Information Items:
Urban Street Design Guidelines - Public Meetings
Staff Resources: Norm Steinman, 704-336-3939 -- nsteinman@ci.charlotte.nc.us and Tracy Newsome, 704-353-0778 -- tnewsome@ci.charlotte.nc.us
As a reminder, City Council is cordially invited to attend upcoming open-house meetings about the draft Urban Street Design Guidelines. Meetings will be held:
- Wednesday, October 12 from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
University City Regional Library
301 E. W.T. Harris Boulevard
- Friday, October 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Uptown (Main) Library
310 North Tryon Street
- Saturday, October 15 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Morrison Regional Library
7015 Morrison Boulevard
Meetings are being publicized via the local media, the City/County Web site, letters to neighborhood leaders, C-Mail (semi-weekly e-mail newsletter), City Page (semi-weekly Charlotte Weekly advertorial), City Source (weekly City news show on Cable Channel 16) and posters and brochures distributed at the CMGC, CATS facilities, area libraries, YMCAs and bicycle shops. A brochure is attached and a full copy of the draft guidelines is available at: http://cdot.charmeck.org.
Sold Waste Services Community Meeting
Staff Resource: Wayman Pearson, 704-336-3410 -- wpearson@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On Wednesday, October 12, 2005, Solid Waste Services will host a community meeting to introduce new Deputy Director Victoria Garland to neighborhood leaders from various Charlotte neighborhoods. The meeting will be held from 6:30 - 8:00 pm at the Government Center in Room 267.
In addition to introducing Ms. Garland, Solid Waste Services will also give attendees an overview of neighborhood programs offered by the unit, including the Speakers Bureau, Call and Send Program and Neighborhood Beautification Initiative.
Neighborhood leaders are invited to attend. A brief description of the programs that will be reviewed at the meeting, as well as the invitation list is attached.
Solid Waste Services Latino Recycling Campaign 2006 Kick-Off
Staff Resource: Wayman Pearson, 704-336-3410 -- wpearson@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On Thursday, October 13, 2005, Solid Waste Services will hold its 2006 Meta Un G-O-O-O-L Reciclando Kick-Off. The Kick-Off event will:
- Provide an update on the 2005 campaign
- Announce plans for the 2006 campaign, including an introduction of new partnerships with Cultural Heritage, a children's group associated with the Latin American Coalition. The group will perform a play about recycling written by Cultural Heritage students.
- Offer attendees an opportunity to participate in games and other educational activities associated with this program.
Local childcare providers and the media will be invited to this event.
Meta Un G-O-O-O-L Reciclando is a public relations campaign designed to increase recycling participation in Charlotte's Latino community. The 2005 campaign resulted in a 12% increase in recycling participation in the targeted community.
The campaign also received the Best of Show and Silver Circle awards presented by the Charlotte Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and 3CMA (City/County Marketing and Communications Association) respectively. The 2006 campaign will build on the success of the 2005 campaign by maintaining partnerships established in the first year of the program and building new relationships to further program goals.
An itinerary is attached.
Transit Oriented Development Land Acquisition
Staff Resource: Tom Flynn, 704-432-1396 -- tflynn@ci.charlotte.nc.us
In April 2003, Council approved the Transit Station Area Joint Development Principles as a policy to spur growth in the transit corridors. To support this policy, Council has appropriated funds to the South Corridor Land Acquisition Fund for the purchase of land near transit stations to create transit oriented development.
To implement Council's policy, staff from Economic Development, CATS, Planning, and Engineering identified properties for acquisition by the City. The purpose of these land acquisitions would be to spur private sector transit oriented development by aiding in land assembly, removing blight or inappropriate land uses, and assisting in mixed income housing development. City staff has worked with a local real estate broker in these efforts. As a result, we have recently signed an option for an eight acre tract at South Boulevard and Clanton Road.
The staff team and broker selected this particular property for possible acquisition due to:
- Proximity to transit
- Need for affordable housing in this portion of the corridor
- Opportunity to incorporate this tract with surplus land at the Scaleybark Station Park and Ride immediately adjacent to this tract
- Large size of the tract
- Opportunity to promote redevelopment in a portion of the corridor that has not begun to redevelop
Staff is now undertaking the due diligence on this property, including:
- Conducting a development analysis and preparing a conceptual redevelopment project description
- Conducting environmental studies
- Survey and appraisal
- Redevelopment schedule
Once the due diligence is complete we will bring the results to City Council for consideration of purchasing this tract and a process for selecting a private developer to redevelop this land into transit oriented development. We expect that this will get to Council in early 2006.
The property will be purchased with money from the Smart Growth Land Acquisition Fund and Housing Trust Fund. Council approved the Smart Growth Land Acquisition Fund to acquire and prepare land to be redeveloped into transit oriented development along the South Corridor.
This strategy was identified in the Council approved Transit Station Area Joint Development Principles. From FY02 to FY05 City Council has allocated money in the CIP to this fund, which now has a balance of $5,334,830. The estimated cost of acquiring this land is $5,435,000, of which $3,435,000 would come from the Smart Growth Fund and the remaining $2,000,000 would come from the Housing Trust Fund. The proceeds from the resale of this land would go back into these funds.
Attached is a map showing the location of the property.
Approval of Subdivision Streets
Staff Resource: Curt Walton, 704-336-5019 -- cwalton@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The City's Subdivision ordinance and State law requires subdivision streets in the Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) to be designed and constructed to North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) standards. NCDOT has historically reviewed subdivision plans and made compliance determinations for streets in the ETJ. State law further contemplates that NCDOT will subsequently accept the streets for maintenance purposes.
NCDOT recently started placing the following statement in lieu of its usual certification on subdivision plans: "For recordation purposes only. Streets will not be petitioned for acceptance into the street maintenance system", meaning into NCDOT's street maintenance system. City staff is talking with NCDOT and examining state statutes to determine the reason for the change and whether or not NCDOT has this prerogative to decline NCDOT maintenance in ETJs.
City staff is working through this issue as quickly as possible. In the meantime, preliminary plans and plats cannot be approved until this issue is resolved. Further, building permits and/or closings for lots that adjoin streets not approved for NCDOT maintenance may not be approved. We realize that this potentially has significant impact on our development community and we will advise Council of either the resolution of the issue or the next recommended steps toward its resolution next week.
