Lake Norman Publications

Coalition seeks town’s help to save Smithville community


The Smithville community encompasses 25 acres and has existed since 1872. /Doug Coats

CORNELIUS – Following the support of community housing recommendations, a plan has been set to revitalize the Smithville neighborhood, with goals of offering affordable housing to diverse range of incomes and cultures.

Cornelius’ historic African-American community between U.S. 21 and Ferry Street is full of blighted and vacant properties worth less than $100,000, and a rapidly aging population. It sits in stark contrast to the rest of the town, where average home prices are $325,000.

Instead of becoming a carbon copy of Charlotte’s latest gentrified neighborhood, the Smithville Community Coalition wants to give current residents the opportunity to remain on their land, while also creating more housing for workers like teachers and first responders. The town acknowledged a lack of housing stock that working-class families can reasonably find and afford.

Willie Jones, who has an extensive background in affordable housing, represented the SCC at the March 1 Board of Commissioners meeting, where he detailed how the 25-acre community could be saved.

“You don’t run across 25 acres across a built-up area very often, unless that area is dying,” Jones said. “This is a robust area. This is an incredibly valuable resource.”

The Smithville revitalization process includes seven “justice principles” that respond to existential threats in a time when housing costs have continued to escalate despite the economic impacts of a pandemic.

  • It will honor its heritage as a historically African-American neighborhood.
  • No residents in occupied homes will be displaced.
  • Seniors who own their homes can continue to live in them.
  • This phase of the revitalization will be limited to vacant sections.
  • Residents will not be displaced by escalating real estate taxes.
  • New development will be mixed-income and mixed tenure, covering from 30 percent of adjusted median income (AMI) to 120 percent of AMI.
  • Everyone will be compensated fairly for their land. The coalition will give $10,000 to each owner/occupant who agrees to give a right of first refusal if their home goes on the market.

Smithville’s many blighted properties would be replaced by affordable and workforce housing. There are 10 structures slated for demolition. /Doug Coats

“It is coming whether we get consensus or not,” said board member Lisa Mayhew-Jones. “We will be taken over. We are in the middle and will get swallowed up. I’ve seen it myself, just growing up here. We have to find something to save the Smithville community.”

Plans are to include a mix of 102 for-sale houses ranging from $217,00 to $296,00 and 64 rental units between $444 per month for a one-bedroom and $1,044 for a family of four. The majority of the rentals are based on 50 percent of the AMI.

Since more residents would be added to the neighborhood, SCC hopes to expand on Smithville Community Park by roughly 7 acres.

The coalition is asking Mecklenburg County for $3.5 million to fund the housing efforts, and $750,000 from the town over three budget cycles, Jones said, noting “the question of the town’s participation will be an important question.”

The SCC provided a $250,000 Planning Grant for the project, of which $100,900 has been spent or under contract. Finding a nonprofit partner also will be paramount, Jones said, since it exempts the property from real estate taxes.

“If you don’t have to pay taxes, you can increase the amount of debt you can leverage,” he said. “That’s worth about half a million. You end up with between $500,000 to $750,000 to solve for. In affordable housing, that’s considered a smaller problem. I made a living off of solving that problem.”

Beyond the funding, the two main challenges are finding the right mix of residents to live in Smithville, and getting the current property owners on board with transforming their community.

“Everybody should get the same place regardless of their incomes,” Jones said. “You don’t want to drive through a neighborhood and say, ‘This is a poor people’s house or this is rich people’s house,’ and when you look, you typically have an ethnic identifier. You end up with more people of color in poor-people housing. You want to eliminate obvious visible differences.”

Commissioner Thurman Ross questioned the ability to gain a consensus from families who have lived there for generations. Jones said many of the land owners had been contacted or are being identified through a law firm working pro bono.

“We don’t think we have a problem there,” Jones said. “They’ve wanted to sell it, but can’t.”

Smithville Park would be expanded via the Duke Energy right-of-way to the south. /Doug Coats

Projected rents in revitalized Smithville

Household No. 1 2 3 4
30% AMI $17,750 $20,050 $22,250 $25,050
Rent/month $444 $501 $556 $526
40% AMI $23,400 $26,750 $30,100 $33,400
Rent/month $585 $669 $753 $835
50% AMI $29,250 $33,400 $37,600 $41,750
Rent/month $731  $835 $940 $1,044

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