Rating Charlotte neighborhoods: Measurements are changing

The city of Charlotte and partners at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte are changing the way they rate neighborhoods.
They're drawing new lines, including all of Mecklenburg County and adding more data that can help neighborhoods determine how environmentally sensitive they are, among other things.

The new survey is scheduled to be published in December 2012. In the mean time, researchers are holding meetings to share their plans with neighborhood leaders and to ask for feedback.

The survey also drops the neighborhood labels of "stable," "challenged" and "transitional."

The next two meetings are Tuesday, for the northwest slice of Charlotte, and Thursday, for the southwest slice.

The changes will likely mean eventual changes in Charlotte's housing locational policy that sites low-income housing.
"It might cause us to adjust some of the policies we have," said Tom Warshauser, community and commerce manager for the city of Charlotte, during a meeting for the southeast slice of Charlotte.

The survey also will include a "green assessment tool" that will measure factors like water usage and frequency of recycling.

Most neighborhoods, like Merry Oaks, will fall into smaller boundaries, with data that will more truly reflect the neighborhoods. The researchers hope to provide tools to the public to allow people to slice and dice the data to look at broader geographic areas.

The current survey lists Merry Oaks as "stable," with a property crime rate below the city average and access to public transportation above average. Access to basic retail, however, was way below the city average at 4.9 percent versus a city average of 17.4 percent (based on numbers a couple of years old.)

For questions or feedback, email the researchers.

For an interactive map of the current data, visit here.

Next forums:
Northwest School of the Arts, for the northwest district: Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
415 Beatties Ford Rd, Charlotte, NC 28216
Southview Recreational Center, for the southwest district: Thursday, 6 p.m.
1720 Vilma St., Charlotte, NC, 28208

Background:
From the Charlotte Observer

Charlotte’s expanding Hispanic population: It’s about more than taco trucks

About 25 people gathered in a circle in a meeting room Saturday at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Central Avenue in Charlotte.

Some wore cowboy boots and hats; others wore purple tights and hair. All cheered icons from the past, like César Chávez and Martin Luther King Jr.

They passed out papers that outlined 18 bills in the N.C. General Assembly that affect undocumented people and the businesses or educational institutions that work with them.

The meeting’s primary goal was to spread the word about the legislation and to support United 4 The Dream, a youth group connected with the Latin American Coalition.

Franco Ordonez wrote in The Charlotte Observer on April 1 about the youth group’s activities to mark the birth of Chávez.

The Saturday group plans another meeting from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 9, in Concord, at the Hispanic Learning Center 418 Kerr St., according to the Mi Gente newspaper.

While the St. Andrews group was relatively small, the 2010 census numbers show the growing strength of Hispanic residents in Charlotte and in North Carolina. Their economic strength can’t be ignored.

During the boom years in Charlotte, neighbors in places like Merry Oaks often dealt with houses in which it seemed six, eight, or 10 Hispanic construction workers lived, working to build the new towers in uptown or the split levels in the suburbs. That boom effect was national in scope, according to the New York Times.

Now, in the bust years, the Hispanic people that remain have small businesses and children in tow. They’re looking for safe schools and access to higher education, and some are moving to the suburbs when they can. They have growing economic strength, and perhaps soon, political strength.

And in Charlotte, their message is spreading, with an online campaign to loosen zoning restrictions that target taco trucks. An online petition, “Carne Asada is not a crime,” has gathered 272 signatures.

Hector Vaca, of Action NC, is one of the organizers of Saturday’s meeting. He also said he started the taco truck petition.

But Saturday’s meeting showed that this goes beyond just taco trucks.

One bill discussed in Saturday’s circle was "The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” or HB 343.

It rolls in several provisions that require the use of E-Verify by governments, educational institutions and those who contract with them to verify the immigration status of employees.

It prohibits any undocumented person from taking a class at a community college or in any part of the University of North Carolina system.

It places barriers for anyone doing business with undocumented people, or educating them beyond high school.

So this time, it’s about much more than taco trucks, and about much more than just Charlotte.

About the map:

This slice of a census map from the New York Times shows Charlotte’s Census Tract 12, which includes the Merry Oaks neighborhood.

Green dots stand for white residents; blue dots represent black residents, orange dots stand for Hispanic residents and red dots stand for Asians.

On a micro-scale, the locations of dots are approximate.

Tracts directly to the east and southeast show greater percentages of Hispanic residents. One area near Arrowood Boulevard and Interstate 85, Tract 3804, shows a population that is 59% Hispanic.

Update on the proposed Eastway division police station in Merry Oaks in Charlotte

Property on Central Avenue at Merry Oaks Road is being considered as a site for a police station for the Eastway division of the Charlotte Mecklenburg police department.
The department is aiming to build visible new stations and parking lots for divisions. Work has begun on a new building for the Providence division, on Wendover Road next to the Grier Heights community, and city council member Andy Dulin shared his opinion and a photo on Twitter recently that showed the work on the lot.



Without photos of the land before clearing began, it’s hard to gauge the cost of green space and trees.

So here are a few photos of the properties under consideration at 3517 Central Ave., 3507 Central Ave. and 3501 Central Ave. No rezoning request has been filed yet, but city officials expect to file in March with public hearing and a decision this spring and summer.

(Top photo: two lovely willow oaks at 3507 Central Avenue, likely outside any street buffer zone for the proposed police station. Next photo: Overall street scene, including oaks at Woodmere Condominiums, which are not affected by the proposal. Final photo: 3517 Central Ave., showing the old Phifer house.)

Merry Oaks and surrounding neighborhoods have lost tree cover in recent years because of development at the intersection of Briar Creek Road and Central Avenue, just a block or so away from the proposed police station. Photos and posts about that loss are in background links at this post.




Background:
Map and details from Merry Oaks neighborhood meeting, Feb. 17
More photos about the Eastway police station proposal on Flickr.
Photos from 3223 Central Avenue and the loss of trees during the development of a nursing home.
Photos from The Vyne, a condo development at Briar Creek and Central Avenue that stalled after the building of one building and the removal of trees.

Learn more about Charlotte's neighborhood Quality of Life Study

Charlotte’s Quality of Life neighborhood data gives people a chance to see how their neighborhoods are doing. The City of Charlotte is offering a series of sessions about the data, with one nearby meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 16, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Story Slam at 1401 Central Avenue.

Speakers are from UNC Charlotte’s Metropolitan Studies and the City of Charlotte’s Neighborhood and Business Services Department. The study serves as a benchmark for measuring the health of the city and its neighborhoods.

The Quality of Life Study divides the city into neighborhood statistical areas and examines 20 variables from databases maintained by the city, county and Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. The study labels each area as stable, transitional or challenged depending on those numbers.

Merry Oaks, combined with the nearby Country Club Heights area, is labeled stable. Nearby Briar Creek/Woodland, Windsor Park and Eastway/Sheffield are all labeled “transitioning.”

To sign up for the Tuesday night session or later sessions, visit the City of Charlotte’s website. Another session is scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, at Biddle Hall at Johnson C. Smith University at 100 Beatties Ford Road.

The city site also has deeper information about the Quality of Life study.

Background:
The Charlotte Observer on the release of the quality of life study.
UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute on the study.

Power outage in Plaza Midwood area reminds residents to plan ahead

(Edited: 10:50 a.m. Wednesday)

Power went out for thousands of residents in east and central Charlotte about 5 p.m. Tuesday and was restored for most people by 10:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The outage is a good reminder of the need to plan ahead and make sure you have supplies and backup plans for outages.

Wednesday morning, about six bucket trucks were working the lines along Briar Creek just south of Central Avenue at 7:45 a.m. For updates, check Duke Energy's outage information site. It also has useful tips.

Two points:
1. Make plans to deal with frozen food: If the power remains off, perhaps folks should make plans for a neighborhood cookout this evening or next, to avoid wasting defrosted meat. If you have extra food that has defrosted and is still good, but too much for your family or neighbors, remember Loaves and Fishes at St. Andrews Church on Central Avenue. The organization, which is also likely without power, provides food for the need on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Donations are welcome.

2. Coordinate infrastructure upgrades? Perhaps as work proceeds in the next year or so on sewer capacity along Briar Creek, somehow work could be coordinated on upgrading and even burying the power lines along the same route. If trees and green spaces are going to be disrupted for sewer work, it makes sense to use that disruption to upgrade all infrastructure along or near the same right of way. Duke has said in the past that burying lines is too expensive in older neighborhoods; it even seems like finding a way to use federal stimulus money to help with the work would be wise. Much productive work has been redistributed to people's homes these days with the increased use of home computers and the changes to a wider freelance and contract economy; using stimulus money to strengthen that capacity seems wise. While I'm playing pie in the sky, broadband capacity could be examined and strengthened at the same time.

Just wishful thinking. Stay cool. Support your neighbors.

Villa Heights Voice delivers nearby news, partnering with The Charlotte Observer

Leaders in the nearby Villa Heights community have started a neighborhood news site, “Villa Heights Voice,” as part of a partnership with The Charlotte Observer.

It’s a great place to check for nearby news you won’t get anywhere else. It’s also part of a national trend of big, traditional news organizations partnering with smaller sites to provide local information. Other sites working with The Observer include Ballantyne Scoop, Davidsonnews.net, QCityMetro, and Tega Cay Talk, all through a program of J-Lab at American University.

But Villa Heights shares some interests with Merry Oaks: a focus on the Eastway division of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, the same zoning inspector for residential concerns (unless staffing changes affect assignments), the same city council representative (Patsy Kinsey) and a focus on the availability and concentration of affordable housing.

They also write often about nearby Cordelia Park and efforts to create an EcoDistrict with their nearby neighborhoods, Belmont and Optimist Park.

The neighborhood is roughly north of Parkwood Avenue and east of North Davidson Street, over to Matheson and The Plaza. It includes the yummy Amelie’s Bakery and is close to the NoDa neighborhood.

Some other recent sites also focus on events and businesses in NoDa itself: NoDa.org, from the NoDa Business Organization, and a closed site for the NoDa neighborhood, which occasionally opens pages for events, like a scavenger hunt planned for May.

I’m adding Villa Heights and Noda to the “Connections” list here. Check them out.

A disclaimer and a promotional note: I was paid to give the Villa Heights organization some journalism lessons. If you or your organization want similar coaching, feel free to contact me with the form at the bottom left.

Remember the goal when talking about rezoning and Ballantyne low-income housing

Ballantyne residents are fighting a rezoning request that could bring low-income housing to their Charlotte neighborhood. A meeting with the developer of the property at Providence Road West and Johnston Road got quite heated on Feb. 22. A hearing on the rezoning petition goes before the Charlotte City Council on March 18.

You can read or watch plenty more about issue elsewhere with links below. While the petition likely has quite a few opponents that fall into the not-in-my-back-yard camp, I suspect other issues are relevant as well. The chart above illustrates the tax-credit method that would help finance the Charlotte low-income housing project. Suspicion is high these days when it comes to complicated financing methods, and plenty of housing around the city remains vacant, for sale or for rent.

So consider this a jumping-off point to explore the issue of affordable housing more deeply if you wish. This Ballantyne housing project is not Section 8 housing, which has been an issue for the east side of Charlotte.

Remember January 2008, when a man was killed near low-income apartments not too far from Merry Oaks. That incident spurred talks and memos about safety at the complex. Since then, the apartments have been quiet, safe and well-maintained. Police, neighbors and complex management all deserve credit.

And that's the goal: providing safe, affordable housing for those who need it, and keeping surrounding neighborhoods safe as well.

Nimbyism isn't the answer. Affordable housing has to go somewhere. But it's wise to scrutinize how we spend tax money and how we support people in low-income housing.


References:

Video stream from Ballantyne Scoop from the Feb. 22 meeting.
Charlotte Observer story about the Feb. 22 meeting.
Rezoning petition 2010-021.
The law and the rezoning from The Charlotte Business Journal.
Developers' backgrounds from The Charlotte Business Journal (might require subscription).
Other affordable housing developments from The Charlotte Business Journal.
Wikipedia on the tax credit.
State information about the tax credit.

Nursing home operator buys Renfrow property on Central Avenue at Briar Creek Road

View Larger Map

The former Renfrow property at 3223 Central Avenue has changed hands again.
A city representative at the Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association meeting on Feb. 18 said a nursing home company had bought the property. The company plans to relocate its facility from Hawthorne Lane to Central Avenue, the city representative said.
Charlotte property records from Polaris show the 8.89-acre property was sold on Dec. 17, 2009, to LLC Peak Resources Realty, with a mailing address of 320 N. Salem St., Suite 301, Apex, N.C. 27502.
Price was listed as $2,756,000.
A web site for Peak Resources Inc. shows the company with an existing nursing home at 333 Hawthorne Lane.
It’s unclear when development would happen.

Should people be able to search Mecklenburg County property records by name?

Mecklenburg County is conducting a survey on whether it should remove the ability to search by name for property owners in the county. And officials are also looking for feedback from "power users" of the online property records system for future development of the county's property records search tool.

For background, check a story in the The Charlotte Business Journal.

My personal opinion on the name search: Keeping government records open and accessible to all is important. Some people apparently are concerned about safety when anyone can search property records by name. I suspect that if this search method is taken away, someone else will just step in to provide the service for a fee to those who can afford it. These days, if someone wants to find out where you live, even without an online name search capability for your property records, they can find you. And the advantages to all of being able to track absentee landlords or other property owners enhance transparency, safety and community as a whole, outweighing some individuals' concerns.

Your two cents may vary, and I encourage you to take the survey.

If you're a "power user" of the POLARIS property records online tool, consider attending a focus group at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Development updates along Central Avenue, from the Merry Oaks newsletter

The following development report is from Nancy Pierce, neighborhood advocate for Merry Oaks, in the winter newsletter:

The Renfrow property at 3200 block of Central Ave., across from Briar Creek Road intersection: The former Renfrow property, 8.9 acres across Briar Creek Road from Central Avenue, is being held after foreclosure by New Dominion Bank. A bank spokesman says there is an interested purchaser, but he can’t reveal who that entity is. The orange-ribbon wrapped trees are part of the land survey process. Basically, the potential buyer is ascertaining how many trees would have to be saved under the City tree save ordinance (not many). The property is zoned for apartments. Given the current economic situation, development is unlikely any time soon.

The Vyne at 3220 Central Ave.: The developer of the Vyne on Central at Briar Creek is out of business, like many other developers. Underground infrastructure is in for Phase Two (you can see the pipes) but plans for Phase Two are off.

Birchcroft Apartments at 3143 Central Ave.: Some Merry Oaks homes on Cosby back up to the Birchcroft Apartments on Central Avenue.
In October 2008, Birchcroft was sold to a real estate investment group identified by property management as “Alpha Atlantic Company” in Florida. It is being managed by LoMax properties in Greensboro (336-275-6212). Office manager on site during business hours is Kim at 704 536 3520.

Image from Google Maps, showing the intersection of Briar Creek Road and Central Avenue. Birchcroft is on the left on the north side of Central Avenue; the Renfrow property is immediately to the right of it. The Vyne development is not shown in the aerial. It is on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Of grease in drains and watching the creeks rise in Charlotte

Here’s why you shouldn’t pour grease down the drain.

In heavy rains, the large sewer lines can back up from road and yard runoff, and then water backs up into the smaller tributary lines. If those lines are clogged with grease, the sewers can back up through the manholes into streets and elsewhere. (Yeah. "Elsewhere" could be nasty.)

This manhole at 2920 Central Avenue at the intersection of Arnold Drive overflowed Wednesday morning as the remnants of Hurricane Ida moved through Charlotte.

Forecasters are predicting more rain today and possibly Thursday. Homes near Briar Creek along Masonic Drive and at the end of Harbinger Court have been bought out or raised because of past problems with flooding, and Briar Creek generally does not overflow on to Central Avenue.

The only time I’ve seen that happen is when the remnants of Hurricane Faye came through in August 2008. There’s a Flickr stream of photos from that flood.

The bottom photo shows Briar Creek at 2900 Central Avenue on Wednesday morning about 10 a.m. I’ve seen it go higher without problems.

You can keep an eye yourself on the rain gauge along Briar Creek provided by the U.S. Geological Survey in real time. (Note to self: Look up and find out whether it’s officially “gage” or “gauge” when used by USGS.)

And remember: Stay out of floodwaters.

Charlotte City Council passes targeted property rental ordinance in effort to fight crime

“The ultimate proactivity (against crime) is assuming everyone is guilty and making them prove their innocence.”
– City Council member Warren Cooksey, or some character from “The Matrix”

The Charlotte City Council passed a property rental ordinance Monday night designed to target property owners who fail to take responsibility for crime on their properties.

The final ordinance that was passed was a compromise among stakeholders, including landlords and residents of areas affected by crime in nearby properties. It requires landlords who rent property among the top 4% of rental property in criminal calls to police to register and pay fees to support record–keeping and two new non–sworn officers to help track down landlords who don’t want to be found or to help those landlords improve their properties. Background and details, and a few numbers, and a letter from the Eastside Political Action Committee.

The council’s public safety committee worked with police to craft the ordinance and presented in to the full council in October. Monday’s meeting included a public hearing in which 20 people spoke, most supporting the compromise ordinance but some calling for rules that would have required all people who rent property in the city to register and pay a fee to build and maintain a database of landlords.

After the hearing, almost every council member and Mayor Pat McCrory had questions or statements about the ordinance, expressing wide–ranging concerns about crime, poverty, fair housing and the criminal justice system.

The ordinance passed 7–3, with council members Anthony Foxx (the mayor–elect), Warren Turner and Michael Barnes opposed the measure. Both Foxx and Barnes during discussions had indicated a desire for more time to consider the ordinance. Barnes noted that council member James Mitchell Jr. was not at the meeting, yet many of the affected properties are in his district.

Charlotte rental property rules move forward

The Community Safety Committee of the Charlotte City Council unanimously agreed Monday to move a revised rental ordinance aimed at reducing crime to the full council on Oct. 12.

Committee members hope to give the full council time to consider the plan and vote on it Nov. 9 instead of passing the issue to a newly elected council in December.

The plan focuses on registration and fees for owners whose properties fall into the worst 4 percent in terms of “disorderly activity,” which does not include domestic violence or complaints about trash.

“The only people who pay are those who hit or exceed the threshold,” said Ken Miller, deputy chief for the administrative services group of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

The owner of a single-family rental property could face a registration fee of $335 and a meeting with police if just one violent crime occurred on the property, Miller said. But, he said, “We expect we would lose a number of those during the review process.”

An owner of one of the largest class of rental properties, with 300 or more rental units, could face a registration fee of $1,300 and a meeting with police if the property fell into the worst 4 percent of properties.

Property owners would be notified of any need to register by certified mail to the name and address listed with the Mecklenburg County’s Office of the Tax Assessor. The plan includes penalties for not responding to the notice.

Appeals would be possible to a citizens’ rental review board.

Officials are continuing to make tinkers to the draft proposal before the Oct. 12 meeting.

Safety committee members are Chair Warren Turner, Vice Chair Patsy Kinsey, Andy Dulin and Edwin Peacock.

Background on the proposed rental ordinance.

Charlotte proposed rental ordinance update

The Eastside Political Action Committee this week sent an email about the proposed Charlotte rental ordinance with a letter from Paul Paskoff, director of the research and planning division for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Charlotte's rental property ordinance has been cussed and discussed for months now, and meanwhile police and the neighbors of troubled properties have had to deal with major problems. Certainly something must be done; maybe deeper research can help.

The letter makes clear that issues exist with current property records in Mecklenburg County. Records with valid contact information have many uses for various departments and a healthy community. Perhaps the implosion of the housing market, foreclosures and the bundling of risky real-estate loans have made finding property owners more difficult, but the community problems remain or worsen. And if those economic factors are major contributors, then the problems are national in scope, with perhaps ideas and assistance on a national level.

Paskoff's letter listed three reasons why he thinks an annual mandatory registration process is best for people who rent out their property.

And it listed concerns with the alternate idea offered by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association and the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, relying on the register of deeds office or the Mecklenburg County Property Assessment and Land Records Management Office. His research showed that those offices don't have records with contact information, and those offices don't have the resources to gather the information without imposing fees for document management.

A couple of new ideas surfaced in the letter: Register of Deeds David Granberry suggested that police work with the Mecklenburg County Tax Assessor's Office to get access to information about property owners. And Paskoff wrapped up his letter by saying a mandatory annual registration could be useful for other city departments, such as the Economic and Neighborhood Development Department (Property Code Division), the Charlotte Fire Department and and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities.

A long–term solution is needed; but a short–term fix is crucial as well. From the minutes of the July City Council meeting, council member Susan Burgess speaking:

"I can think of no better argument for this ordinance than 1813 Tyvola Road. For a year and a half, it's been a nuisance, it's been a danger, and it's been a blight to that entire neighborhood, and the reason nothing has been done about it is that no one can find the owner. I looked at the tax records one time. The tax was paid by some entity called 'Government Bank.' I know the Police Department has been involved, Code Enforcement has worked hard, but there is no person that anybody can find to help remedy this awful, awful situation. This neighborhood has lived with giant rats, with vagrants, with just terrible things going on in this property, and this ordinance would help us solve that problem and as it's repeated all over the city. We have all heard from neighborhood leaders and others who are just neighbors of these properties who are just so frustrated – they have just had it."

What remains unclear: How to fix the problem. A new database of ONLY property owners who rent their property leaves out modernization of property owners who DON'T rent out their property.

The deeper problems should be fixed. At the same time, police need help now in being able to find absentee landlords who fail to monitor their renters and thus increase the workload on police and the danger to nearby communities.

A couple of quick thoughts:
Perhaps a forensic researcher can track specific problem property owners, while the community takes a broader, longer look at how to modernize property records for the whole city.

Police know where the hot spots are, and a targeted effort would focus resources on the problems instead of increasing fees and work for all people who rent property. "Just Google it" won't find the owners; professional, paid research is required. Law firms have long employed special librarians for such work, and those same law firms have also cut back on employment of those people. They have the skills and access to databases on the deep web and can find stuff the ordinary Googler can't.

Mayor Pat McCrory touched on this in the July council minutes:

"The technology has changed so much, and if we just find out that one bank is the only contact we have, I don't think we are doing enough research. It might take a little more searching, an extra step to find out who that bank is and contacts there and who they are paying for, but there is a lot of data out there, and this is true with a lot of companies who are dealing with the same tenants. I want to make sure we take advantage of what existing data and resources are out there before we create another one."

Would using a police researcher to find specific properties be more efficient than managing a full police database of all rental properties? As long as documented increased police calls are available for specific properties, targeted research to find those property owners seems to be legally and ethically valid. (But I'm no legal expert; let me know if otherwise.)

Certainly funding is an issue, so asking questions about the most efficient use of available funds is crucial.

Short term (in government terms), requiring valid contact information for properties when property taxes are paid seems to be a valid solution to investigate further.

Long term, to modernize all records, perhaps other options are available beyond increased fees and taxes. Is there civic grant money available to modernize records? One Charlotte organization received more than $277,000 to create a virtual community library last year. Spending money to research and write grant applications would take resources, of course, but perhaps the return on investment would be higher.


Sources: City Council minutes, in PDF, from July.
Email from the Eastside PAC.
Knight Foundation community grant program.

Schools, flooding and an Elizabeth rezoning

From Under the Water Tower comes a heads up on a rezoning in the Elizabeth neighborhood. Deadline is Wednesday, Sept. 2, to email comments to neighborhood organizers about the rezoning request along Seventh Street. The public hearing is Sept. 21.

The developer is seeking rezoning from R-22 to MUDD (mixed use development) to build up to 390 residential units along Weddington Avenue and Seventh Street, near the historic Palmer Building on Firefighter Place and near Lupie's Cafe.

The neighborhood had a meeting seeking comments about the rezoning on Aug. 27 and is sharing those comments with the developer, Winter Elizabeth of Atlanta, according to the Elizabeth Community Association. You can see some site-plan details at the neighborhood site.


The rezoning doesn't directly affect Merry Oaks, but it raises a couple of thoughts with broader community impact:
1. The comments in a PDF from Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools officials at the Rezoning.org site note that "adequacy of existing school capacity in this area is a significant problem." The officials estimate the development, when completed, could add 118 students to Eastover Elementary School, 80 students to Alexander Graham Middle School and 93 students to Myers Park High School. Those kinds of numbers are important to keep in mind when considering redrawing school boundaries: There is talk of moving some people out of the feeder zone for Myers Park High to East Mecklenburg High. Numbers like these might add more weight to that concept. The numbers also highlight how school quality affects development and real estate. If school performance for the Garinger High School district were stronger, would demand for development and housing in that district in east-central Charlotte be stronger? Would growth and development be more evenly spaced across the county?


2. The comments in a PDF from stormwater services at the rezoning site appear to be minimal. Given the density proposed in this development under MUDD zoning, and given its proximity to Briar Creek, it seems deep consideration should be given to the effects of flood zones downstream. In the long run, that consideration could save Mecklenburg County money and save homeowners the hassle of unexpected flooding. The county has spent millions buying homes in floodplains along Briar Creek in recent years. Should dense MUDD zoning get further examination? Can dense urban design have features that absorb and slow stormwater runoff to avoid urban flooding?

Further links:
Background from the Charlotte Business Journal in 2008.
Planning documents for growth in "Centers, Corridors and Wedges" from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department.
FEMA floodplain maps.

Image credits: Google maps (top) and FEMA maps (middle).

Charlotte's outerbelt vs. Independence Boulevard

"See there's a highway to the right of us I took it years ago.”
Distraction #74, Avett Brothers

Circuit City.
Toys R Us.
Service Merchandise.
Barnes and Noble.
Wolfe Camera.
Target.
When I moved into a neighborhood off Idlewild Road on Charlotte’s east side in 1993, I moved minutes away from big-box land along Independence Boulevard ( U.S. 74.) For the parent of a toddler, it was perfect, except in December, when every other consumer swarmed the boulevard and parking lots.

Now that part of Independence Boulevard has many empty big boxes.

Nearby neighborhoods are hanging on, waiting for a widening and realignment of Independence Boulevard, with the elimination of three traffic lights between Albemarle Road and Conference Drive. Some residents hope the widening will spur an increase in home values, which has happened for neighborhoods closer to downtown along the corridor.

And now Gov. Bev Perdue has given Charlotte a choice: Finish the final northern segment of the outerbelt or complete the Independence Boulevard project.

The next step: the Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization is scheduled to make a decision in August. If they don’t pick the outerbelt over Independence, construction on I-485 probably won't begin in 2015, according to an article in The Charlotte Observer by Steve Harrison. That choice followed a February 2009 promise from the governor to speed construction of I-485.

I moved away from big-box land in 1999, toward downtown Charlotte. My commute shortened dramatically. And after a few years of big-box deprivation, Target moved nearby.

So I don’t really have a dog in the fight for or against widening of Independence. But the future health of those east side neighborhoods affects me, and flaws exist in the decision-making process now:

• The vice chairman of MUMPO, Anthony Foxx, is a Democratic candidate for Charlotte mayor. One city council member who represents the area, Nancy Carter, faces a political challenge from Darrell Bonapart, who has led the Charlotte East Community Partners. Any decisions or pronouncements from those candidates will be strongly influenced by short-term political goals.
  
• MUMPO is heavily weighted toward favoring work on Independence. Of the 17-member board, 8 are from Union County. Only three represent northern Mecklenburg towns. And towns in Iredell County that would be greatly affected by an improved outerbelt have no representation on the board.
  
• Plans for Independence are out of date, given our changed economy. The retail industry has moved dramatically online. Federal funding for light rail appears light years away. Housing needs have changed too.
  
• The process isn’t transparent enough. Lists of the landowners affected by either decision should be online, and searchable, with the proper identities behind corporations and businesses available. While a PDF map of the Independence widening has been available online for a while, new technical capabilities of adding transparency are available now, and taxpayers have more reason than ever to check for themselves for conflicts of interest.
  

A representative for Charlotte East Community Partners has said the organization would rather postpone the Independence widening. Representatives of another neighborhood organization, Coventry Woods Neighborhood Association, want the Independence work to proceed before the outerbelt, and they’ve urged Carter and Foxx in email to support that idea.

Given the circumstances, any decision should wait until after the November mayor and council election, though of course broad debate during the political season is in order. And given other factors, perhaps widening Independence first isn’t such a good idea.

Ideas have surfaced about whether the Independence widening should be done at all, or whether it should be done differently, as a boulevard or parkway like in Washington, D.C., and other cities. More time might allow alternative ideas to develop.

Throughout its history, Independence Boulevard has disrupted neighborhoods. A delay might give us a chance to rethink its future.


More information at MUMPO.

Wide open spaces at the Morningside development

It's hard to imagine that this rural-like scene is less than three miles from downtown Charlotte.

Pictures tell the story better than words for an urban area that once housed Morningside Apartments, brick buildings from the World War II era, with hardwood floors, large rooms and a multicultural community.

The apartments were torn down in August 2007 to make way for new development, which has since stalled. The 33-acre parcel sits between Central Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, with a small creek running through the eastern part of the property just before Morningside Avenue.

In the mean time, grass and weeds hold down the dirt. For a historical look, check out the Morningside Apartments website, which has some dead links but also holds some great glimpses of the past.

For more photos of the open fields (with captions), and photos of efforts to manage runoff into the small creek, see Flickr.

Aerial map snapshot from Google Maps.






Update: I shared the top photo in this post on Twitter, asking a guessing game of where it was, on May 31. Photographer James Willamor guessed the location correctly, and that's no surprise. He loves to study Charlotte buildings, the skyline, maps and development and write and shoot for CLTBlog. James has built a Google map of good vantage points to take photos of Charlotte's skyline.

Further historical links:
The developer's website, circa 2008:

Karen Shugart in Creative Loafing, talking with residents and nearby neighbors, March 1, 2006:

Hip Hoods on the development plans, Feb. 13, 2008:

Steve Lyttle from The Charlotte Observer, July 29, 2007.
(Note: This is the HTML version of a .pdf from The Charlotte Observer, not available directly from The Observer but available through the developer's website. If The Observer has any objections to this link, please let me know and I'll take it off.)

Doug Smith in The Next Big Thing, The Charlotte Observer,Feb. 13, 2008.
(Note: This is the HTML version of a .pdf from The Charlotte Observer, not available directly from The Observer but available through the developer's website. If The Observer has any objections to this link, please let me know and I'll take it off.)

J. Lee Howard in The Charlotte Business Journal, March 31, 2006.

Holding property owners accountable for renters

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police representatives are pitching the idea of a new Charlotte city ordinance intended to help find absentee property owners and hold them accountable for actions of renters.

The initial plan requires property owners to register rental property with the police department, providing clear details on how the property owner can be reached if renters engage in illegal or disorderly activities.

The ordinance also allows the establishment of fees to pay for the registration costs and establishes a five-member unpaid board that reviews violations and has the power to revoke an owner's ability to rent property.

Police representatives are expecting strong opposition from property owners, and the ordinance review process will likely take several months, according to an email sent to community leaders from Ken Miller, deputy police chief. The first draft will be presented to a council committee on Thursday, May 21.

The ordinance could be welcome among some community leaders as a way to hold property owners accountable for criminal activity that happens on their property. A few questions, to generate discussion:

1. Why can't existing property records be used to find property owners instead of establishment of a separate registration process and database? Perhaps one answer: Often rental property is owned by absentee partnerships or companies where the tracing of responsibile parties is difficult. So would it be more efficient to fund or hire a forensic property tracker or enhance the existing property ownership database instead of creating a separate silo of information? Would it not be better long term for records at the city clerk's office to be made useful for this purpose and other purposes?
2. Will the fee for registration be so prohibitive that it penalizes small property owners in a bad economy who are just struggling to hold on to their properties instead of letting them lapse into foreclosure?
3. If determination of "disorderly" or "illegal" activities on a property happens before the renter goes to court and is convicted, is it right to penalize a property owner?
4. If it's difficult to staff unpaid city and county boards as it is, why establish another unpaid board to review complaints? Is there another way to use the time of existing city staff to handle the work, or is that a legal problem?
5. What are other cities and counties doing to control the problem of crime and disorder in rental properties with absentee owners who are difficult to reach? Has the proposed approach worked in other cities? Has it been challenged in courts elsewhere (leading to legal costs for cities)?

The proposed ordinance addresses a big problem in dealing with crime and safety in rental properties. Let's hope for a strong community discussion that leads to efficient, fair methods of fixing the problem.

First meeting details: Room 180 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St. at noon on Thursday, May 21. Here's a map.

Full Google document of the draft ordinance.

Eastside Charlotte mayoral forum

More than 75 people showed up for a Charlotte mayoral candidates' forum Tuesday night at Windsor Park Elementary School to hear John Lassiter and Anthony Foxx discuss issues near and dear to the east side of Charlotte.

The forum was sponsored by Charlotte East Political Action Committee and was set up as a moderated Q&A with the candidates, with time for questions from the audience.
Foxx, a Democrat, and Lassiter, a Republican, are both at-large city council members and the leading candidates for Charlotte mayor. The winner will replace Mayor Pat McCrory, a Republican, who is the longest-serving mayor in Charlotte history, according to Wikipedia.

Fred Clasen-Kelly did a fine job of reporting the event at The Charlotte Observer, (temporary link) focusing on low-income housing questions.

The following are raw notes from the meeting. My background is as an editor and designer, so I can't do as fine of a job as Fred, but I offer these notes up to flesh out areas that Fred couldn't address because of time or space constraints. If there's anything I left out or portrayed wrongly, let me know in comments.

In addition, CLTBlog plans a streaming video online town hall with Foxx at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 17. Anyone can submit and vote on questions for that event by going to Google Moderator here.

The key topics (often overlapping) from Tuesday night:

Fixing Eastland Mall
Both candidates noted that zoning and overbuilding hurt the Eastland Mall and Albemarle Road areas. Both noted that the tough economy is making a fix difficult.
Lassiter: Plans for the mall land will succeed if zoning is mixed use. When the economy rebounds, the area will see folks coming in and buying up these properties. The city planning department will be key in making the rebound a success.
Foxx: Fixing Eastland will involve a number of efforts, including police, infrastructure and rebuilding trust between the neighborhoods and the city. "We cannot leave East Charlotte out."
One questioner pushed for housing on the property at a specific price point: $200,000 or so, not $110,000 to $150,000. Neither candidate promised such a price point in future zoning for the property. Lassiter noted that the east side faces a challenge because existing housing stock falls into a narrow price area, with no ability for residents to move up but stay within the area. Lassiter also said redevelopment of the 90-acre Eastland Mall site would not include subsidized housing.
Another questioner expressed concerns that existing city investment in a bus transit station at the mall site could impede future plans.
Foxx: "There have been alot of false starts." "I'm sorry that folks have felt the city hasn't been paying attention." "We need to rebuild that connection between the city of Charlotte and the east side."

Working for better public transit on the east side of Charlotte
Both candidates noted that the Independence Boulevard widening was a state project that failed to take local residents and business needs into consideration.
Foxx: "As mayor, I'd commit to taking a long hard look at rapid transit on Independence Boulevard." He also noted that he's pushing for a way that the city can move ahead with the trolley line from Beatties Ford Road all the way to Eastland Mall.
Lassiter: "The challenge of getting light rail money is meeting federal rules." He's also working for the trolley, trying to find a way to use mostly local money to fund the project.


Fixing Independence Boulevard
Foxx: Wants new money to pay for the finishing of I-485, preserving existing state money to finish Independence Boulevard. "The N.C. DOT has not historically been a good partner with us" for helping to support the businesses that depended on Independence Boulevard.
Lassiter: Independence Boulevard needs to be the back door for the neighborhoods, not the front door. "I think we can all agree that the state has made a mess of Independence Boulevard."

Maintaining safety and fighting crime
Both candidates acknowledge the strong work of the Charlotte police department (which had at least five representatives at the meeting) and that crime had gone down in the Eastway division. Both noted that the city would find responsible ways to pay for more police officers that would not raise taxes. Both pointed to fiscal responsibility from the city, contrasting it with financial difficulties the county faces.
Foxx: Went to Washington, D.C., on his own dime to talk with U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., about federal support for fighting crime. He has also talked with the state Administrative Office of the Courts, and is working in the community at West Charlotte High School, his alma mater, to help show young people different, positive paths.
Lassiter: "We have to get chronic offenders off the streets." Lassiter noted he served on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board for many years, working to support young people and schools.


Low-income housing
Foxx: Noted a story by Fred Clasen-Kelly in The Charlotte Observer in 2006 that said roughly four of every five Section 8 residents are clustered in 10 ZIP codes in the Charlotte area. "I want to see this city deal with affordable housing in a real way," he said. He mentioned an "incentivized inclusi0onary zoning" fix. If he were mayor, he would establish a task force to handle low-income housing questions.
Lassiter: "I believe the east side of Charlotte has given enough." However, he emphasized a market-based approach to handling housing price points.

Code enforcement
Eastside residents have wrestled with the problem of code enforcement people working day hours Monday through Friday, with no one to verify and follow up code violations such as parking cars and trucks on lawns on weekends and evenings. Lassiter addressed the issue, saying the city was looking at innovative solutions such as split shifts for code enforcement workers. Foxx agreed: "We've got to have weekend code enforcement," he said, and he noted that the city workers must deal with three computer systems to input and track data about violations, with no easy computer interaction with police computers. He said the city needed to increase our investment in technology to address the challenge.


Small-area plans
Susan Lindsay, a long-time neighborhood activist for the east side of Charlotte, questioned why the city had not gone forward with small-area plans for the Milton Road-Plaza area and the Eastway-Plaza areas. Both candidates said they would look into that, with Lassiter noting that the planning staff should have some excess capacity at the moment because of a lack of rezoning cases.

Floodplain returns to green space

In August 2008, the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay dumped rain on Charlotte, sending upper Briar Creek out of its banks and into the 100-year flood zones.
Before that flood, Mecklenburg County had been buying out some homes in flood plains, but some residents remained in danger areas.

This time, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners approved using $4 million in county stormwater reserve funds and up to $2 million of county park and recreation bonds to buy properties in flood zones. County residents pay a fee in their water bill to fund the stormwater program.

Two homes on Harbinger Court in Merry Oaks were bought out and torn down through the program, creating more open space quite near the neighborhood's existing greenway along Briar Creek. For homeowners, the process wasn't easy, giving up their homes filled with memories. But in the long run, the process showed a system that worked, in this case.

The pictures tell the story:



3007 Harbinger Court on Aug. 27, 2008



3000 Harbinger Court on Aug. 27, 2008



March 18, 3007 Harbinger Court



March 18, 3000 Harbinger Court



March 21, 3007 Harbinger Court



March 21, 3007 Harbinger Court



March 29, 3007 Harbinger Court



Demolition sign on Harbinger Court



Storm drain pipe over Briar Creek at the end of Harbinger Court.


Not all the homes affected by the flood have been bought out. Several homes along Masonic Drive on the other side of the Briar Creek greenway were affected. One property owner is raising the level of the house:



Further links:
County stormwater services
FEMA flood plain maps