City Council Hamburglars
Crosland’s plan for Quail Corners will add about 10,000 square feet of new retail and office space, including one additional outparcel and an expansion for the Harris Teeter, update all storefront exteriors with brick masonry, add new sidewalks, relocate the main entrance, and create an outdoor plaza area and courtyard. None of that is possible, Crosland officials say, without the new customers and extra revenue a drive-thru fast-food restaurant is projected to generate.
The rezoning petition has won support from city planning staff, and on Tuesday night councilmembers urged Crosland officials and opponents of the plan to reach a consensus that would allow the project to move forward.
Councilmember Andy Dulin, whose district includes Quail Corners, said the shopping center expansion would be a job creator and economic boost, as Charlotte struggles with unemployment and tries to emerge from the recession.
“What you’re trying to do is to deliver a three-decades-old shopping center to 2012 standards,” Dulin told Crosland officials. “I applaud you for wanting to do that.”
At the same time, he said, the neighbors’ safety concerns were legitimate.
“They’ve got a lot of say on what’s going on up here,” Dulin said of neighborhood groups. “Their ability to unite speaks loudly to the people sitting up here.”
As a way to dodge potential traffic issues, Councilmember Warren Turner suggested that Crosland build the proposed fast-food restaurant on a site internal to the shopping center, instead of an outparcel.
“Drive-thrus are wonderful, but let’s be honest; they’re not fast. They create more traffic,” Turner said. “I would be suggesting that we consider not having a drive-thru fast-food restaurant where it’s actually a drive-thru.”
Carmichael, with Crosland, said he appreciated the suggestion, but offered that it wasn’t practical.
In response to opponents’ protests over a fast-food restaurant, Councilmember Edwin Peacock grappled with the weighty issue of what should be considered fast food.
“Let’s take, for example, a popular casual dining experience called Showmar’s,” Peacock said. “Their logo is good food, fast. They don’t have a drive-thru. Is that a retail tenant mix that would be acceptable to the petitioners that have signs that say ‘No Fast Food’?”
Smithson, with the Cameron Woods HOA that opposes the Crosland plan, said sit-down, family-type restaurants would make a more compatible and safe fit with the surrounding neighborhoods, and wouldn’t prove such a powerful attraction to middle-school students from Quail Hollow.
“They don’t have the spending money to necessarily go into a Salsarita’s, where a meal is going to be $7 to $10 by the time they’re done purchasing it,” Smithson said. “We worry more about a fast-food restaurant where they’re going to get a shake, 99-cent fries, a Coke,” where “a 12-year-old, whose buddies are all crossing the street really quickly, is going to want to jump that waist-high fence and join his friends because he’s got a couple bucks in his pockets.”
Members of the city’s zoning committee didn’t offer any opinions about cheap fries and shakes, but seemed generally impressed by Crosland’s proposal.
“In principle, the zoning committee is always encouraged to have retail upgraded for use by the local community, so we think this is a wonderful move,” committee chair Stephen Rosenburgh said. “But we want to assess these issues that have been brought forward by council and some of the issues discussed tonight.”
The zoning committee is slated to make its recommendation on the Quail Corners plan later this month, with a council vote on the petition coming next month.
No word yet on who is scheduled to cater that meeting.
UPDATE: Crosland has requested a delay on its petition to allow more discussion with neighborhood groups. The city’s zoning committee likely won’t review the Quail Corners petition until March, followed by a council vote.
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