All talk, little action? 3 recent times Charlotte backpedaled on its big-city ambitions (Axios)
When developers with Space Craft look at North Davidson, they see the potential to turn underused warehouse buildings into vibrant housing communities. That’s partly why the company started: To build their vision of a walkable, destination city, akin to Asheville or Charleston. It saw an opportunity along the Blue Line light rail extension, where residents wouldn’t have to rely on a car to get around. Yes, but: These industrial buildings are within 400 feet of single-family homes.
Per the city’s new development regulations, which took effect in June, any new multi-family construction would need to include at least one parking spot per unit. That could add millions of dollars to projects, a cost that would be passed onto renters. It could also add hundreds of cars to NoDa’s roads.
“The kinds of projects that we and other walkability-focused developers have done and have in process in that Mill District, in the North Davidson corridor, are basically just not feasible anymore,” Josh Gresham, general counsel with Space Craft, tells Axios.
Sustain Charlotte is campaigning to remove parking minimums from transit-oriented districts. They attempted to remove them in the latest redraft of the Unified Development Ordinance but lost ground instead, says urban design specialist Eric Zaverl.
“We think that’s completely the wrong direction to move if we’re trying to promote transit. We’re trying to get more people to get out of their cars, to give choice and to alleviate some of the congestion,” Zaverl tells Axios.