Things to do

Do you care about how development affects public, outdoor spaces? This event is for you

By CharlotteFive Staff
Food Truck Friday at South End on September 25, 2015. South End is growing up, with an influx of office space. Is this just the next step for the artsy neighborhood, or does it risk hurting the area's character?
Food Truck Friday at South End on September 25, 2015. South End is growing up, with an influx of office space. Is this just the next step for the artsy neighborhood, or does it risk hurting the area's character? Diedra Laird dlaird@charlotteobserver.com

If you care about development, historic neighborhoods and the city’s public, outdoor spaces (we do), put tonight’s Civic by Design forum on your calendar.

Civic by Design, a free, every-other-month discussion series, is organized by local architect and urban planner Tom Low. Tonight’s event is 5:30 p.m. at the Levine Museum of the New South, with parking validation available for the 7th Street garage.

From the event’s description:

“Sometimes referred to as outdoor rooms, the public realm primarily consists of the streets, sidewalks, parks, plazas, and other gathering spaces that comprise the corridors and nodes of our cities, towns, and neighborhoods. The quality of our public realm is at the heart of how we experience the surrounding environment and relate to neighbors and our communities.

“Therefore, it is important that the public realm is safe, sustainable, and enriching. Leaders are excited about the momentum and interest in living and developing inside our historic walkable neighborhoods. Main reasons include close proximity to center city and urban districts as well as a high quality walkable public realm.

“And while hip architectural plan/elevation design, creative site layouts for parking, and rooftop views are a priority, clearly some recent infill is not elevating or even maintaining the quality of the public realm. Please join us and neighborhood advocates, community leaders, designers, and developers to discuss how civic design can further enhance as well as mitigate degradation of our walkable neighborhoods.”

The effect of development in Charlotte neighborhoods is an important topic of conversation with all the growth the city is seeing, and this seems like a great opportunity to learn more.

Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to meet Observer development reporter Ely Portillo (who wouldn’t?) he’ll be there.

Related: Varian Shrum, who won a K880 Emerging City Champion grant, will be hosting the Neighborhood Living Room — a “pop-up, public space where people can gather and connect” — Thursday through Sunday at Dilworth Artisan Station, 118 E. Kingston Ave. Details.

In other development news … 

MORE APARTMENTS: See what we mean about all that growth? A 351-unit building is planned for Parkwood Avenue, just north of uptown. Ohio-based NRP Group filed a rezoning petition to build the apartments on a 3.5-acre lot bounded by Caldwell, Brevard, 21st and Parkwood.

The site is adjacent to the Blue Line light rail extension. Build the light rail, apartments will come.

SPEAKING OF REZONING REQUESTS …: There have already been more filed in the city this year than in all of 2014. According to this Portillo story, as of last week 134 requests had been filed, beating the 120 last year. There were just 86 in 2009 and 80 in 2010, Portillo reported. This is important because the city must analyze each petition and Charlotte City Council has to hold a public meeting — long, emotional events — but neither group gets more time when the number of petitions grows.

Portillo continues:

“Such marathon meetings don’t serve the public well. If you or your neighbors want to speak about a rezoning petition in your neighborhood, you might have to wait until Monday night turns into Tuesday morning before you get a chance to speak. …

“It’s more crucial than ever that neighbors speak to voice their opinions on rezoning petitions, because the N.C. General Assembly banned protest petitions this year. Under the old system, adjoining property owners could formally challenge a rezoning proposal with a petition. Such challenged proposals needed a super majority of nine City Council votes instead of the usual simple majority to pass, and that gave neighborhoods a lot of leverage against developments they opposed.”

Read his full story here.

FAST INTERNET TO HUNTERSVILLE: Google Fiber shirts (finally) started arriving in the Charlotte area recently, but AT&T is continuing to roll out the real thing. AT&T launched its high-speed Internet service in Huntersville. GigaPower, which launched in parts of Charlotte in June, offers speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

Also in June, Google began construction on Fiber, and in July Time Warner Cable rolled out TWC Maxx. Faster internet means CharlotteFive loads faster and everyone wins.

Photo: Diedra Laird/Charlotte Observer; Davie Hinshaw/Charlotte Observer

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Do you care about how development affects public, outdoor spaces? This event is for you."

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