Parents at Collinswood Language Academy remain concerned about a vacant school building next door, months after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Mecklenburg County agreed on a plan to demolish the derelict building and redevelop the site.
The school board agreed to sell the former Smith Middle School building on Tyvola Road to Mecklenburg County for an affordable housing project. The decision came after nearby residents reported finding evidence of drug use, trespassers and a report of a gun on the property.
The vacant building sits just about 40 feet from Collinswood Language Academy, a K-8 school.
The agreement was to sell the property to Mecklenburg County for $7 million. That included $2.5 million to go toward demolition and $4.5 million for the land.
Parents say they are frustrated by what they view as a lack of progress toward demolishing the building. Collinswood PTA member Ross Glynn said there was no visible demolition activity over the summer. Glynn worries about potential safety risks.
“There could be something very serious that happens, and I don’t want to say that we as a community didn’t … use every single tool in our toolkit to try and move this to a better place,” Glynn said.
CMS told WFAE it is working on a purchase agreement with Mecklenburg County so county funds reserved for the project can be used.
“While the board approved the sale of the building this past spring, the appropriation of funding was not approved by Mecklenburg County until August,” CMS said. “We are currently working with Mecklenburg County to finalize the purchase agreement and gain access to the appropriated funds for this project.”
The district did not provide a definitive completion date, but said it planned to finalize the purchase agreement, complete asbestos and environmental testing, finalize design and submit permits this fall and winter.
Between the winter and spring, the district would work toward completing permitting and procurement and finalizing contracts. The district notes that permitting can take up to six months.
Only after approval will CMS conduct asbestos abatement, demolish the structure and clear the site.
That timeline is concerning to parents like Glynn, who say they thought there’d be more progress at a site they believe poses a danger to students – especially since the community, CMS and the county all seem to be on the same page for the site’s future.
“I would say we’re very frustrated that the summer months really saw no tangible activity,” Glynn said. “I don’t work in construction, I don’t pretend to be an expert on any of these things, but if there’s one city that’s good at tearing down buildings, I think we’re in it, so it seems very hard for me to believe that this process, particularly the abatement and demolition process, cannot move faster.”
Residents say they’re seeing fresh signs of trespassers. Some spoke at last week’s school board meeting to raise those concerns.
In the meantime, CMS says its operations team conducts daily site checks of the property. It also monitors the site through the CMS Police Department and coordinates with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
