Calendar:
Monday, December 19
5:00 pm - Council Manager Dinner Briefing, Room CH-14
6:00 pm - Zoning Meeting, Meeting Chamber
Wednesday, December 21
5:30 pm - Metropolitan Transit Commission Meeting, Room 267
Friday, December 23 and Monday, December 26
City Offices Closed - Christmas Holidays
Information Items:
SBE Utilization on Charlotte Arena
Staff Resource: Tiffany Capers, 704-336-3862 - tcapers@ci.charlotte.nc.us
As of billing through September 30, 2005, the City paid $158.9M to prime contractors on the Arena of which $24M was paid to SBE firms, representing a participation rate of 15.4%. Staff will provide final participation figures once the City makes final payment to Hunt Construction.
Reduced School Zone Speeds
Staff Resource: Doreen Szymanski, 704-336-7527 - dszymanski@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) will be raising speed limits in two school zones to comply with State requirements.
In April 2004, City Council approved a new school zone policy that lowers speeds in school zones to 25 mph during arrival and dismissal times on City streets regardless of posted speed limit. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) policy requires reduced school zone speeds to be 10 miles below the posted limit on roads they maintain.
CDOT has worked with the NCDOT to resolve conflicts regarding school zone speeds on state roads, but have reached an impasse at two locations, Mallard Creek and Newell Elementary Schools. The CDOT has already installed 25 mph zones, but will be changing those school zones to 35 mph as required by NCDOT. This will be done during the school holidays.
SafeSpeed Program Evaluation by ITRE
Staff Resources: Captain David Haggist, 704-336-4197 - dhaggist@cmpd.org
|Charles Jones, 704-336-3901 - cljones@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) has completed its evaluation of the City's photo speed enforcement program, SafeSpeed, which has been operational for 16 months. This study, funded by the North Carolina Governors Highway Safety Program, evaluated three aspects of the SafeSpeed program: public opinions toward the use of photo speed enforcement, changes in vehicle speeds, and changes in the number of collisions within the enforcement corridors. City staff provided ITRE with collision and speed data collected as part of the SafeSpeed program as well as deployment and citation information gathered during enforcement activities.
The ITRE study issued the following findings:
- The percentage of vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph or more, categorized as aggressive drivers, decreased by an average of 55% within the enforcement corridors.
- An estimated 12% reduction in total collisions was attributed to automated speed enforcement cameras.
- Corridors with above average enforcement activity experienced a higher reduction in collisions, 14%.
- Participants within the focus groups indicated a positive perception of the program and emphasized the need for continuous driver education to increase the program's effectiveness.
- The speed camera program appears to be successful, and other agencies facing similar speed-related issues should consider similar programs of their own.
City staff is currently reviewing the full report from ITRE and will provide a complete update of the SafeSpeed program including any additional results found in the report at a later date. Staff is also actively involved with ITRE to provide a further analysis of subsequent collision and speed data that was not included in this report. Attached is the Executive Summary from the full report.
Code Enforcement Service Area Changes
Staff Resource: Walter Abernethy, 704-336-4213 - wabernethy@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Code Enforcement Division will expand from four to five Code Enforcement Teams on January 3, 2006. This expansion reflects the July 1, 2005 service level change approved by City Council in the FY06-07 budget. The addition of the fifth team will allow code inspectors to cover a smaller geographic area, which will result in more effective and efficient inspections. Attached is a map of the new Code Enforcement Team boundaries.
The fifth team will be co-located with Police at the Hickory Grove Division site, 5727A Sharon Amity Road, and will primarily serve the East Charlotte area. The new site is under construction and should be ready for occupancy this Spring. During the construction period, the fifth team will be located in the Belmont Center on Parkwood Avenue.
Code Enforcement Teams provide housing, health and sanitation (grass and weeds, illegal dumping, junk cars, etc.) and zoning enforcement services in assigned geographies. Citizens should visit the Neighborhood Development website, for more information on code enforcement. All code enforcement complaints should be reported to 311, the City's one-stop shop for information.
Charlotte BizHub
Staff Resource: Richard Bargoil, 704-336-2142 - rbargoil@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Attached for your information is a copy of the BizHub Network's Business Plan approved by the BizHub Board of Directors on December 13, 2005. The organization is currently in the process of relocating its Small Business Information Center (SBIC) from the Main Library to the BizHub Network's office in the CPCC Professional Services Building at Elizabeth Avenue and Independence Boulevard. This will facilitate better referrals and coordination with its small business resource partners.
In addition to the BizHub Network and CPCC's Institute for Entrepreneurship, other organizations operating programs at the BizHub Center beginning January 2006 include: Mecklenburg County's Minority-Women Small Business Enterprise (MWSBE) Program and the Latin-American Chamber of Commerce. Other organizations having satellite offices at the center will include: Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) and the City's Small Business Development Program.
Hewitt Associates
Staff Resource: Tom Flynn, 704-432-1396 - tflynn@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Attached is the press release announcing the 900 job expansion of Hewitt Associates. In an October Executive Session, City Council authorized staff to negotiate a Business Investment Grant for Hewitt not to exceed $1.5 million over eight years. We will be bringing this City Council in January 2006 for final approval.
Stakeholder Groups to Address Six Zoning and Quality of Lifee Issues
Staff Resource: Sandra Montgomery, 704-336-5722 - smontgomery@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission staff is holding a series of meetings to address six zoning and quality of life issues raised by neighborhood leaders over the past year. The purpose of these meetings is to examine existing policies, regulations, and definitions to determine if modifications are needed to the Charlotte Zoning Ordinance or other policy documents.
A list of the stakeholders who have volunteered are attached. Literally hundreds of invitations were mailed in November. The projects that have the most interested stakeholders are the Family Definition Stakeholder Group, the Open Space Stakeholder Group, and the Residential Design Standards Stakeholder Group.
It is not too late to add additional stakeholders to these groups. If any Council member would like to recommend additional stakeholders, please contact Sandra Montgomery or the listed "contact person" for a specific stakeholder group, or you may have the interested parties contact us directly.
Planning staff expects to complete the stakeholder meetings and have possible text amendments in draft form by June of 2006. We will provide City Council with updates throughout the process.
Staff will be available at the December 19 City Council meeting to answer any questions.
The six Stakeholder groups are:
1. Open Space Regulations in Single-Family Zoning Districts
- Contact person: Claire Lyte-Graham, 704-336-3782 or cgraham@ci.charlotte.nc.us
- Stakeholder meetings will begin in January and run approximately 2 months.
- The Zoning Ordinance currently requires 65-50% open space in all single-family zoning districts. The Stakeholders will focus on 1) what is counted as open space and what is not, 2) are the percentages feasible, or should they be changed, or 3) should a different type of regulation be investigated.
2. Family Definition (this stakeholder group has already had its first meeting)
- Contact person: Katrina Young, 704-336-3571 or kjyoung@ci.charlotte.nc.us
- Stakeholder meetings began in December and will run approximately 3 months.
- The Stakeholders will examine and explore whether the Zoning Ordinance definition of 'family' is adequate to protect the public health and safety of occupants and residential units, and the overall character of neighborhoods.
3. Institutional Uses in Residential Districts
- Contact person: Sonja Sanders, 704-336-8310 or sstrayhorn@ci.charlotte.nc.us
- Stakeholder meeting to begin in January, 2006, and run approximately 3 months.
- The Stakeholders will explore possible text amendments to the Zoning Ordinance related to institutional uses permitted in residential districts.
4. Residential Design Standards
- Contact person: John Howard , 704-353-0198 or jhoward@ci.charlottte.nc.us
- Stakeholder meetings to begin in February, 2006, and run approximately five months.
- The Stakeholders will explore the need for residential design standards to strengthen neighborhoods.
5. Billboard Regulations
- Contact person: Sandra Montgomery, 704-336-5722 or smontgomery@ci.charlotte.nc.us
- Stakeholder meetings to begin in March, 2006 and run approximately 4 months.
- The Stakeholders will explore possible text amendments to the Zoning Ordinance related to billboard regulations.
6. Manufactured Housing Definition (this Stakeholder's Group has already begun)
- Contact person: Sandra Montgomery, 704-336-5722 or smontgomery@ci.charlotte.nc.us
- Stakeholder meetings began in December, and will run approximately 2 months.
- The Stakeholder will review the definition of "manufactured home", "mobile homes" and "modular homes" to see if these are the most up-to-date definitions and explore how the Zoning Ordinance regulates the location, dimensions, and appearance of these units.
