The Charlotte City Council approved a series of land deals Monday designed to help meet its goal of developing more affordable housing.
Five measures passed unanimously in a single vote. They included the sale of three city-owned parcels, a land donation to Habitat for Humanity and the purchase of the former Double Oaks Elementary School from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
City council member Justin Harlow said deals like these are another way to spur development of more affordable units.
“Tonight's transfer and sales of city owned property is just really one tool in our box that I don’t think we utilize enough,” he said.
The land sales include
- 1.4 acres on Spencer Street for a development of 59 townhomes, 10 percent of which must be affordable.
- One-quarter acre at Parkwood Avenue and The Plaza, where one of five new units will be affordable.
- One-third of an acre on Matheson Avenue, where one of three new single family homes would be affordable.
All three projects would target those making less than 80 percent of the area median income, or about $59,000 a year for a family of four. All would have deed restrictions requiring them to remain affordably priced for 15 years.
The city also will donate nine acres on Morris Field Drive near the airport to Habitat for Humanity for 47 single-family affordable homes.
It will also spend just over $3 million to buy the 11-acre former Double Oaks Elementary School off Statesville Avenue, for future development. CMS approved that sale in August.
