There's a brouhaha brewing in one of Charlotte's oldest neighborhoods, specifically about how to handle that oldness. Residents in Elizabeth disagree over a proposal to designate the neighborhood a local historic district. Karie Simmons spoke with folks on both sides of the issue and wrote about it for Queen City Nerve. She joined WFAE's Marshall Terry to talk about the disagreement.
Marshall Terry: So before we get into the debate over this, Karie, give us a little history of Elizabeth. It goes back more than a century, right?
Karie Simmons Yes. Elizabeth was founded in 1891 and is the city's second-oldest streetcar suburb. Dilworth is the first. Elizabeth was originally developed around the trolley lines. It was really popular amongst Charlotte's elite residents. A lot of those early 20th-century homes still exist. And what's unique is the wide variety of styles. There's Craftsman, Colonial/Classic, Arts and Crafts, Tudors and a significant number of bungalows. Actually, a 1911 ad in the Charlotte Observer referred to the neighborhood as bungalow land. So there's a lot of Charlotte history that's still alive in Elizabeth.
Marshall Terry OK, so on to this debate now about designating Elizabeth a local historic district. What would such a designation mean?
Karie Simmons A local historic district is basically a zoning overlay with standards for esthetics and design. In other words, it controls the way things look. And that includes setbacks, materials, shape, size, scale. A local store district does not affect use. That's determined by the underlying zoning for that area. And it does not stop demolition. It can only delay demolition for a year while alternatives are considered. It also doesn't prevent development, generally speaking, only development that doesn't fit based on the district requirements, which are determined, overseen by Charlotte's historic District Commission. Property owners in a local historic district have to get approval for most changes to their exterior. So, whether their home is historic or not, the reason behind that is it's meant to maintain the look and charm of the neighborhood.
Marshall Terry And why do some residents support having this designation?
Karie Simmons Elizabeth residents who want a local historic district view the designation as a tool to protect older homes and guide future development in a way that's more consistent with the character of the neighborhood. Those I spoke with pointed out that since the late 1980s, Elizabeth has lost more than 200 historical structures due to demolitions and alterations, and that trend worries them. They're also worried about what's going on on 7th Street. There's the four-story Elizabeth on Seventh mixed-use development on the corner of Caswell and 7th. And in January, a developer tore down three long-vacant structures, including an old church. And it's for a possible future mixed-use project. So, the big issue for people who want the local historic district is unfettered growth basically. They want to prevent construction of out of scale homes. They just are worried that it's a trend that's going to continue if nothing can be done.
Marshall Terry Alright. So that's one view of this issue. What about the other side? How about those residents who are opposed to this designation? What's their argument?
Karie Simmons The residents who are against this designation, they believe that it's a property issue. Because if you have to take your home projects or home renovations to a board for approval, they believe that strips homeowners of property rights, which they believe will then devalue your property. They also just don't believe that it is the current resident's responsibility to dictate the future growth of the neighborhood. The big thing that some of the people I talked to who are against this said that, you know, what if Elizabeth residents 50 years ago had put in protections and we couldn't have what we have today? Another main argument that they have is that historic designation will hinder growth and block more affordable housing because it could set standards for height and scale. So you can make the argument that the people who want the local historic district, maybe they don't want large apartment buildings.
Marshall Terry So how much of a role are Charlotte's new Unified Development Ordinance and zoning rules playing in all of this? I mean, this isn't the only historic neighborhood in Charlotte facing a lot of growth and change, right?
Karie Simmons Right. Dilworth, for example, is experiencing a lot of growth and change. There are a number of mixed-use developments coming down the pipeline over there. In Elizabeth, the people who are for the local historic district, they are looking at the designation as a means of circumventing the objectives in the 2040 Comp plan in the Unified Development Ordinance because the UDO could allow for higher density in a specific area.
But if a local historic district overlay is there, it reduces the scale and the height of a potential project. So, although a high-density development or mixed-use development would be allowed under the UDO in a certain area, the local historic district would shrink that project. So, the people who are for this designation, they are kind of looking at it as a tool to guide the development in a way that doesn't stop it, but it better aligns with what they view as more fitting the character of the neighborhood matching the scale of the charm that exists today.
Everyone I talked to, they love Elizabeth. They have this passion for the neighborhood, right? But the people who are against the local store district, they believe that let what will happen happen. They just think the city is changing. The needs of the city is changing. The needs of the neighborhood will change. And if Elizabeth doesn't absorb some of this growth, then that will spill over into neighboring communities, some of which are historically Black communities. And they point out that there is a ripple effect that proponents of the local historic district are failing to see. That it's not just about what your neighbor might be building or what development is going up across the street. It's more of an if we don't accept the growth, who is going to?
Marshall Terry So what happens next with all of this?
Karie Simmons We're currently at a little bit of a standstill. The group of residents that are for this district designation have submitted an application to Charlotte's Historic District Commission. The Historic District Commission is supposed to review the application on May 10th. At that point, they may vote to pass it along to the state's Historic District Commission. If it gets approved, all that would mean is that they just have that approval and they can put that with their rezoning application to the city of Charlotte, which ultimately will or will not make this historic district.
