Under the timeline most recently presented by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Department, the goal is to have the new Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance (CLTUDO) completed and adopted by the City Council by June 2020. To that end, the Planning Department and the CLTUDO Advisory Board have continued the meticulous work of transforming the City’s old zoning and land use ordinances into one unified ordinance, while making efforts to engage with stakeholders and the public to drive the process forward. Under the direction of Director Taiwo Jaiyeoba, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Department hosted several public events in March featuring Mitchell Silver, the New York City Parks Commissioner and former Chief Planning and Development Officer for Raleigh, NC, and the CLTUDO Advisory Board began meeting under a new format, with separate groups representing Development/Design Professionals and Neighborhood/Sustainability interests. So, let’s discuss where we are and what comes next.

March Public Engagement Events

I had the opportunity to attend the three public events hosted by the Planning Department in March – Planning to Win: Charlotte’s Vision, Developer Focus: What Can UDO Coffee Talk, What Can UDO Summit. We were fortunate to have the insight of Mitchell Silver and our other participants, including Brian Leary of Crescent Communities. And the tremendous turnout from the general public was impressive. We have become accustomed to engaging with planning staff, elected officials, academics, and industry or community stakeholders at these types of events. It was refreshing and encouraging to see the large number of “lay people” - Charlotte citizens - who are invested in this process and the City’s future. The Planning Department reported to the Advisory Committee that nearly 450 attendees participated in the 3 events, with 91% of the What Can UDO Summit attendees expressing that it was helpful. The Department reported a broad representation of age groups: 23% age 20-35, 33% age 36-50, 34% age 51-70, and 12% age 71+, and a cross-section based on race that reportedly was consistent with City’s racial makeup: 60% Caucasian, 30% Black or African American, and 7% Asian.

The turnout was a good sign of things to come and the Planning Department staff expressed their commitment to staying in touch with those individuals who attended to keep them engaged and hopefully to expand into their spheres of influence to engage with citizens further. The Planning Department did note that the west side of Charlotte was not well represented and can be the focus of future outreach efforts.

Advisory Board Meetings

The development of the CLTUDO and the design of Charlotte’s new Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Districts are top of the agenda for the CLTUDO Advisory Board. We began to meet separately as a Design/Development Professionals group and a Neighborhood/Sustainability group in March 2018 to facilitate more focused discussion on the diverse interests of stakeholders. Under the new format, each group will address the same materials and receive the same presentations from Planning Department staff, but naturally the ensuing discussions may vary. Periodically, the groups will be brought together to meet as one. New members recently have been added to the Advisory Board to enhance the breadth and depth of experience available to guide the process.

With our focus on expediting the City’s TOD District redesign, the Advisory Board has delved deeper into discussion regarding the goals and policies driving the TOD revisions, in particular TOD-A height incentives and affordable housing concerns. Transit stations create value for developers and property owners. Accordingly, Planning Department staff is considering permitting higher buildings to be constructed to incentivize developers to include design elements that will further the City’s policy goals, such as affordable housing and green space. The question remains whether, and how much, increased height will be sufficient to create economic incentives that will lead to inclusion of the design elements. The Advisory Board has continued to dive deeper into the specific details of the proposed TOD revisions. There are various viewpoints to consider in designing the TOD Districts, ranging from pure planning concerns (e.g., permitting more building height than otherwise would be allowed to create a lot of density around transit stations) to economic development and economic opportunity concerns, environmental issues, aesthetics and the ability to attract businesses and individuals to Charlotte, facilitation of a walkable/bikeable lifestyle, and sustainable living. We discussed the principles underlying TOD and Station Area Planning and the vision for the City’s new TOD Districts A through D and the various station types (urban, neighborhood, community, and regional). Coming out of our discussions, it is apparent that the community needs to reach consensus on the goals of TOD. 

Our next Advisory Board meetings will be held on May 24th. To get caught up on details, you can review Advisory Board March and April meeting materials: March Design/Developer Meeting; March Neighborhood/Sustainability Meeting; April Presentation.

What’s Next: Casting a New Vision for Charlotte

Many ask what are we trying to accomplish with the zoning ordinance rewrite? The stated goals of the CLTUDO process include: (1) Transitions from use-based to place-based zoning; (2) Consolidates development regulations into one document (Charlotte currently has approximately 1,000 pages of regulations in multiple ordinances); (3) User-friendly with graphics and tables; (4) Future development will be predictable; (4) Streamlined process and reduced time; and (5) Greater emphasis on conventional zoning. But, beyond these goals we are being asked what is the purpose, what is the vision for Charlotte and how does the CLTUDO get us there? Earlier this month, Planning Director Jaiyeoba was interviewed by PlanCharlotte.org and discussed the need for the rewrite process to be “reset” to allow up to 18 months for the development of a new comprehensive vision plan for Charlotte, the largest city in the Southeast and North Carolina without one. Where would that put us in terms of a completed and adopted UDO? Director Jaiyeoba “cautioned in the interview, he does not envision a lengthy comprehensive plan process taking three years or more.” With simultaneous efforts to engage the community in developing a vision and continued work on CLTUDO development, the Director estimated an additional six months might be sufficient to complete the CLTUDO process. Director Jaiyeoba is expected to present the idea to the City Council later this month.