A front-row seat to Charlotte’s growth
Plus: Big warehouse plans near airport include historic preservation; Piper Glen rezoning likely to pass tonight; Mallard Creek bear alert; Would Panthers' deal cement 'world-class' status?
Good morning! Today is Monday, June 17, 2024. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
Need to subscribe — or upgrade your Ledger e-newsletter subscription? Details here.
Today's Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by Tryon Medical Partners, which continues to grow to better serve patients across the Charlotte region. Our new Pineville office is larger and more accessible, the perfect place to find coordinated, comprehensive care.
Q&A: As head of Charlotte’s planning commission, Douglas Welton hears the concerns of citizens, developers and city staff as he works toward helping the region grow smartly; ‘If you don’t grow, you die’
Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission Chairman Douglas Welton (shown here) started his address to a Steele Creek residents association in April with a quote from leadership expert Simon Sinek. (Photo by county commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, courtesy of Douglas Welton)
Douglas Welton’s first major foray into local issues and leadership came about the way it does for many people — by getting involved in his own neighborhood.
Welton’s stint as president of his neighborhood association laid the groundwork for his eventual appointment to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission in 2018, and now he’s the volunteer board’s chairman.
He has a vision for Charlotte’s thoughtful growth, and his tenure on the commission has come at a time when there’s a focus on housing supply, advocating for density in appropriate areas and fostering community involvement.
Welton sat down with Ledger executive editor Tony Mecia recently on an episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast to talk about Charlotte’s growth, current trends in development, and how he navigates the tension between new development and maintaining the character of existing neighborhoods.
Here’s an excerpt of the interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. In your role on the planning commission, you're talking to developers, you're talking to city staff, you're talking to residents. I know it’s a big topic, but how do you think about Charlotte’s growth?
What I think about Charlotte's growth is that it is inevitable. Where we are in the country right now, people are streaming into the places where there are thick environments for jobs and opportunity, and Charlotte happens to be one of those places. And the stream of growth that we’ve seen in the last 25 years is incredible and outpaces almost any other place in the country. Like you said, that’s the source of a lot of great things.
You know, if you're not growing, you’re dying. And so we want to be on the growing side. It does present us with some challenges, and you have to go forward with an eye on not just meeting today's challenges, but you've got to meet challenges that are going to be around 50 years from now, 100 years from now.
Q. In the time that you’ve been in Charlotte [Welton first lived in Charlotte in the 1980s], what kind of changes have you seen over the years?
Obviously, the change is significant. I remember when Tyvola was the end of town. When I moved here, I moved to Pineville and the “Charlotte City Limits” sign was way up South Boulevard, and it’s not there anymore. And obviously the growth out has occurred.
There’s more than one center of activity and creativity and vitality in terms of urban life. South End or Plaza Midwood or NoDa — there was a point where none of those were really a happening place. And the notion of having three or four or five places like that was not on the map. And so that’s changed significantly.
Q. You and I ran into each other a few weeks ago at a community meeting about a rezoning to build a few hundred apartments along Providence Road. There were residents there saying it’s going to make the traffic even worse and overcrowd the schools. The developers say, “this is our land, and the city needs housing.” How do you reconcile those two different perspectives on the planning commission as you try to explain this to folks?
I go out and I just sit and I try and just listen to what people are saying about the rezoning and understand what their perspective is. … When I see a zoning, I’m very much predisposed to, “Let’s create as much housing as we can possibly create.” … There are rules.
If it is allowed, if it is in proximity to things like transit, if it is in proximity to the goods and services that people are going to buy … then I’m predisposed to say, “Let's build more housing here.”
And if the roads are capable of accommodating it, or it’s along the light rail or a bus route, then I tend to want to go ahead and say, “This is the type of thing that we need, because the city has a policy that basically says let's increase our housing supply.”
Q. Do you think the residents understand that?
Those folks have those opinions, and I try to explain to them that at the core, the rules that the state has given the city to administer for zoning are really very simple, and every piece of land has entitlements.
You can do something on every piece of land. If you are your brother’s keeper, and you can keep this developer from doing something on property that you do not own, he can do the same back to you. And so we have to understand that each person that owns a piece of land, the entitlements go with the land, not with the person.
And if you have a calm conversation with folks about this, usually in small groups, you can get to that point where the understanding is there. Sometimes you cannot.
Q. What are some of the trends you're seeing as far as what developers are up to these days?
We had a planning commission meeting [recently], and one of the things that I saw that was a trend that kind of bothered me a little bit, which was that for single-family detached housing, the curve was going down a little bit. We’re seeing a lot of townhouses being built, and that’s something that’s interesting and possibly a very good thing just because of the economics of it all. Generally, the younger population chooses townhomes, and that’s a good thing to have happen.
We have other issues in the city related to understanding that NoDa and Plaza Midwood and Elizabeth and Dilworth are not the same as Steele Creek or University City, and understanding that all of those places need to participate in helping us create new housing supply. But maybe all the residents in all those places have a very different view on how we go forward to increasing housing supply.
Q. How do you think that the 2040 plan and the Unified Development Ordinance — which sort of put the teeth into the 2040 plan — are working out?
We’re two years into this. It’s a little bit too soon to notice. Ten-minute neighborhoods don’t materialize overnight. The process of doing neighborhood character overlays for those neighborhoods who kind of want to put themselves in amber and freeze where they are, is just beginning. I’m not sure that the 2040 plan is a vision. I think it’s a plan.
The vision that Charlotte has of being a world-class city has nothing to do with 10-minute neighborhoods. And so the question is, can we come up with something that’s cohesive as a vision that we can all buy into? Then your strategy changes from year to year to accomplish the vision, as opposed to having a plan, which just sets out a set of steps that you follow, and a vision you know, lets you follow with your heart.
Today’s supporting sponsor is Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:
Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Whispers: Warehouse development + historic preservation near the airport; Retail coming near new South End office tower; Apartment price-fixing investigated
It’s time for another pulse-quickening installment of Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Whispers, our occasional column that takes you inside Charlotte building sales, construction permits and developers’ plans. It offers unrivaled insights and the freshest local real estate information, leaving you tantalized, delighted and eager for more.
A complex deal near Charlotte’s airport could result in nearly 1 million square feet of warehousing while preserving 2 historic buildings and giving a new home to a job-training nonprofit
The recent completion of 23-story South End office building 110 East could also lead to a small boom of restaurants and retail near the site. There are some Very South End possibilities.
A recent FBI raid in Atlanta on a price-fixing investigation on apartment rents has Charlotte implications.
A bill passed an N.C. Senate committee last week that could provide developers with a new method of financing construction, at a time when financing is, shall we say, challenging.
A new extra edition of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast for paying members only, with a bonus track of our recent interview with SouthPark Community Partners CEO Adam Rhew, in which he discusses the future of SouthPark Mall and retailing — and how developers can plug in to working in SouthPark.
And more! Including sizzling-hot recent dirt-moving photos of the River District.
Controversial Piper Glen rezoning likely to pass city council tonight; project has seen changes in recent weeks
A plan to bring apartments and townhomes to the Piper Glen area in south Charlotte that residents fought for more than a year is headed to a vote tonight by Charlotte City Council, and it appears likely to pass after recent changes that made it more palatable to neighbors.
South Charlotte residents turned out by the hundreds in neighborhood meetings and a March city council public hearing to oppose the development in what’s now a wooded area between Elm Lane and Rea Road. They said it would exacerbate flooding, increase traffic, disrupt the character of surrounding areas and pose a threat to two nesting American bald eagles who live in the area.
Original plans called for 1,100 housing units, which was reduced to 640 units at the time of the March public hearing. In recent weeks, the developer, RK Investments, agreed to reduce the number of units again and added additional improvements to the area, according to a memo city councilman Ed Driggs sent to constituents in that area. The property sits in Driggs’ district.
According to Driggs, the new plan includes:
Construction of 566 apartment and townhome units.
A publicly accessible greenway through the site that connects via a pedestrian bridge to Four Mile Creek greenway, giving residents in nearby Elm Lane neighborhoods the ability to access the greenways that they don’t have now.
Improvement of an existing pond to create additional stormwater capacity.
A tree save area and new plantings on Rea Road and Elm Lane, which will make the development “virtually invisible” from either road.
Driggs told The Ledger on Sunday that both he and city staff support the plan. Typically, when a rezoning has the backing of city staff and the city council member whose district the rezoning sits in, it wins approval from the full council.
Driggs said Sunday that at a meeting last month with representatives from more than 15 local homeowners association boards to hear the final proposal from the developer, 36 of the 43 board members who voted said they supported the final proposal, with seven opposed.
Driggs told The Ledger that of all the rezoning petitions he’s seen during his decade on city council, “this has been the hardest.” —CB
Related Ledger articles:
“A south Charlotte rezoning is really ruffling feathers” (Oct. 18, 2023)
“Fireworks in Ballantyne over development plans” (September 29)
“Testy Piper Glen rezoning meeting: Neighbors still opposed to Rea Road project after developer slashes number of apartments” (August 21)
When Super Mario met Gundam
Thousands turned out for the Heroes Convention, held Friday through Sunday at the Charlotte Convention Center, which gives lovers of comic book superheroes a chance to meet creators, dress in cosplay, shop for comic merchandise — and sometimes engage with characters like this robot from the Japanese “Gundam” franchise.
Quotable: Becoming a world-class city
From an exchange at a meeting last week of the Charlotte City Council’s jobs and economic development committee, between Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Danté Anderson and Carolina Panthers president Kristi Coleman, on the benefits of the stadium renovation deal that calls for $650M in tourism tax money:
Anderson: Kristi, what do you think? Given what we have in the deal and all of the plans that are laid out, do you think that this helps to make Charlotte a world-class city? Do you think it is elevating our profile to attract bigger, mega-events, to drive traffic through our airport? Do you think that what we are investing in really will move the needle as it relates to Charlotte on the national and world stage?
Coleman: Absolutely. … We will absolutely be going after these marquee events — for what’s best for Charlotte, what’s best for everyone. So yes, I do.
Anderson: That’s excellent.
You might be interested in these Charlotte events
Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:
TUESDAY: Dine Out For Kids®, 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. at participating restaurants across Charlotte. Join us as we celebrate 25 years of Dine Out For Kids®! Restaurants donate a portion of sales to CIS, which provides support and resources to students in Charlotte’s Title I schools, helping them overcome barriers to succeed in school and achieve in life. Price: Cost of your meal at a participating restaurant.
WEDNESDAY: University City Juneteenth Art Fest, 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at The Shoppes at University Place Lakefront, Charlotte. Individuals and families are invited to celebrate the historical and cultural importance of June 19th through African American art, live performances from local talent and vendors for the inaugural Juneteenth Art Fest brought to you by University City Partners. Follow @UnivCityCLT on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for updates and more information on the Juneteenth Art Fest and to keep up with all the things UCP is doing in the community. Free event.
◼️ Check out the full Ledger events board.
➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.
In brief:
Land donation for first responder center: Hendrick Automotive Group and businessman Rick Hendrick have donated 23 acres of land to Central Piedmont Community College for the establishment of a training facility for first responders, the college announced Monday. The land is adjacent to Central Piedmont’s Levine Campus in Matthews. The first phase of the training center is expected to open in 2027.
Bear alert: A black bear was spotted Friday in a neighborhood near the Mallard Creek Greenway in northeast Charlotte, and state wildlife officials say it could be the same bear that was reported swimming across Lake Norman in May. The bear’s visit caused an email alert from the neighborhood’s subdivision association, but the bear did not cause a disruption. (Observer)
Lots of driving: Charlotte ranks No. 5 nationally in the number of vehicle miles drivers travel each weekday, at 35.5 miles. (Axios Charlotte)
Racing toward retirement: NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. announced his retirement from full-time racing, saying he’s ready to put the brutal schedule behind that caused him to miss every family wedding. “I mean, it’s as simple as just not having a crazy schedule where, you know, you’re 40 weekends at a racetrack,” Truex said. (Associated Press)
From Charlotte to the Olympics: Team USA field hockey, which has been based at Queens University since 2021, is excited about the momentum in women’s sports and is intensively preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games following a recent victory against Team Great Britain. (Queens News Service via WFAE)
Bill vetoed: Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would change the “Raise the Age” law, which prevents 16- and 17-year-olds from being automatically charged as adults when accused of committing certain violent crimes. Cooper said he believes there are situations when teens’ sentences would be more effective and appropriate if they were handled in juvenile court. The veto is unlikely to hold when it returns to the General Assembly. (WSOC)
Fraud sentence: A judge sentenced a Belmont woman to 5 additional years in prison Friday for defrauding a company in the Rock Hill Riverwalk of $1.1M and spending the money on spa days, plastic surgery, trips and a BMW. Lisa Buza Hill was already in jail serving time for three federal fraud convictions dating back to 2012. (Observer)
Taking stock
Unless you are a day trader, checking your stocks daily is unhealthy. So how about weekly? How local stocks of note fared last week (through Friday’s close), and year to date:
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 4 of our local newsletters:
➡️ Opt in or out of different newsletters on your “My Account” page.
➡️ Learn more about The Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news through e-newsletters and on a website. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and to tell a friend.
Sponsorship information/customer service: email support@cltledger.com.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman, BC Creative
"You know, if you're not growing, you’re dying." I wonder whether this piece of conventional wisdom is one of those unverifiable-but-assumed-true phrases such as "Everything happens for a reason." I concede that contraction of a city's tax base is undesirable, but so is growth without appropriate oversight/management. Does the city council ever vote down development/rezoning proposals? Or is the process simply a rubber stamp? Are their decisions resulting in more affordable housing, or merely lining the pockets of developers?
Good news for higher density housing proponents. Welton mentions co-locating dense housing on bus routes. I really hope CATS follows through with investing in bus route improvements. I recently rode the bus in downtown Philadelphia, and it was filled with people commuting to work, seniors, students, etc. A really diverse group, and it felt safe. If Philly can do it, so can Charlotte.