CHARLOTTE, NC — The new Charlotte Premium Outlets brought thousands of people, and their cars, to Steele Creek. Now neighbors are bracing for a repeat.
Parking was at a premium for the big grand opening, and despite community meetings, and assurances from the city, one neighborhood has a huge headache on their hands.
People are willing to walk a long way for a good deal.
“Way out here in this parking lot they have designated for those who can’t find parking in the regular spot,” says Rob Tull from Fort Mill. “But it’s worth a trip.”
No one was really sure what to expect with all the traffic around the Premium Outlets, but the opening day reviews are in.
“It was total chaos. Just unorganized. They didn’t really know where to go, what to do,” says Mike Krail from York. “They’re not directing traffic very well, so you just kind of, we wandered around. We looped all the way around, and then had to come on back down.”
Too many people, not enough parking spaces. It’s a problem when it comes to the new Charlotte Premium Outlets, and the neighborhood–Berewick–right behind it. And it’s a problem that doesn’t seem to have a solution any time soon.
Residents had major concerns leading up to the big day. Those concerns were realized. The Outlets’ 2,000 parking spots are not enough.
“They didn’t space it properly to have enough parking. And so when I came home, I couldn’t even get near my house, because cars were parked in front, around in the back,” says Patrice McNeil, who lives in Berewick. “The traffic was so heavy.”
And lots of people were using the Berewick neighborhood as a cut-through to get to the Outlets, or as a makeshift parking lot.
“It’s everybody. I think they’re trying to get through the neighborhood to get that short cut. Because I had thought about it too,” says Berewick resident Nina Williams.
“We’ve got kids, we’ve got people walking, jogging. Hundreds of cars were cutting through the neighborhood,” sats CMPD Lt. Andy Harris. “Not only that, they were parking in front of people’s houses, parking on the sidewalk.”
Police came and blocked off a section of Shopton Road to keep that traffic out, and posted “no parking” signs. But that also means the people who live here are on the outside looking in.
“We were promised that these kind of issues wouldn’t happen,” says Berewick resident Samantha Tucci. “And so now we see that we can’t get through, and he said that there’s nothing he can do when you live right down the street. So now it sounds like we have to go and get caught up in all that other traffic to get home.”
CMPD plans to keep the section of Shopton Road closed at Dixie River Road through the weekend. The mall will run shuttles again Friday, and throughout the weekend, to help shoppers get back and forth from the overflow parking lots. Those lots are off Steele Creek Road at Shopton Road and Dixie River Road.
