposals Monday, as well as city staff.
Back in the council’s hands
The full council heard from city staff previously at their July meeting, when staff recommended the QC East project based on their evaluations in conjunction with Mecklenburg County and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. Staff asked the council not to take any action in response to their recommendation at that meeting, and council sent things back to committee at the time.
But now, things are back in the council’s hands.
“We’re pencils down until we get some direction from you guys,” Assistant City Manager Tracy Dodson told the committee Monday.
Graham, who chairs the economic development committee, said he felt it was time for the committee to decide what they think is best for the site.
“The community’s been involved, as they should be, in some cases too involved,” he said. “Everyone’s picking sides.”
Molina, whose District 5 includes the Eastland land, said she’s “disgusted” by how political the process has become as it’s dragged on.
The fate of what remains open at Eastland Yards has been undecided since Tepper Sports and Entertainment pulled out of plans to build a youth academy and soccer fields at the site in July 2022.
Three other possibilities for the land — a Target, an aquatics center and a publicly owned recreational facility — were previously eliminated from contention. The city finalized its purchase of the property in 2012, and the mall was demolished in 2013.
At-large council member Ajmera, the lone “no” vote Monday, said she needs to hear more from both developers before she can decide which idea to back, including questions about the financing of the indoor sports complex and noise and traffic concerns related to QC East.
What do east Charlotte residents want at Eastland Yards?
Multiple members of Charlotte EAST, a neighborhood coalition that’s previously backed the indoor sports complex idea, were in attendance at Monday’s meeting.
The group previously announced a petition in favor of their choice, and that petition now has about 1,000 signatures, Charlotte EAST chair Greg Asciutto told The Charlotte Observer.
But that’s not the only petition circulating.
The team behind QC East has a petition of their own supporting its plan, according to a Monday email to the city council and Mayor Vi Lyles obtained by the Observer, with more than 950 signatures.
“Notably, nearly 400 signatories reside in East Side neighborhoods in direct proximity to the site,” the QC East team said in a letter accompanying the petition. “This overwhelming response underscores the genuine desire of those who live closest to the area to see our vision realized.”
In a statement after Monday’s meeting, Asciutto reiterated that his group still favors the indoor sports facility, saying that concerns about community use “are completely unfounded.”
He also criticized Graham for “comments that members of our community have been ‘too involved’ with this decision-making process,” saying they “are the perfect exemplification of how the City of Charlotte has conducted business in the Eastside for years: ‘We’re going to tell you what’s best for you, and regardless of your input we’re going to do what we want.’”
“So it is no surprise that, despite 1,000+ stakeholders and East community leaders coalescing around a financially viable partner we believe best fits the vision and desire for Eastland in 2023, we continue to fight the same uphill battle,” he said. “We look forward to the August 28th council meeting.”
Councilman Tariq Bokhari originally planned on recusing himself from the vote on Eastland because he is a minority stakeholder in Carolina Esports Hub, which is connected to the QC East bid. But, according to a June 5 memo from City Attorney Patrick Baker, he’s not a stakeholder in this specific development. That means he will vote on the matter.
This story was originally published August 7, 2023 at 7:52 PM.
