Special Calendar Note:
The Housing & Neighborhood Development Committee will tour the following neighborhoods on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 as part of their foreclosure discussion: Fairstone, Grass Meadow, Peachtree Hills and Windy Ridge. These four neighborhoods are experiencing significant impact from foreclosures. The tour will begin with a box lunch at 11:30am in Room 280 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. Participants will depart at 12:00 noon. The tour will return to the Government Center at 2:00 pm.
The Mayor and all Council members are invited to participate. If you're interested in attending, please RSVP to Susan Elkins by Friday, March 28. She can be reached at 704-336-2403 or
selkins@ci.charlotte.nc.us.
Information Items:
At 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 1, 2008 two additional ramps associated with the I-277/Caldwell Street Interchange Project will be closed for approximately 90 days.
Ramp 1: I-277 North on-ramp from South Boulevard will be closed and detoured. Motorists should continue to Caldwell Street to Third Street to I-277 North. Please see map for further details.
Ramp 2: Caldwell Street off-ramp from I-277 North will be closed and detoured. Motorists should use the College Street exit to Stonewall Street to Caldwell Street or use the Kenilworth Street exit to Stonewall Street to Caldwell Street. Please see map for further details.
These closures have been posted on the project website, nascarhof.charmeck.org, and email blasts have been sent to uptown property managers.
Staff from Economic Development, Planning, CDOT and CATS has been working on Land-Use and Infrastructure uses and challenges on Independence and want to provide you with an update of our work. Council approved funding of a Phased Land Use and Infrastructure Study for Independence. Phase I of the study was presented to Council in April and concluded the following:
- Transitional setbacks are not the major issue holding back redevelopment on Independence
- Development along Independence is constrained by the market and roadway design
- Elimination of the setback is not recommended at this time
- Independence's freeway-level traffic volume and hybrid design will not allow this roadway to function as it has in the past
- Redevelopment market is limited due to access from Independence
- Retail will need access and orientation to local neighborhood markets
- Residential can expand from adjacent neighborhoods
Staff will be returning to Council on April 14 with a contract for Phase 2 of this project. This will provide more detailed transportation/land use analysis that will be used to define area and parcel specific recommendations on access and setback requirements and infrastructure improvements. There will be a public involvement component of Phase II.
In addition to examining the current land use and infrastructure, staff also has assisted Wal-Mart in its desire to locate on the Independence Blvd. corridor. Since Council approved this rezoning, Wal-Mart has encountered environmental and tenant issues with the property. We continue dialogue regarding public infrastructure assistance once they have resolved these issues.
Staff also is reviewing options from lessons learned on the South Corridor to assist businesses during the NCDOT widening.
As part of seeking continuous improvement in operations, the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County began exploring opportunities associated with their fleet maintenance operations in late 2006. In February 2007, Business Support Services provided the County with a draft operational proposal for consolidating fleet maintenance operations under the City. Based on this draft proposal, on June 27, 2007 the County Manager's Leadership Team asked that their General Services Department and the City's Business Support Services develop a formal business case and operational proposal. The City Manager's Leadership Team was briefed on the operational proposal in July 2007 and approval was given to pursue a consolidation agreement.
INFORMATION (continued):
Since July 2007, City and County staff have been working very closely to develop a comprehensive business model and consolidation plan that benefits the citizens of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and both organizations. The City and County consolidation team has completed the implementation plan which is scheduled to begin in May 2008 with full implementation July 1, 2008.
The execution of an Interlocal Agreement is necessary for implementation of the consolidation plan. The team has worked together in developing an agreement and anticipates this work will be complete within two weeks. The consolidation team will present the consolidation plan to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners on April 8th, and anticipates that the Board of County Commissioners will consider the Interlocal Agreement at its regular meeting on April 15th.
Staff will brief the City Council at the April 14th dinner meeting and request Council approval of the agreement at the April 28th meeting.
The Coventry Woods Neighborhood Association and a number of its members have filed a lawsuit against the City and the developer of the Independence Woods subdivision, a single-family residential project located east of Independence Boulevard between Idlewild and Sharon Amity Road. The plaintiffs are seeking to invalidate staff's preliminary subdivision approval claiming that: (1) the subdivision ordinance lacks adequate guiding standards; (2) the approval was contrary to the criteria set out in the subdivision ordinance; and (3) the plaintiffs' due process rights to notice and a hearing were violated. This last issue stems from the fact that although the subdivision ordinance requires an appeal to be filed with the Planning Commission within ten days of approval (this lawsuit was filed well beyond the ten day appeal deadline); the ordinance does not require notice to given to any particular property owner. And in this case, as with all subdivision approvals, no notice was given.
The plaintiffs also appealed several zoning decisions inherent in the subdivision approval to the Zoning Board of Adjustment claiming that they were entitled to notice of those decisions. The ZBA disagreed and upheld staff's determination. Staff expects that the plaintiffs will also appeal the ZBA's decision.
On the subject of notice, Council is certainly free to require notice for whatever land use approvals it deems appropriate. However, Council has not required notice for subdivision approvals or, as determined by the ZBA, for the kinds of zoning decisions that were inherent in the Independence Woods subdivision approval. Despite these legal challenges, staff is confident that the Constitution does not require such notice. It should also be noted that staff makes numerous ministerial land use decisions every day.
Staff will keep you informed as these matters proceed through the courts.
On March 18, 2008 five vacant parcels of land in the Grier Heights neighborhood were transferred via Special Warranty Deed to two area non-profit groups (Grier Heights Economic Foundation, Inc. and Self Help Community Development Corporation) for affordable housing. The following four parcels were conveyed to the Grier Heights Economic Foundation, Inc.: 3550 Marvin Road (157-053-09), 3533 Marvin Road (157-051-18), Ellington Street (157-041-35), and Marney Avenue (157-065-18). The parcel at 3131 Tross Street (157-037-08) was conveyed to Self Help Community Development Corporation. Both deeds were signed by the City Manager. Approval authority for such conveyance by the City Manager is found in Section 8.22 of the Charlotte City Charter.
These transactions have been through the Mandatory Referral Process, which recommended the following covenants: (a) the properties must be used for affordable housing with minimum affordability periods of ten years each, (b) design guidelines for homes shall be determined in conjunction with the City's Planning Department, and (c) any future rights-of-way needed by the City on these properties shall be donated to the City. These covenants were included in both deeds.
