Up for zoning: Cherry homes, offices, cell tower

It's the third Monday of the month, so that means it must everyone's favorite City Council get-together: The zoning meeting. UPDATE: Zoning meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday, because of the impending IceMaggeddon.

Up this week are a development in Cherry, a new office tower on West Morehead Street and a cell phone tower.

Here's a look at what's on the agenda for Monday night:

West Morehead Street offices: CitiSculpt has filed to rezone 1.4 acres at West Morehead and South Summit streets, just barely outside the I-277 loop. As I wrote earlier when they announced the plan, the company is planning to build an office mid-rise with 70,000 square feet space, including street-level retail. This is up for a hearing, and staff recommends approval.

Cherry multifamily: This project by Laurel Street residential at Baxter and Avant streets in Cherry has garnered a protest petition from residents, but it's not clear the protest will reach the required threshold. Laurel Street Residential wants to rezone 1.87 acres to allow the building of a small, infill development with 30 multifamily units, including an affordable housing component. The project is up for a hearing. Staff recommends approval.

Here's a sample of a resident's concerns and hopes, quoted from the required community meeting report: "I have been in Cherry for 70 years, I grew up here and we need affordable housing. We are in small homes, and people come in with more money and 5 build $500,000 homes. You built your homes next to my little house. We didn’t ask you all to come in here with your money to build these big houses but you came, and we don’t have a problem with that. We are okay with change. I don’t have to like what you are doing, but I’ll love you anyway. It is not about race because we all bleed red. I pray every night that this project is completed because we need affordable housing in this community."

Daycare: A proposed daycare on 2.7 acres on Prosperity Church road drew a protest petition, fueled by the typical concerns of noise and traffic. The daycare is up for a vote, and staff recommends approval.

Dilworth townhouses: The developer has requested the hearing be pushed back a month, to March. The proposal which would allow 9 townhouses on 0.4 acres on Kenilworth Ave., next to the East Blvd. Harris Teeter. Neighbors have raised concerns about traffic, on-site dumpsters, whether the driveway is too narrow, and whether the units are priced too low, at $350,000. Staff recommends approval.

Office building: Invue Security is seeking to tear down a shopping center just south of Pineville-Matthews Road, between Carswell and Baybrook Lanes. The company would build a 75,000 square-foot, three-story office building, with 18,000 square feet of retail space, and use it as its headquarters. Staff recommends approval. This is up for a hearing.

Cell phone tower: While it might appear less interesting than some of the other petitions, I thought this was worth noting. SIM USA, the Christian missionary aid group that came to the public's attention when two of its staff were infected with Ebola while working in Liberia, wants a bigger cell phone tower on its southwest Charlotte campus. Although some neighbors, have complained, the tower is more than 1/3 of a mile from the nearest streets and houses. SIM USA will use microwave equipment on the 199-foot-tall tower to communicate with its Fort Mill campus, while Verizon and T-Mobile will use the tower to mount cell phone equipment. Staff recommends approval.