Charlotte’s UDO provides a fairer path forward for development

If you mention the topic of zoning in conversation, you are likely to be greeted with dismissive eye rolls and shouts of “Boring!” Let’s face it, it’s not a sexy subject. Many of us know little about it, and usually care less, except when something new is proposed close to home.

Judging by public opposition to new development in Charlotte, lots of folks don’t like change and are happy with the status quo. But beneath this superficial satisfaction lie severe problems that spell trouble for the city in the years ahead.

The most difficult issue is the chasm between those who have a nice home in a pleasant part of town, and those who can’t afford decent housing. This social and economic divide is Charlotte’s achilles heel - our biggest social and economic weakness as we face a challenging future. An equivalent task is mitigating the disruption to the lives of our children and grandchildren from climate change. We all make this problem worse every day by driving everywhere for everything. Often, we have no alternative.

The 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted by City Council last year, sets out goals and policies to meet these challenges and envisages a city organized around better choices. This plan is well crafted, but it’s an aspirational document. It has no legal power.

The essential partner to the plan is the Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO, the set of rules that guide and control development to achieve the plan’s goals. These regulations raise the plan from words on the page to buildings, streets, parks, and plazas on the ground. It will create new pieces of our city and repair older ones to serve us well for decades to come.

For the last 50 years I have helped plan neighborhoods, parts of cities, and sometimes whole towns. From this privileged perspective of a life’s work attending to urban problems and future opportunities, I am convinced that the new UDO is sorely needed if our city is to grapple with, and profit from, the myriad challenges facing us as a community.

Unfortunately, the public’s understanding of the UDO has been confused by a slew of misinformation. For example, it’s not true that the UDO “bans single-family housing” as many opponents falsely claim. It will remain legal to build single-family homes almost everywhere in Charlotte. But not everyone wants or can afford a single-family house, so we need a myriad of affordable alternatives - traditional options like town homes, duplexes, fourplexes, and apartments, and more innovative solutions such as “cottage court bungalows” and “micro housing.” There are thousands of households in Charlotte who would love such accommodation if it were available and affordable. Most importantly, this housing must not simply be built around the edges of the city, where there are few transportation options other than a private car.

For housing, the UDO provides the rules and safeguards by which duplexes, fourplexes, town homes etc. can be carefully infilled within existing neighborhoods and incorporated in new ones. This is not radical: it is exactly the way America used to build communities. Our “streetcar suburbs” (Dilworth, Elizabeth etc.) are prime examples, and today these neighborhoods are among the most sought-after places to live.

They provide a model of city development that is sustainable and resilient in the face of future challenges. They are walkable and accommodate bikes and public transit. Cars are easy to use but you don’t need them every day. There are different types of housing for different types of families, neighborhood parks and a variety of uses are close by. You can walk to shops, to work, to church, and to school.

But today these neighborhoods are rare and too expensive for many Charlotteans. To provide homes that are affordable we need to build many new neighborhoods like this and to retrofit others to meet the higher aspirations of accessibility and affordability. We have a choice: We can choose to fight change and simply ignore our grandkids’ future. Or we can embrace a fairer and more inclusive path.