Charlotte's New Comp Plan
“The Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan” has been published and presented to City Council with the goal for adoption this spring. However, the plan does have opposition by Neighborhood Associations and Industry Groups.
What is a Comp Plan?
A “Comp Plan” is a Comprehensive Plan that attempts to establish guidelines for the future growth of a community. A Comp Plan and the is an all-inclusive approach to addressing public policies on transportation, utilities, land use, trees, recreation, and housing. A comprehensive plan is the formal document that is used as a guide to create other plans, ordinances and guidelines.
Does Charlotte Need a Comp Plan?
In 1975, Charlotte created a Comp Plan and then 1985 Generalized Land Use Plan. In winter of 2018 Charlotte started Phase 1 of the Comp Plan and the 2040 Comprehensive Plan Growth Options Workshops were conducted in October of 2019.
In 2019 The North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Land Use Statute that requires a municipality to have a Comp Plan in place for allowing the authority to enforce zoning regulations. That statute has a deadline of July 1st, 2022. (Note: Charlotte started the Comp Plan process before the state law was written not in reaction to the state law.)
What Is In Charlotte’s Comp Plan?
The 2040 Comp Plan is a 320 page document containing:
- 5 Sections - 5 Principles - 5 Visons
- 5 Metrics - 9 Goals
The Plan Vison:
”…The Charlotte of tomorrow is inclusive and diverse, livable and connected, healthy and sustainable, prosperous and innovative, and regional. This vision also reflects the lens through which goals and objectives were created and analyzed.”
What does the Comp Plan Do?
One aspect of the 2040 Comp Plan is that it creates Complete Communities and Places. “A Complete Community is made up of a variety of places that provide opportunities for people to live, work, and play (pg.47)” . The Comp Plan creates 10 different Place Types. “These Place Types represent the types of development and land uses that currently exist in Charlotte, as well as the aspirational character for those types (pg.236)”. The Place Types will be used in the new Unifying Development Ordinance (UDO) and for future Zoning decisions.
Neighborhood 1
Neighborhood 2
Parks & Preserves
Commercial
Campus
Manufacturing & Logistics
Innovation Mixed-use
Neighborhood Center
Community Activity Center
Regional Activity Center.
What Are The “Alleged” Problems With The Comp Plan?
In recent weeks, neighborhood associations, the development industry and other organizations have voiced opposition to the 2040 Comp Plan. There are also environmental groups and community leaders who support passing the plan as written.
Concerns with THE Plan
Lack of Input And Participation: In person engagement was held from Fall of 2018 through March of 2020, pre-COVID. And during the pandemic the City of Charlotte also held multiple Zoom meetings, video updates and even a drive-in community meeting; however, 2020 was a really hard year to get people engaged in policy discussions. While the City cannot be accused of lacking in their engagement efforts, the passing of new legislation/ordinances/policies relying on 2020 Zoom meetings may be ideal for 2021.
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Changes To Single Family Zoning: The plan expands the existing single family neighborhoods, the new Neighborhood 1 Place Type, to include duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes. The plan DOES NOT outlaw single family zoning, it does however, loosen restrictions to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) and attached single-family homes. This has caused concerns with neighborhood associations and some community groups.
Some Aspects In The Plan Are Currently Not Allowed By State Law: Impact fees, community benefit agreements, mandatory inclusionary zoning and required property donation are currently not allowed according to North Carolina Law. The development industry is opposed to a plan containing recommendations that are currently prohibited by state law.
Cost Recovery Programs:
The City will implement cost recovery funding programs that can mitigate the increased cost of infrastructure and services cause by new development. Programs focused on funding growth of the regional mobility network, school system, public spaces, and community amenities will be considered including impact fees and land dedications. - page 167.
What Is Next In The Comp Plan Process?
Read The Entire 2040 Comp Plan
The City is still collecting feedback and comments before April 2021, they are also hosting a virtual open house and there will be an opportunity to provide public feedback during an upcoming Charlotte City Council meeting.
Arc & The Wedge
The 2040 Comprehensive Plan designated the city into two distinct categories The Arc and The Wedge Read More here: https://www.cltpr.com/articles/arc-wedge
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