This booming Union County downtown is the latest Charlotte suburb grappling with growth
With downtown Waxhaw’s growing population and popularity, local leaders want to preserve the area’s small-town vibe while preparing for the seemingly inevitable continued influx. And officials want residents to weigh-in on how to do that.
The town, along with the Downtown Waxhaw Association, is creating an updated downtown master plan that will guide the area’s growth and feel for the next five to 10 years, according to Ashley Nowell, the town’s business development director and the association’s executive director.
The plan will look at “infill development,” which fills gaps in unused or underutilized parts of an urban area,with an emphasis on maintaining the strip’s identity while increasing its density. It will also look at parking, streetscaping projects, and increasing accessibility and walkability.
Right now, the plan is in its research and public engagement phase, which is where residents come in.
From Monday, March 24 to Wednesday, March 26, residents and stakeholders will be able to voice their opinions on the downtown’s future at in-person meetings. Residents can also share their views via an online survey that will launch on Monday at waxhaw.com and downtownwaxhaw.com.
“The big purpose of this is to really get input from the community on what they want to see in their downtown. We hear a lot from our residents that they love moving to town for that small-town charm that downtown offers,” Nowell said. “We’ve seen extreme growth.
“So how do we help manage that while making sure that downtown is still that little small-town historical gem?”
Waxhaw’s steady growth
About 30 miles southeast of uptown Charlotte lies Waxhaw, a town with a total area of about 11.5 square miles.
It’s quaint, historic and in recent years, has experienced a boom in population. From 2010 to 2023, Waxhaw’s population grew by about 134%, going from 9,859 people to 23,073, according to census data. As of 2025, the population is about 24,602, according to World Population Review.
Similar growth is happening throughout Union County, which has seen a 9.9% population increase since 2020. That’s higher than Mecklenburg County, which saw an 8% increase.
Waxhaw’s growth has been met with mixed feelings, with residents voicing concerns over traffic, increasing construction and the feeling that things were happening too fast without a plan, WCNC previously reported.
In 2023, the town launched its 2040 Comprehensive Plan, a guide that will shape the growth of the town. A piece of that plan included creating a similar document for downtown.
Downtown Waxhaw’s present
One of the major components of the proposed master plan will be the future of infill development in the downtown area.
No renderings have been created yet, Nowell said, because the town wants to ensure residents drive how that development will look. But development is needed.
There are 120 businesses in the downtown district and a 0% vacancy rate, Nowell said. Almost 80 businesses are eagerly waiting to make the district their home as well.
There’s also a housing need for new residents and workers. The hope is that new developments will address the growing economic demand and population.
“There are opportunities for infill development, but we want to know what do our residents and our visitors want to see,” Nowell said. “What type of development? What do they want it to look like? What types of businesses? And that’ll be addressed and informed through the public input.”
There’ll be four in-person sessions.
- March 24: 5-6:30 p.m. at Waxhaw Downtown Park under the large shelter
- March 25: 8- 9:15 a.m. at Provisions Waxhaw
- March 25: 5-6 p.m. at Waxhaw Town Hall board chambers
- March 26: 3-4:30 p.m. at Middle James Brewing
There will also be an online survey that opens on Monday and will close in late April.
What’s next for downtown Waxhaw?
Once this initial round of public input is received, the town, the association and consulting firm Boudreaux Group will outline what residents want in the downtown district.
There’ll be several more rounds of public engagement including at the town’s spring festival in May and over the summer.
With the input, officials will create a 10-year implementation plan that will look at how the initiatives will be enacted and who will work on them. That plan will go before the board of commissioners by the fall.
“We want to build a downtown that’s for everyone, where everyone belongs and all voices are heard. And I don’t want to sit on those concepts and ideas,” Nowell said. “It’s fast but… I want people to feel like their voices are heard and then that their ideas are put into action.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 5:20 AM.
