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Each week, WFAE's "Morning Edition" hosts get a rundown of the biggest business and development stories from The Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter.

Charlotte’s new development rules take effect

Could duplexes like this one in the Chantilly neighborhood be common under the 2040 Comprehensive Plan?
Jodie Valade
/
WFAE
One of the more controversial UDO provisions allows triplexes and duplexes, like this one in the Chantilly neighborhood, in single-family neighborhoods.

Today is the day. After years in the making, Charlotte’s new Unified Development Ordinance takes effect. The nearly 650 pages of new regulations are designed to guide future growth in Charlotte. For more, we turn now to Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter for our segment BizWorthy.

Marshall Terry: OK, Tony, the UDO is something we've discussed many times during the segment. Remind us, if you will, what are some of the major new rules that are now in effect?

Tony Mecia: Marshall, as you mentioned, it's more than 600 pages, it's a fairly dense document of development regulations. There are a number of significant rules in it, and it is going to govern how our city grows over the next few decades. And it has things like stormwater regulations, building development standards, infrastructure, parking requirements — top to bottom, a whole bunch of different changes in what developers are going to need to abide by. So I talked with Alyson Craig, the planning director, this week, and she stressed that, you know, these are changes that were going to happen piece by piece as things get developed. It's not going to be 'OK, this ordinance is now in effect, and now there's a huge wave of change coming at us,' but it'll certainly happen bit by bit over the next few decades.

Terry: One of the more controversial provisions allows duplexes and triplexes in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. But just last week, City Council voted to take another look at that provision. So what comes next with the UDO, both for duplexes and triplexes and all of the rest of the regulations?

Mecia: Sure. It's important to point out that the duplexes and triplexes provision — while it was one of the more controversial parts of the UDO — it's just one small piece of the 600-page document. But it has attracted a lot of attention. The City Council said it wanted to look again at some of the regulations on that — specifically on large parcels developed by right in neighborhoods. And so the City Council committee is going to examine that on Monday. Alyson Craig, the planning director, told me that it's too soon to say what she might propose, but that she very much supports the provisions in the current plan.

As for the rest of the UDO, the next step in the process is working with neighborhoods to develop area plans across Charlotte, which will help, sort of, figure out how the development provisions will be applied in particular areas of town. And they're asking for residents to be involved in that process and help chart Charlotte's future.

Terry: So in a bit of welcome news for Charlotte post-pandemic, the latest airport rankings came out and we're nearly back to the record numbers of travelers Charlotte Douglas (airport) saw pre-COVID. So how does our recovery here compare to other major airports?

Mecia: The interesting thing, Marshall, is you might recall that during COVID Charlotte really zoomed up the list of rankings in airports — both in terms of passengers and in terms of takeoffs and landings. And now that the rest of the world is recovering from COVID, Charlotte is falling back down in those rankings. It's moved from fifth to seventh place in the number of takeoffs and landings worldwide. And it moved from sixth to 19th place in terms of overall passengers. So Charlotte really recovered quicker than a lot of other airports around the world in China and Europe. And now that those areas are sort of getting back into the travel mode, Charlotte's, sort of, getting back to where it was pre-pandemic.

Terry: On to Ballantyne now, where Novant opened a new hospital on Tuesday. Yesterday, Atrium broke ground on a new hospital in Cornelius. Why is Charlotte seeing this hospital boom when we frequently hear about hospitals struggling, and even closing, in other areas?

Mecia: Yeah, a lot of the struggles that hospitals are having that you read about, a lot of times those, a lot of those, are in rural areas. Charlotte, of course, is a very booming area. And a lot of Charlotte's growth is not, say, close to the center city. A lot of that growth is taking place in suburban areas. So as you mentioned, Atrium broke ground in Cornelius, Novant opening a hospital in Ballantyne earlier. Atrium opened one in the town of Stallings between Mathews and Indian Trail. Novant opened one off Albemarle Road. So these are popping up really, sort of, in the area ringing the outskirts of Mecklenburg County, because there's very fast growth in those areas, and hospitals want to be where their patients are.

Terry: Finally, we've talked before about the rise of pickleball and how it seems to be popping up everywhere. And you report that that now includes on top of parking decks?

Mecia: Yes, Marshall. Ballantyne developer Northwood Office, announced last week that it has opened two brand-new rooftop pickleball courts on the top level of a parking deck, 1105 N Community House Road in the Ballantyne area. Pickleball certainly seems to be taking off all over the place. Whether it's a fad, or a flash in the pan, or some sort of longer-term movement, it remains to be seen.


Support for WFAE's BizWorthy comes from UNC Charlotte's Belk College of Business, Sharon View Federal Credit Union and our listeners.

Marshall came to WFAE after graduating from Appalachian State University, where he worked at the campus radio station and earned a degree in communication. Outside of radio, he loves listening to music and going to see bands - preferably in small, dingy clubs.