The Charlotte City Council on Monday rezoned a 0.16-acre parcel on Verbena Street from manufacturing to a transit-oriented mixed-use designation, the kind of small infill move Charlotte's 2040 plan recommends near light-rail stations. The vote was 7-2. The two opposing votes — Council Member LaWana Slack-Mayfield, at-large, and Council Member Renée Johnson (District 4) — were not about the parcel itself. They were about the trajectory the parcel represents.

The petition, number 2026-002, was filed by Zhi Zhang to convert the property from ML-2 (manufacturing and logistics) to TOD-NC, the neighborhood-center version of the city's transit-oriented development district. The site sits south of Verbena Street, west of Nations Crossing Road, less than three-quarters of a mile from both the Blue Line's Woodlawn and Scaly Bark stations, and inside an identified community activity center. Council Member Joi Mayo (District 3) said the petitioner is a local businessman who lives next door and wants to open a coffee shop. The Zoning Committee had recommended approval unanimously, 7-0.

Mayfield's objection was not about coffee. "We are losing a lot of manufacturing and logistics space around the city," she told the dais, "as we are also working to try to lure new business opportunities into the area." The TOD-NC district, she said, is "a pretty big umbrella" — "it could be housing, it could be retail." A 0.16-acre parcel cannot host either at scale — but the rezoning, she argued, "opens the door to push the transition" of the manufacturing area surrounding it.

Council Member Victoria Watlington, at-large, voted with the majority for approval but echoed the underlying concern. "It would seem that we would need a much larger footprint" for the advanced manufacturing Charlotte is trying to attract, she said. "I'm curious if there are other sites around the city that we need to match and map and make sure that the acreage makes sense for manufacturing and logistics."

Council Member J.D. Mazuera Arias (District 5) framed the size argument. "This site is very small, 0.16 acre. So to have manufacturing in 0.16 acre, we're not going to see that proposal come to us."

The 2026-002 rezoning is final. Watlington's mapping request is not. Whether the council asks staff to inventory the city's remaining manufacturing-zoned acreage — the question Mayfield surfaced and Watlington seconded — is a follow-up that has not been scheduled.