Before the Greenway Opens, Chantilly's Sanctuary Needs a Few More Hands

A small platform floats in the water-quality pond at the Chantilly Ecological Sanctuary. The Charlotte Wildlife Stewards installed it this spring as a turtle basking platform. Within a couple of days turtles were using it. Geese started using it after that, and more recently a heron. The North Carolina Wildlife Federation reported that the chapter now calls it the "wildlife platform."

Volunteers have done a lot of small jobs like that one, and together they explain the sanctuary as it is today. The 24-acre site along Briar Creek is still a work in progress. Engineers and the county built it, and volunteers have kept improving it ever since. Right now three invasive vines are spreading quickly through it, and the Briar Creek Greenway is weeks from bringing the rest of Charlotte through on foot.

The engineering wrapped up in 2018. The upkeep never did.

Before the sanctuary, the site held the Doral and Cavalier apartment properties. Mecklenburg County bought and removed them through FEMA buyouts, which freed the land to expand a community park, restore the streams and add stormwater controls. Wildlands Engineering's 2016 construction announcement named Briar Creek, Edwards Branch and Chantilly Tributary as the restoration targets, with Mecklenburg County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services as partners.

Wildlands' completed project record lists more than 4,400 linear feet of stream restoration and enhancement plus two stormwater control structures, with construction finished in 2018.

The volunteer work started that same year. Carolina Burgett, a project manager at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, described where the site stands in NCWF's August 31, 2026 profile:

"This land will continue to be a work in progress and we are thrilled to have the support of NCWF and local volunteers enhancing the habitat further through great projects."

That quote comes from the city staff member who manages the project. In her view the restoration is still underway.

What eight years of volunteer hours added up to

Since 2018, NCWF and hundreds of volunteers in its Charlotte Wildlife Stewards Chapter have worked alongside Storm Water Services on the site. NCWF lists the work so far:

• 70 native trees planted, plus hundreds of live tree stakes
• Many pounds of pollinator seed sown
• 300 wetland plugs planted along the wet pond's littoral shelf
• Bird houses, bat houses and the turtle platform installed
• 500 pounds of invasive plants removed
• 2,200 pounds of litter pulled from Briar Creek
• Two educational signs added, plus bird walks and environmental education programs for neighbors

You can see the results in the wetland. NCWF says blue-flag iris, pickerelweed and native hibiscus now filter stormwater before it reaches local waterways, and that warblers, herons and more than 160 documented bird species use the corridor. Birders have recorded more than that. The site's eBird hotspot page currently shows 189 species from 2,279 checklists submitted by 340 eBirders. A 2023 piece from UNC Charlotte's Urban Institute mentions green herons and red-winged blackbirds among the wetlands, regenerating forest and grassland that replaced apartments built along the creek in the 1960s.

Some of the plantings above are only a few years old. They took eight years of steady volunteer work, and the neighborhood association now lists them as under threat.

Three vines are spreading at once

At the Chantilly Neighborhood Association's September 15 meeting, Ed Murray of Constructive Plant Rescue gave the sanctuary update. The minutes say porcelain berry, kudzu and Asian wisteria are spreading fast and threatening the sanctuary's native plants and wildlife. They also say a community effort with Stormwater and environmental groups is underway.

NCWF credits its volunteers with removing 500 pounds of invasive plants at the site since 2018. The neighborhood is now reporting three vines spreading quickly at once, and they're threatening the same native plantings those volunteers put in.

The next chance to help is close. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services runs a recurring 2nd Saturday Chantilly Pond Cleanup, and the next one is Saturday, November 14. Here are the details from the city's event page and the county's registration listing:

1. Time: 10 a.m. to noon. The event is free.
2. Meeting point: 3128 Colonnade Drive, Charlotte, NC 28205. Park along Colonnade Drive or at 616 Colonnade Drive, across from the pond.
3. Work: Staff train volunteers to identify and remove invasive plants. Crews pick up litter, clear invasives and replant wetland species.
4. What to wear: Expect thick brush and uneven ground. The county recommends knee boots or waders, long pants and long sleeves. Gloves and tools are provided.
5. Registration: Use the "Respond" link on the Mecklenburg County Volunteer Program listing. Registration is open through November 14 and requires the Storm Water Services volunteer waiver. Questions go to Taylor Mebane at [email protected].

The greenway will bring the rest of Charlotte through

The trail adds a deadline to the vine problem. Phase 1 of the Briar Creek Greenway runs 0.5 miles from Bay Street in Chantilly to Monroe Road, with access points at Laburnum Avenue, Chantilly Park, Bramlet Road and Monroe Road. The county says the trail follows a set route through the ecological park.

It's close to finished. Most of the asphalt between the Bay Street junction and the Chantilly Park playground was done by July. The holdup has been a bridge over Briar Creek. One piling for its northern abutment was hard to set, and in late July the contractor brought in heavier equipment that drilled through 7 feet of granite to finish it. The county's October 22 update says the abutment permits had just been approved. Still to come are the bridge deck, the asphalt aprons, the final trail sections, site furnishings and closeout before the trail opens to the public. The county's target is still late 2026. Until it opens, the trail is an active construction site and closed to the public.

There's more happening at the Monroe end. The park operations building on Monroe Avenue is on schedule for occupancy in mid-November. In July the county noted that a small coffee shop was under construction beside the trailhead parking lot at Monroe and Bramlet. Artist Jim Gallucci is designing the project's public art component, and the Arts & Science Council scheduled a community walk with him on the site for August 27.

Phase 1 is only the start. Phases 2 and 3 will extend the trail from Central Avenue and Masonic Drive down to Bay Street, including a crossing under US 74. As of October, design was nearing 90%, some easements still had to be acquired, and the county hopes to bid and build both phases together starting in 2027. The full project will add 1.6 miles of greenway. Once it's done, the sanctuary will be on a through route, and more people will walk past the pond.

Chantilly's calendar through December

The sanctuary work happens alongside the neighborhood association's regular events. Here's what's coming through mid-December, from the Chantilly Neighborhood Association calendar, its September minutes and the county's greenway updates:

The holiday market is on Bay Street, at the Chantilly end of the greenway's first phase. The association's luminary page describes how the tradition has worked in past years. Neighbors pick up bags, sand and candles at 901 Hanover Street, where the food trucks set up. They light luminaries at their homes at 4:45 p.m. and then walk to Bay Street for the festivities. Check the association's calendar for this year's pickup details closer to December 5.

The association's numbers show how small the volunteer base is. Annual dues are $25, about 160 homes pay them, and the September minutes list volunteer openings for the Hilly Chantilly 5K, the home tour, the egg hunt, the gardening committee and the board. The Yard of the Quarter program is also back, with a $50 gift card for the winner and nominations going to [email protected].

If your house backs onto the sanctuary or sits near one of the new access points at Laburnum Avenue or Bramlet Road, the greenway opening will change your edge of the neighborhood. We look at Chantilly homes the way a builder would, starting with the lot and what's next to it, and we're happy to walk your property's edge and talk through what the trail means for it. Real Estate Layne. Let's Connect.