Preserving Madison Central Park as flexible-use community green space and advocating for a meaningful community voice in its future. 

Where Things Stand Now

On September 10, CMS announced that the DYSA project would not move forward at Madison Central Park and that it would work with DYSA to identify an alternative location.

This is an important accomplishment for our community—but it is not the finish line.

Madison Central Park is not yet permanently protected. Important decisions remain about what protections will be included in the Joint Use Agreement and how the community will be involved in future decisions about the property.

The CMS Board has since voted to move forward with adding Madison Central Park to the existing Master Joint Use Agreement between CMS and Mecklenburg County. CMS has stated that the next step is to work with Mecklenburg County and legal counsel to develop the site-specific provisions for Madison Central Park.

CMS has said the intended language will identify the property as park/green space, provide that it will not be developed as organized athletic fields, and include a provision for community engagement before a future change in use that is inconsistent with its park/green-space purpose.

The specific language has not yet been finalized. Save Madison Park has retained legal counsel to help review the protections and work through the additional community safeguards we have requested from CMS. Our attorney has formally contacted CMS and will be working with us as the language is developed.

Our focus now is making sure the progress our community has achieved results in meaningful, durable protection for Madison Central Park and a lasting voice for the community in its future.

[Read the Full CMS Correspondence]

What We're Asking For

Our goal is to preserve Madison Central Park as flexible-use community green space.

Our goal is not to prevent recreational improvements, school activities or children from using the park for sports. We want Madison Central Park to continue serving Pinewood Elementary, neighborhood families and the broader community without being converted into dedicated facilities for organized sports leagues or other uses that would fundamentally change its flexible-use nature.

As CMS and Mecklenburg County develop the site-specific protections for Madison Central Park, we are asking for: 

• A seat at the table: An opportunity for the community representatives and independent legal counsel to review the proposed agreement before it is finalized or executed.

• Meaningful, long-term protection: Clear protections for Madison Central Park's flexible-use nature.

• Community notification and input: A written requirement that the community be notified and given an opportunity for input before significant future changes are proposed or approved.

• Independent review of future impacts: At a minimum, appropriate independent traffic, parking, stormwater, environmental and noise studies before significant changes to the property are considered.

These requests were formally provided to CMS in writing on September 22 as the Joint Use Agreement process moves forward. CMS has acknowledged the requests and asked that its legal staff communicate with our independent legal counsel regarding the legal requests and potential mechanisms we raised. 

We are not prescribing a single legal mechanism at this point. Potential protections could include a deed restriction, deed amendment, strong site-specific permitted-use language in the Joint Use Agreement, or another legally enforceable, recorded protection. Save Madison Central Park has asked CMS to identify what mechanisms it believes are legally available to provide meaningful long-term protection and whether CMS is willing to consider those options as part of this process. 

Why Clear, Durable Protection Matters 

Madison Central Park has a documented history of community investment and intended community use.

The park was created via a $50,000 matching grant from the City of Charlotte where the city <Taxpayers> provided $25,000 while the neighborhood community provided over $25,000 worth of volunteer hours to get the park created. Historical records include  a City of Charlotte Neighborhood Matching Grant and a signed March 2011 CMS letter supporting the grant. That letter described Pinewood Elementary as the primary user during school hours and the Madison Park neighborhood as the primary user after school and on weekends, with green open play fields, disc golf, a walking trail and student gardens. The construction of the swing set area has its own set of documents that indicate the extent of research, planning, and approvals prior to execution. There are also neighborhood meeting notes from the establishment of the park where CMS stated "no organized sports fields" be allowed, citing negative neighborhood impacts. Additional files include materials documenting the 2014 Neighborhood School Partnership Summit.

At the September 10 meeting, CMS stated that no formal agreement currently governs the property despite the formal grant documents.

Regardless of the legal status of those historical documents, the fact that CMS does not consider them to formally govern the property today underscores why the language and protections put in place now must be clear, specific and durable. Save Madison Park has retained independent legal counsel to help evaluate those protections as they are developed. 

How We Got Here 

In February 2026, CMS and DYSA entered into a fully executed Extended Use Agreement for athletic development at Madison Central Park.

Residents began asking questions after discovering survey stakes in the park. As residents sought information about what had been approved and what was being planned, the direction publicly communicated about Madison Central Park changed repeatedly—including four times within a 17-day period. DYSA also publicly described a broader vision for the site as a "place to call their own".

Residents raised questions about the approval process, community need, loss of flexible-use space, traffic and parking, noise, stormwater, environmental impacts, site suitability and alternative locations. 

The community requested documents, attended meetings, contacted decision-makers, spoke before the CMS Board and continued asking for transparency and a meaningful community voice in decisions about the property.

On September 10, CMS announced that the DYSA project would not move forward at Madison Central Park.

The timeline, documents and research from that process remain available on this website as a record of how we got here and why long-term protection matters.

[See the Full Timeline]

Stay Connected & Take Action

We’ve made progress, but the work to protect Madison Central Park isn’t finished. [Click here to see what you can do now]

Latest Updates

September 29, 2026
Board Action, Legal Protections & Next Steps E-mail Sent by SMP to Community

September 23, 2026
CMS Responds to Community Requests

September 22, 2026
Community Provides Historical Records & Outlines Requests for Joint Use Agreement 

September 10, 2026
CMS Community Meeting & Path Forward

September 8, 2026
CMS Board Meeting

[See the Full Timeline]

In the News

Queen City News covered the September 10 meeting and the community's continued effort to secure long-term protections for Madison Central Park.

[Read / Watch the Queen City News Story]