Charlotte growth plan met with pushback and support from developers, neighborhoods
While the City Council isn’t ready to vote on a plan that will shape Charlotte’s growth over two decades, residents, developers and community advocates alike remain divided over some of its key proposals intended to make development more equitable.
The 2040 Comprehensive Plan outlines big-picture ideas for how Charlotte should grow. Those goals include increasing the availability of affordable housing and providing access to essential goods and services, like grocery stores, within a 10-minute walk, bike ride or transit trip.
Over 100 residents were signed up to speak at Monday’s council meeting, according to a speaker’s list published by the city, though not all of them spoke.
Those in favor of the plan included some neighborhood leaders, advocates and planners who say it will create more equitable growth in the city and additional affordable housing.
But others, including both developers and neighborhood advocates, expressed concerns about how the plan could play a role in accelerating gentrification and whether it will increase the cost of development. Others voiced opposition to some of its key provisions, such as a proposal to allow for more density in single-family neighborhoods.
One of the plan’s components that has drawn the most controversy involves encouraging duplexes, triplexes and, in some instances, quadraplexes on single-family lots. The goal is to create a range of options and to help create more affordable housing in neighborhoods.
At a City Council meeting this month, a majority of council members raised questions about the proposal. And on Sunday, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles postponed the vote indefinitely on the plan, which had been originally scheduled for April.
The 2040 plan does not set policy. That will be done through a separate document, called the Unified Development Ordinance, which will consolidate and update zoning and other regulations that impact development.
Arguments in favor
Those who voiced their support for the plan say it provides bold solutions to the issues in Charlotte, such as affordable housing and racial segregation.
David Walters, a professor of architecture and urban design at UNC Charlotte, said he’s glad there will be a slight delay in voting on the plan to make changes and strengthen some provisions, including protections for minority communities. But he said delaying the plan any longer would only water it down.
“Don’t listen to the carefully orchestrated chorus of negativity coming from the development interests,” he said. “They’re mainly interested in keeping the status quo and throwing roadblocks in front of the future.”
Most developers and those in the real estate industry who spoke at the hearing raised concerns about the plan. But Marta Tataje of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals said her organization supports the plan as home prices rapidly rise in the area.
“We’ve reached a critical time where current market prices are quickly becoming out of reach, not only for the Hispanic buyer, who is increasingly the fastest-growing market, but also the first-time homebuyer in general,” she said.
City planners often point to the history of single-family zoning in perpetuating racial segregation. Deed restrictions and other policies locked Black homebuyers out of single-family neighborhoods for years.
Amar Johnson, president of the Seversville Community Association, said anyone who doesn’t support the 2040 plan is “essentially a segregationist.”
“They’re trying to hide themselves behind racist laws and policies that will only perpetuate systemic racism,” he said.
Developer concerns
A group of developers, builders and others in the real estate industry expressed concern Monday about the legality and cost of some portions of the plan.
For weeks, real estate lobbying group REBIC has been pushing for the City Council to table the vote until next year over some of the same issues. But Monday was the first time that some of Charlotte’s most prominent developers spoke out against the proposal.
Tim Sittema, managing partner at Crosland Southeast, said the plan will make affordable housing less affordable and accelerate gentrification. His firm is leading the redevelopment of the Eastland Mall site. And he said the policies will result in less development.
“It is naive to think that this plan can make the private sector magically fix intractable social problems,” he said.
Developer Stuart Proffitt expressed concern about one idea proposed in the plan, called a community benefits agreement. It essentially functions as a contract between a developer and neighborhood to include certain amenities residents want in a project.
Larry Shaheen, a local real estate attorney, said further analysis is needed to determine the plan’s economic impact.
“It is absolutely vital that we not ruin what we have in a rush to change what is already successful,” he said.
Resident concerns
Residents across the city raised questions about gentrification, their lack of input in the planning process and the increase in density that the plan proposes.
A group of residents from the Far East Neighborhood Coalition said their input has not been considered as the area in east and northeast Charlotte grows rapidly.
“We don’t want our needs to be overlooked and left out of the 2040 plan,” said Veronica Mobley, a resident of the area.
Sam Smith Jr. of the Northwest Community Alliance said his group supports the Community Benefits Coalition, a group of neighborhood advocates pushing for communities threatened by gentrification to have a say in development. Smith said he wants to see an anti-displacement stakeholder group commissioned.
Lorena Castillo-Ritz, a resident in southeast Charlotte, said her family and many in the Hispanic community want a single-family home as part of the American Dream.
“My parents did not immigrate from El Salvador to not be able to realize their dream of single family home ownership,” she said.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 10:32 PM.
