‘I don’t want people walking through my backyard’: Court settles neighbors’ greenway fight (Charlotte Observer)
Greenways are designed to bring people together. Not in Park Crossing.
For five years, homeowners in this south Charlotte residential community off Park Road have been fighting each other in court over whether their neighborhood should have links to the nearby — and wildly popular — Little Sugar Creek Greenway.
This week, the last legal shot in the longstanding civil war of backyard arguments and accusations, police calls, and years of litigation appears to have been fired.
In a unanimous ruling released Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the majority of Park Crossing residents who are pro-greenway access.
According to the advocacy group Sustain Charlotte, greenways connect communities, reduce traffic, drive economic investment as well as provide space for wildlife and outdoor activities. The group is pushing local governments to have a 200-mile system in place by 2035.