Author: Mary Newsom

Bike-ped trail along rail route hits the ground running

I had just spent 2 1/2 hours listening to Charlotte City Council members talk about the upcoming city budget – with the specter of the proposed streetcar hanging overhead, in the gov center’s windowless Room 267. And that was after Mayor Anthony Foxx and City Manager Ron Carlee, in his second week into the job, said any streetcar discussion should be off the table for the day.

The discussion before the non-discussion of the streetcar was not exactly optimistic. As the Charlotte Business Journal reported this week, (“Consultant: Charlotte transit plan at least $3 billion short“) the income from the county’s half-cent sales tax for transit isn’t enough to allow any more of the proposed transit system to be built after the Blue Line Extension. No money for the Red Line commuter rail to Davidson (although the problem there is lack of federal money). No money for the Southeast Corridor, whether it ends up as light rail or bus rapid transit. No money for the West Corridor. (Remember it? I thought not. The 2030 Transit Plan calls for a streetcar to the airport. Yes, the plan calls for TWO streetcars, in case you had not noticed.) No money for the East-West streetcar – which, yes, has been in the adopted transit plan for a decade and which the city has proposed building without waiting for the Metropolitan Transit Commission to find any (nonexistent) money.

In any event, Foxx told the council, referring to the “promise” to build the transit system using only the sales tax: “When people say a promise was broken, I’m asking which promise are they saying was broken? The promise to do it within the half-cent sales tax? The promise to get the plan built in 2030? ‘Cause one of them’s going to get broken.”
I left that, yes, depressing meeting to go another one, much more sparsely attended, which also focused on a long-range transportation proposal that doesn’t, today, have money to be built. But this one was, strangely, more cheering.

See below for link to click for larger map

The venue was, if possible, even bleaker than windowless Room 267. This was a public workshop at the extremely utilitarian (and remote, unless you live in northwest Charlotte) Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department building on Brookshire Boulevard. It was held to share information and listen to public comments about a proposed Mooresville-Charlotte Trail. 

The trail would  be a 30-mile bicycle and pedestrian path running, roughly speaking, along the proposed route of the Red Line commuter rail line from Charlotte to Mooresville (although the train wouldn’t go to Mooresville unless Mooresville or Iredell County ponies up some money).
Maybe it’s because the trail is so young in terms of  planning and so far under the publicity radar, but people in the room – the few people in the room, let me say – were excited and optimistic.

Imagine being able to hop on your bicycle in Mooresville and ride an off-road trail 30 miles into uptown Charlotte – no traffic lights, no fighting cars and trucks. Eric Gorman, a planner with consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, estimated that an experienced rider going 20 mph could do the trip in about 90 minutes. In other words, commuting to on bicycle could be a real alternative for residents – well, very fit residents – all along the trail.

Some details:

Time frame: “It will be decades for the whole thing,” said county greenway planner Gwen Cook.
Where, exactly, it would run: Hasn’t been fine-tuned. It would start uptown along Irwin Creek near Ray”s Splash Planet. Much of the route is proposed to run along the Norfolk Southern rail right of way between Mooresville and Charlotte, but no negotiations have begun with the railroad. Click here for a  pdf map with some details of the early thinking.
Who’s paying for planning so far? The project won a $35,000 planning grant from the Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO).
How is it connected to the proposed Red Line transit project: It isn’t, other than being referred to by some people as the Red Line Trail, and by its hoped-for location near or in the Red Line right-of-way. Funding and planning don’t rely on the transit project.
Who would pay for it? According to planner Cook, funds would be found the way they have been for other greenway projects: Local government partnerships, land dedications from property owners and developers, grants from various state and nonprofit sources. In other words, piecemeal, over time.The group anticipates about 60 percent of the needed easements would not need to be purchased. For example, land has already been dedicated for it in the Brightwalk development on Statesville Avenue.
What happens next: The last scheduled public workshops were this week, although more might be scheduled. With consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff and Alta Greenways, a report will be finished in June. Then, all seven  local governments involved would be asked to include this trail into their plans. Cook noted Mooresville and Iredell County have already have such a trail in their pedestrian and bicycle master plans, and it is included in the nonprofit Carolina Thread Trail plans.
Then, as money becomes available, she said, some “low-hanging-fruit” projects that would get a lot of immediate use are likely to be launched first.

Want to know more?
See a map, a presentation, a video and a fact sheet by clicking here.

Charlotte to hold 2 ‘Jane Jacobs Walks’ May 4

If you know who Jane Jacobs was and understand the role her work has played in revolutionizing thinking about cities and planning since the 1960s, you’ll understand why her birthday is a time to encourage city-dwellers to get to know their own places a little better.

For the second year in a row, PlanCharlotte.org – the online publication I run for the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute – is sponsoring a Jane Jacobs Walks in Charlotte. For more information, visit JaneJacobsWalk.org.

New for this year: We’re sponsoring two walks, in two different parts of the city. The walks are part of a movement around the globe to celebrate on the weekend of Jacobs’ birth. 

1. Like last year’s Jane Jacobs Walk (read about it here, and here), one will be a munching tour of East Charlotte, led by historian Tom Hanchett of Levine Museum of the New South.
 
2. The new, additional Jane Jacobs Walk will focus on South End – its history, redevelopment and urban design successes and challenges. That one will be led by UNC Charlotte architect and urban design Professor David Walters. 

Details on Walk No. 1: Saturday May 4, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Hanchett, on his “Munching Tour,” will encourage participants to look at the immigrant-run restaurants and stores in East Charlotte as embodying some of the elemental principles of Jane Jacobs’ writing about cities – how they absorb newcomers and allow for entrepreneurial businesses, even if the setting is not necessarily affluent or glossy.

We’ll sample foods at several restaurants as we walk.

RSVP: Email mnewsom@uncc.edu. The maximum number of participants for Hanchett’s walk is 18. Bring cash for purchasing food samples, and wear comfortable shoes. We’ll let you know beforehand where the exact gathering spot will be.

Details on Walk No. 2: Saturday May 4, 3:30 p.m.-5 p.m.

On the South End tour, Walters will discuss Jane Jacobs’ principles for lively city neighborhoods, and point to ways South End exemplifies them in some cases and lacks them in other cases. Walters directs the Master’s in Urban Design program at the UNC Charlotte School of Architecture.

We’ll look at developments along and near the Lynx Blue Line. The walk will end at a neighborhood pub, Big Ben, at Atherton Mill along the Lynx tracks.

RSVP: Email mnewsom@uncc.edu. There is no maximum number of participants but please register so we’ll have an idea of how many people to expect and to let you know beforehand where to gather.  Wear comfortable shoes.

In case of rain, we’ll still be walking. Bring umbrellas.

Charlotte region nudges upward on Energy Star list


A news release from Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx’s office today says the Charlotte metro region has moved from 17th to 14th for the number of Energy Star-certified buildings. Click here for a link to the list of the top 25 metro regions. The Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metro area (Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Union and York counties) has 133 Energy Star-certified buildings, according to the news release. It’s tied with Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Note, the Energy Star certification is not the same as LEED certification. The registry for LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) shows 87 LEED-certified projects in Charlotte. Click here for the list, which can be filtered according to state and city. Note, some buildings are counted as several different projects.

Here’s the news release from Foxx’s office:

CHARLOTTE RANKS 14THON EPA’S 2012 LIST OF CITIES WITH THE MOST ENERGY STAR CERTIFIED BUILDINGS
Charlotte, NC— In its annual list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the most Energy Star certified buildings released today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked Charlotte 14th in the nation in 2012—up from 17thin 2011.  According to the report, the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metro area has 133 Energy Star certified buildings that are saving more than $15.2 million annually in energy costs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions equal to emissions from the annual electricity use of nearly 11,000 homes.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the EPA as one of the country’s top cities in energy efficiency,” said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx.  “This recognition is a testament to the ongoing efforts of our building managers and our entire community to make the Charlotte region an international energy leader.  Together, we will continue to work to lower our energy use to save businesses and consumers money, and protect our environment.”
Charlotte has undertaken several efforts to promote energy efficiency.  The city is the first in the world to endeavor to reduce the carbon footprint of its central business district through Envision Charlotte, a unique public-private partnership between the city, corporate leaders, and Center City building managers.  The Power2Charlotte initiative brings together 17 energy and energy efficiency projects that focus on both internal city operations and community-wide projects to save energy and create jobs.   
Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for 17 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. Commercial buildings that earn EPA’s Energy Star must perform in the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide, as verified by a Professional Engineer or a Registered Architect. Energy Star certified buildings use an average of 35 percent less energy and are responsible for 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than typical buildings. Fifteen types of commercial buildings can earn the Energy Star, including office buildings, K-12 schools, and retail stores.

Launched in 1992 by EPA, Energy Star is a market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Over the past 20 years, with help from Energy Star, American families and businesses have saved about $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.7 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 65 different kinds of products, more than 1.3 million new homes, and more than 20,000 buildings and plants.

See the full list of top cities: http://energystar.gov/topcities
Download the full list of Energy Star certified buildings: http://1.usa.gov/Y8QkQo

Take an in-depth look at the data behind Energy Star certified buildings: http://energystar.gov/datatrends

More about earning the Energy Star for commercial buildings: http://energystar.gov/labeledbuildings

 

 


Tanger outlet mall wants public money

The developers for the much-ballyhooed Tanger/Simon outlet mall proposed for southwest Mecklenburg County are seeking some $5 million in property tax rebates from the city and the county. The Charlotte City Council a few minutes ago voted unanimously to send the proposal to its Economic Development Committee, which meets Thursday.

(Update, Tuesday, Feb. 19: Read more about the request in this article in today’s Charlotte Observer. “Developer seeks $5 million in tax breaks for Steele Creek outlet mall.” For those who don’t see the physical newspaper, this was the biggest front-page headline, making it the lead Page 1 article.)

Attorney Jeff Brown, who represents the developers, told me the request is for $5.1 million, to be repaid over 10 years, plus 3.2 percent interest. In other words, the developer would be paid through the expected increase in property tax revenues if the shopping center is built. The site is in unincorporated Mecklenburg County, not yet inside the city limits, although it’s expected to be annexed through voluntary annexation.

It’s not unusual for the City Council to grant such arrangements, especially if a developer puts in infrastructure such as new street improvements. However, the county has been wary of entering such arrangements, especially for retail developments. One high-ranking county official said it would be the first time that sort of incentive has been given for retail; I’m sitting in a City Council meeting and can’t check that out this minute.

The Mecklenburg board of county commissioners is scheduled to discuss the request Tuesday, Brown said.
Here’s more on the outlet mall.
And here’s a link to the rezoning request. At the public hearing (going on right now) on the rezoning, the Steele Creek Residents’ Association said they’re OK with the rezoning.

Sitting right in front of me is a row of city and county water quality and erosion-control staffers, including Rusty Rozzelle, who heads the county’s water quality section, and John Geer, who heads the city’s erosion control department.  They’ve not spoken yet, so they may just be here in case questions arise.

But here’s a link to a strong article in Sunday’s Charlotte Observer, by environmental reporter Bruce Henderson, about how development in southwest Mecklenburg has all but destroyed Brown’s Cove.

The underlying message is that even when developers follow “the rules” by and large, sedimentation still destroys the lake’s coves. Council member Michael Barnes just said that he’s seen the silt fences and seen the mud sometimes just overrun them. The anti-Tanger segment of the audience just applauded. And Rusty Rozzelle, sitting in front of me, nodded his head at that applause.

Dale Stewart of the site-plannng firm LandDesign is now describing the extra water protection measures they are planning. LandDesign’s Meg Nealon sits on the Charlotte planning commission, which will make a recommendation to the City Council on this proposal. Why is the city taking the lead on a development not in the city limits? Because so little undeveloped county land remains that is not inside Charlotte but is inside the city’s so-called “sphere of influence,” (the area eventually to be annexed) that the county has agreed to let the city have planning and zoning jurisdiction in those areas.  

Legislature 2013: Most ‘pro-business session in N.C. history’?

‘Snout houses’ in Indiana. Photo: John Delano, Wikipedia.com

Ran across an interesting post from the blog of the local Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, reporting the doings at a Friday forum the lobbying group held for legislators from Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties. Sponsors were REBIC and the N.C. Home Builders Association.

The session “gave home builders many reasons to be optimistic that 2013 would be one of the most pro-business sessions in North Carolina history,” reports the blog.  Read it in full here.

All the legislators on the panel agreed they’d support legislation similar to Senate Bill 731, which passed the Senate in 2011 but didn’t make it through the House before the session died. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, and Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, would have limited munipalities’ ability to regulate architectural details such as windows, doors and garage doors for single-family residential developments with five or fewer units an acre.

Planners informally called it the “snout-house bill,” because one of the most contentious items in some zoning ordinances, including Davidson’s, is a provision forbidding garages to project far in front of the rest of the house, dwarfing the front door and windows. Planners call those “snout houses,” and say they create a street view that emphasizes cars over people.  Home builders counter that on small lots it’s more economical to build garages that way, and that cities shouldn’t get so deep into architectural details.

Download the text here.
Read its history in the 2011-12 General Assembly here.

Back to the Friday forum:
A bill requiring a sunset provision for “all state administrative rules” won plaudits as well. Primary sponsors include Rep. Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg, and Rob Bryan, R-Mecklenburg.

Bigger than the streetcar spat. No, really

Yes, the City Council’s debate/argument/shouting match over whether to include money in the city budget to expand a starter streetcar route has gotten plenty of publicity. But the streetcar is really just one tool being proposed by Mayor Anthony Foxx and streetcar supporters as a way to spark development in some parts of the city that could use a boost.

A much bigger problem lies ahead, for the whole city.  I wrote about it yesterday, after hearing Foxx’s state of the city speech Monday and while I was dipping in and out (via Twitter) of the City Council’s discussions at their yearly retreat. Here’s what I wrote: “Growth challenge dwarfs the streetcar spat.”

My point, and it’s one Foxx alluded to in his Monday speech, was this: The way Charlotte grew until now is not the way the city will grow in the future. Annexation has all but ended. So how can we keep the city’s property tax base healthy without easy population and territory growth? Since 2003, large parts of the city have shown property value decreases.

And today I came across a scary statistic that I wish I’d had yesterday. It was deep in the agenda packet for next Monday’s Transportation and Planning Committee meeting. (Am I a policy geek or what?) It said:

“Growth in the last decade due to annexations:
Charlotte grew in the last decade (2000-2010) by 190,596 people or 35.2%. Out of this 123,916 people or 22.9% were due to annexations since 2000.”

In other words, 123,916 out of a total of 190,596 new Charlotte residents, or 65 percent, came through annexation. Annexation is effectively over (due to a new N.C. legislation – read my article for more information). So how does Charlotte grow for the next 10 years?

Arguing while Rome burns?

Though I was trying to spend Thursday working on Important Memos About Funding, I kept getting distracted by reports on Twitter from those attending the Charlotte City Council yearly retreat.

It was so interesting I decided to try a “Storify” story – a way to compile Twitter accounts for people who may not be familiar with Twitter or who may not want to take the time to wade through everything. In other words, people who are neither as geekily interested in local politics or as easily distracted as I am.

Here’s my account. “What’s the City Council hearing, saying at its retreat?”  I didn’t include all the Tweets; I selected those from reliable reporters and others, and tried to catch the most important topics and remarks.

The retreat started out in routine, dutiful fashion, as the council members heard growth projections and reports about each of the council’s seven districts. But after lunch, at the end of the day, it seems tempers frayed, and council members – some of them at least – began accusing each other of lying. Voices were raised. Following it on Twitter was not as riveting as being there, I’m sure, but you can catch the flavor easily enough.

The result, unfortunately, was an extremely lengthy Storify story. But to get to the testy exchanges, you can skim to the end. For a more pointed account, read Charlotte Business Journal reporter Erik Spanberg’s “Charlotte city leaders duke it out over spending, streetcar at Thursday retreat.”

How to pay for future transit? MTC to study

Mecklenburg’s transit agency, the Metropolitan Transit Commission, is launching a study group to look at how to pay for future transit projects.

According to a news release from Charlotte Mayor and MTC Chairman Anthony Foxx’s office, the working group’s leaders will be Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain, a Republican, and Charlotte City Council member David Howard, a Democrat who chairs the council’s Transportation and Planning Committee.

Finding new money for transit projects beyond the Blue Line Extension has been difficult. Revenues from the half-cent sales tax for transit tumbled after the 2008 financial crash. Federal funding is highly competitive, and state transit funding has been cut and with a Republican-led General Assembly, may be cut further. The study group will look at a variety of transit-funding strategies, including tax-increment financing, synthetic tax-increment financing, special tax districts, and more.

  Here’s the press release sent by Mayor Anthony Foxx’s office:


METROPOLITAN TRANSIT COMMISSION FORMS WORKING GROUP TO STUDY 2030 TRANSIT PLAN FUNDING
Charlotte, NC— At a meeting of the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) Wednesday night, MTC Chair Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx urged the formation of a working group to study funding for future transit projects.  This action follows an October decision by the MTC to convene a workshop, currently scheduled for April, to consider and adopt strategies to fund the 2030 Transit Plan. 
The working group will be co-led by Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain and Charlotte City Councilman David Howard, and include MTC staff, MTC member mayors or their designees, and business and community leaders from participating jurisdictions.
“As I and many others have been saying, our funding environment has changed, making it harder to see any future transit projects happening over the next 10 to 20 years,” Foxx said.  “We need to explore all options available to us to complete, and perhaps accelerate, our long-term regional transit plans.  Connecting our region through transit is critical both to our future economic prosperity and to managing our exponential population growth.”
“I believe that if we are to have a vision for the future, it’s imperative for us as a collective group to look at creative financing mechanisms for our transit plan and explore anything that can help us achieve our goals,” Swain said.  “Analyzing our future transit issues is at least as important, if not more so, than addressing our current ones.”
“There’s nothing more important to Charlotte’s future than figuring out our mass transit system,” Howard said.  “I look forward to working with Mayor Swain and the rest of the working group to find ways to make sure we move our transit plan forward as it will be one of the things that will most define us as we go to the next level as a city and a region.”
The working group will submit its findings and recommendations to the MTC in a report due no later than April 15.  The group will consider such financing strategies as: Tax Increment Financing (TIFs), Synthetic Tax Increment Financing (STIFs), Tax Increment Grant (TIGs), Business Privilege Licensing Tax, sales tax revenue, and incremental property taxes.  It will also consider which strategies are currently available to local governments and which would require additional County, voter, and/or North Carolina General Assembly authorization. 
The Charlotte Area Transit System will be the lead agency in supporting the working group.
The formation of the working group comes at a critical time for the Charlotte region’s transit system:
  • Transit sales tax revenues dropped during the recession to 2005 levels, eliminating capacity to fund projects beyond the Blue Line Extension.
  • The Blue Line Extension, the single largest capital project in Charlotte’s history, has required increased property taxes from at least three jurisdictions.
  • The General Assembly has already eliminated $6 million in matching transit funding, increasing concerns that matches for future projects will be eliminated and may require increased local commitments.
  • New federal policies and funding approaches may make funding the 2030 Transit Plan less predictable than in previous years.
  • The Charlotte region is the fastest-growing urban area in the nation.
More information on the MTC’s 2030 Transit Plan is available here. 

Tried to read PlanCharlotte.org? Sorry it’s broken

The websites for the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s online publications, including PlanCharlotte.org, have been broken since Saturday, Jan. 19. The institute apologizes if you’ve tried to reach the sites, or have clicked on links in this blog that haven’t worked.

Latest word is that the sites might be repaired by late Thursday, Jan. 24, or shortly after.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for something to read, you can help us at the institute by taking this survey of our online publications, so that we can improve our content. It’s not long, and we can’t access your name or email address for any commercial or nefarious purposes. And we really are are looking at every comment that’s made.   Click here to take the survey.

Safer sidewalks ahead

Starting next week, the City of Charlotte launches a publicity campaign to get residents to keep sidewalks clear. They’ll start with a campaign about garbage and recycling carts, yard waste and other bulky items.

This is much-needed, and some might say long overdue. A tragic accident last May killed a Myers Park High School student riding a bikee to school along a Sharon Lane sidewalk which was next to the curb. He encountered a rollout garbage bin blocking the sidewalk, and in trying to avoid it clipped the bin and fell into the street. He was hit by a car and killed.

In my walks around the city I note this is a problem in many places. The city built many back-of-curb sidewalks well into the 1990s, to save money. Where to put the rollout garbage and recycling bins? If you put them in your driveway you can’t get out of your own driveway. Sometimes there’s room to put them in the yard next to the sidewalk. Sometimes there isn’t, especially if the lot slopes steeply up or down.

Yard waste is another problem: One Sunday morning not too long ago I was walking down Wendover Road and
someone had pile massive amounts of tree branches along the whole property frontage, completely blocking the sidewalk next to a steep slope. Nowhere to walk but in the street. I was trying (helpfully, I thought) to move some of the brush up onto the slope and the resident in the home came out and yelled at me. I confess, I yelled back, something about what “right-of-way” means and that the sidewalk was one, and that I had the “right” to go that way. She just yelled back and I gave up and walked in the busy, 4-lane street. Good thing that I was not in a wheelchair trying to get to a bus stop and that it was not rush hour.

Below is from the weekly memo to the Charlotte City Council, from the city manager. I’m glad to see they’ll tackle the problem of overgrown shrubbery later. I’ve considered going out armed with hedge clippers, to hack my way through some places. The memo:
“Solid Waste Services, in collaboration with Corporate Communications & Marketing, CDOT [Charlotte Department of Transportation] and Neighborhood & Business Services, will launch the first phase of a public campaign to increase community awareness of the need to keep sidewalks clear of obstructions.
“The first phase of the campaign, which begins on January 28, will focus on sidewalk obstructions associated with solid waste collections – garbage/recycling carts, yard waste and bulky items – as well as other items such as parked vehicles that impede sidewalk traffic. Educational efforts will aim to increase public awareness of the proper placement of collection items and offer alternatives for residents with limited options. Code Enforcement officers will be monitoring problem areas and will be providing educational assistance via door hangers.
“Campaign components will include radio ads (WLKO, WNKS, WLNK, WPEG, WOSF, WOLS and WKQC), online ads (Yahoo), Solid Waste Services truck decals, a utility bill insert in March, social media, Gov Channel billboards, segments in City Source, community meetings, door hangers and community newsletters. A website, sidewalksafety.charlottenc.gov will launch on January 28 as a resource for additional information on keeping sidewalks clear.
“The second phase of the campaign, which addresses additional obstructions such as overgrown shrubs, is set to launch this summer. Staff will update Council when this phase of the campaign begins.”