New police station at Central & Merry Oaks will cause demolition of homes and mature trees
Posted on 7 Mar 2011 by Peggie Porter
Charlotte plans to rezone three residential acres on Central Avenue to build a new police station.
The Eastway Division Station would be on the corner of Central Avenue and Merry Oaks Road, just east of Briar Creek Road. It would include a one-story building the size of two residential lots and a 100-space parking lot.
While there are several viable commercial sites available within the division, Major Diego Anselmo told the Merry Oaks Neighborhood Assocation that this particular spot is the only site police are considering.
At least three homes and two duplexes would be torn down for the project, along with at least a dozen mature trees.
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What do you think? Is this the best location for the new police station? Or should the CMPD consider an alternative?
Site plan for CMPD’s Eastway Division station.
bloody ridiculous. with tons and tons of vacant commercial space all over east charlotte, these guys want to get rid of existing housing and tree cover to build, essentially, a police station.there is tons of commercial space available all over east charlotte, already built space waiting to be used. why are we spending our taxpayer dollars in such a wasteful way? i support the police and applaud their hard work, but we could save much more money by not building such a huge, resource depleting building.
Further exploration into all viable alternative properties should be explored before mowing down residences and trees. Current building plans could be modified to construct a two story structure thereby keeping the building’s footprint smaller and allowing for use of existing property previously deemed “too small” for the project. The CMPD deserves a decent building in the Eastway Division. Running out of a storefront in a crumbling eyesore of a strip mall is not acceptable. Everyone put your heads together to find a compromise.
This is just another example of the constant push forward here without any regard for the past. I understand the need to grow and expand, but I think that the expansion should be weighed heavily against the loss of current buildings. They’re a piece of Charlotte’s history built into these homes. I’m sure that the buildings could be put to better use than as scrap wood.
Lowering your head and smashing through what exists to make room for what could be is not always the best solution for the community.