Charlotte City Council heard from residents of a mobile home park off Prosperity Church Road, who spoke out Monday against a rezoning petition they say would force them out of their homes.
The owner of the Forest Park Mobile Homes has decided to sell the property where 60 trailer homes are located.
Developers who submitted the rezoning request hope to build roughly 400 apartments and add 25,000 square feet of commercial space.
That would displace current residents, many of them working-class immigrants who own their homes, but not the land.
"We have invested a lot in that place," said Yolanda Valentin, a resident of the mobile home park for more than 20 years. "We have invested around $80,000 to $90,000. All of our savings have been spent on our walls, our floors, our yards."
Leo Chavez has lived at Forest Park for 15 years with his mother, and he doesn’t know where they would move.
“Nowhere, I think, in Charlotte are we going to find a place with $500 rent," Chavez said. "It'll be pretty devastating, not only for us, but to everybody who lives (at Forest Park).”
Most members of the council spoke out against displacing residents and spoke of working with developers to provide relocation assistance if the petition is approved.
“This is a bigger issue for this council," said Council member Renee Johnson. "And the same energy and this compassion we have in protecting individuals, we need to look at this from a policy perspective.”
Residents hope the council will vote no so that the residents can collectively buy the property from the owner. A vote isn’t scheduled until August.
