Information Items:
Business Privilege License Tax Requested Information
Resource:
Joel Levy, Finance, 704-336-2456, jlevy@charlottenc.gov
City Council held a legislative breakfast on July 13 to discuss the latest budget proposals submitted by the North Carolina State Executive and Legislative staffs. During the discussion, the City Council and City Manager requested that staff provide a report on the Business Privilege License Tax and an analysis of a presentation by the UNC School of Government in November 2008. The City staff's completed analysis and the School of Government's presentation and are attached.
Cultural Facilities Status
Resource:
Bob Hagemann, City Attorney's Office, 704-336-2651, rhagemann@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Carol Jennings, City Manager's Office, 704-336-7285, cljennings@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The City of Charlotte will take possession of the Bechtler Art Museum today, July 15, 2009. The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture will be transferred to the City in August and the Knight Theater in October. The Mint Museum is scheduled for completion and transfer to the City in April 2010. All four of these facilities are part of the Wachovia/Wells Fargo Cultural Campus.
Opening events are being planned for the facilities on the following dates. Further details regarding the opening events will be provided in the future.
Gantt Center October 24, 2009
Bechtler Art Museum January 2, 2010
Knight Theater January 8, 2010
Discovery Place July, 2010
Mint Museum October 1, 2010
Charlotte Regional Economic & Workforce Recovery Initiative
Resource:
Tom Flynn, Neighborhood & Business Services, 704-432-1396, tflynn@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Neighborhood & Business Services has been collaborating with our regional economic partners for several months on a workforce recovery initiative. As you may have seen recently in the media, there are several components to this initiative. Collaborating partners include: Charlotte Chamber, Charlotte Regional Partnership, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte Workforce Development Board and UNC-Charlotte.
Attached is an update on these regional recovery initiatives.
Rubber Sidewalk Installation
Resource:
Vivian Coleman, CDOT, 704-353-0481, vcoleman@charlottenc.gov
On July 14, the Charlotte Department of Transportation began installing rubberized, recycled-material sidewalks in two test locations: 1201 The Plaza in front of Charlotte Fire Department Station #8 and 620 West 28 Street in front of Charlotte Fire Department Station #11. The product is a rubberized modular panel which is made of 100% recycled tires. Rubber sidewalks have been installed in approximately 70 cities nationwide. Some of the cities that have implemented rubber sidewalks in the southeast include Washington D.C., Savannah, Tallahassee and Baltimore.
This pilot project is being implemented in accordance with a City goal to improve the environment and to protect our infrastructure investments. The City's Environmental Focus Area Plan calls for the City to be a leader in "promoting environmental best practices and protecting our natural resources: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the natural ecosystems we cherish, including the tree canopy". The City of Charlotte is taking a proactive leadership role in testing sidewalk best practices by installing these new 'greener' sidewalks intended to benefit the City's tree canopy and protect our sidewalk infrastructure. The City consistently replaces concrete sidewalk panels due to cracking and sidewalk panel displacement due to tree root growth.
The City's pilot study will allow staff to evaluate the test locations over the next few years to determine if this type of rubber sidewalk is appropriate for greater use. In the short-term, staff will receive comments from the public via CDOT's web-site. The longer-term study will allow CDOT to assess:
- Movement of the sidewalk from tree root growth, possible settling and changes in elevation or gaps between panels.
- Wearing of the panels from pedestrian traffic.
- The overall health and root system of trees along the rubberized sidewalk locations.
- Other cities' experiences with rubberized sidewalks to compare monitoring efforts and successes.
Charlotte is a city of trees and the City takes great pride in its tree canopy. It is our hope that installing rubber sidewalks, where trees are constricted by sidewalks, will improve the health of trees and reduce continued sidewalk panel maintenance at these locations.
The total cost of the two test locations was $8400. Installing rubber sidewalks is approximately 4 times more expensive than concrete, however, there may be long-term maintenance savings, lifecycle savings and environmental benefits that warrant their implementation at key locations.
As outlined by the manufacturer, some of the rubber sidewalk advantages include:
- Environmentally-friendly by using recycled tires
- Better for trees, less harmful and constricting to tree roots
- More porous, which allows storm water (100% permeability) to filter through the sidewalk panel directly to tree roots
- Easier to examine utility lines and tree roots beneath the sidewalk
- Easier to maintain and replace than concrete sidewalks
- Potentially safer than concrete sidewalks where they buckle, crack and heave with the tree roots or weather
