Charlotte 2040 is about choosing to be better
The Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan is the most progressive policy document the City of Charlotte has ever produced.
That’s one of the main reasons for the sudden, coordinated opposition to the plan this week, in spite of the fact that the plan has been under development for the past three years, and the public draft has been available since October.
Critics of the plan have these concerns: it liberalizes single-family zoning; it has too many aspirational goals; it recommends policy that first has to be enacted by the General Assembly; it has suggestions the real estate and development communities see as non-starters.
These arguments boil down to one point: protecting and maintaining the status quo. If you’ve been following the civic conversation in Charlotte over the last decade, then you know that idea goes against everything we’ve aspired to as a city.
A 2014 study found Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to be at the very bottom of the country in economic mobility; do we aspire to stay there?
The Leading on Opportunity Task Force, founded to provide solutions to the economic mobility problem, wrote in their report, “We realize no single strategy will solve our affordable housing crisis. Rather, multiple strategies and tactics must be undertaken, and greater collaboration among the public, private and non profit sectors will be required.”
Do we want to abandon a comprehensive plan that sets out multiple strategies to address displacement, gentrification, and the affordable housing crisis?
Greta Thunberg’s call for urgent action on climate change - as well as her visit to Uptown - has inspired a new generation of Charlotte-Mecklenburg students to engage in an existential fight for their future. Are we going to abandon a plan that aspires to create the neighborhoods and transit options that will make our community more resilient to climate change?
The Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan aligns our city’s priorities and aspirations with our official policies. It sets the stage for a Unified Development Ordinance that makes necessary changes in our approach to land use, and a Mecklenburg Moves mobility plan that will benefit our entire region. It dismantles structures and policies that have enabled segregation and structural racism.
Perhaps most importantly, in a city that has a negative reputation for its lack of opportunity, the Comprehensive Plan creates more opportunities than ever. Allowing more uses in single-family zoning will increase housing stock, decrease scarcity, and lower prices. The plan’s infill policy leads to increased walkability, more mobility options, more residents to support local businesses, and greater access to amenities.
This plan will help create more housing choices. Teachers deserve the opportunity to live in the same neighborhood as their students. Young families deserve an ownership opportunity that isn’t as far out of reach as a single-family home.
The Comprehensive Plan isn’t finished. Though thousands of voices have already been heard as a part of this process, we’re continuing to refine the plan ahead of its final adoption.
However, Charlotte will soon face a choice. Norman Mailer once wrote that “one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same.”
If Charlotte stays the same, the same communities that have paid the price of the status quo will pay more. Let’s choose to grow.
Sam Spencer is the chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission, and Keba Samuel is the commission’s vice chair and chair of the commission’s zoning committee.
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 7:05 AM.