CHARLOTTE FUTURE | 2040 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

OUR CITY. OUR PLAN. OUR FUTURE.

PLAN POLICY (ADOPTED JUNE 21, 2021) Published July 20, 2021

CITY OF CHARLOTTE

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AUTHENTIC EQUITABLE RESILIENT INTEGRATED

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CHARLOTTE FUTURE | 2040 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

OUR CITY. OUR PLAN. OUR FUTURE.

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CITY OF CHARLOTTE

With support from:

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KNIGHT FOUNDATION

Dear Charlotte Residents and Other Readers,

Charlotte has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the country in recent years. This growth has established Charlotte as a vibrant and desirable city; however, this rapid development has also contributed to many challenges and the events of the last year have magnified many underlying issues that have faced the community for decades.

Most U.S. cities have a Comprehensive Plan to establish a desired vision for the future and a strategic policy framework. Charlotte has not had a Comprehensive Plan to guide growth and development community-wide since 1975. The Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan is our shared, comprehensive vision to guide the Queen City’s growth over the next 20 years.

“Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses, and visitors alike; a safe family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive.”

The Comprehensive Plan is a living document that provides a policy framework that will guide our city’s decision-making and investment in both the near- and long-term. With this in mind, not all of the Plan’s recommendations can or should be implemented immediately. The Comprehensive Plan’s goals and objectives, as well as many of the policy recommendations, are intended to be implemented later in the 20-year plan horizon. In addition, several important recommendations and tools cannot be implemented without changes in State of North Carolina statutes. These recommendations are identified as long-term and requiring further conversations and coordination with formal and informal entities outside the City organization within the Plan document.

The planning process has been guided by a focus on equitable growth and by the residents of Charlotte coming together to prioritize what is most important to us. As a community-driven Plan, it seeks to address the inequities of the past, and unite the city around a shared set of goals for our future. With that said, the goals, objectives and supporting policies are intended to be achieved citywide and not on every single lot. A mature community like Charlotte that is facing additional growth pressures typically holds values important that can be interpreted as competing interests or even in conflict with one another. Not every property, project or development will be able to achieve all of the Plan goals and objectives, but as a whole the community has expressed a desire that the collective public and private investments made over the next 20 years strive to achieve as many aspirations as possible and make Charlotte an even better city.

The Plan lays out an Equitable Growth Framework that builds upon the community’s input regarding long standing disparities and inequities. For many existing policies and resulting practices, equity and the impact on our more vulnerable neighborhoods and residents has been an afterthought. The Comprehensive Plan is crafted through a lens of equity and with a commitment to thinking of our most vulnerable populations first with a vision of helping our city become a place where all residents can thrive, regardless of race, income, age, ability or where they live.

The Comprehensive Plan is organized into three documents.

• 1: The Plan Policy is considered the main body of the Plan and has been adopted by City Council. It includes three sections.
  • The first section communicates the Vision and Values that were identified during the two-and-a-half-year community engagement process. It then lays out the Equitable Growth Framework and 10 community-driven goals.
  • The second section outlines the elements of a Complete Community and introduces 10 Place Types that set aspirational direction for how development will contribute to placemaking and a variety of places will work together to create communities across the City of Charlotte moving forward.
  • The third section provides the Policy Framework organized by the 10 goals. Each goal includes a set of measurable objectives, big policy ideas, and supporting policies, projects, and programs.
  • The Plan Policy concludes with a Glossary of Terms and Acknowledgments.
• 2: The Implementation Strategy includes the initial Implementation Strategy to accompany the Comprehensive Plan. It provides strategies and tools recommended for plan implementation. This includes actions for the policies, projects, and programs; strategies for integration with other Plans; a framework for Community Area Plans and mapping; guidance for the Unified Development Ordinance, recommendations for Capital Improvement Projects, and how to track our progress.
• 3: The Manuals and Metrics provide more detail and background on the Equitable Growth Framework’s metrics and methodology, as well as more detailed guidance for the aspirational aspects of the ten Place Types. The Place Types Manual also provides guidance for Place Type Mapping and a community process for reviewing recommended Place Type designations.

What’s Next? Since the June adoption, City staff have begun to engage the community in mapping the land use policies within the Plan. This Policy Map will be adopted by Council to provide guidance on land use and public investment decisions and the zoning districts within the new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The Plan Policy was adopted on June 21[^st], 2021 and it is anticipated that the Implementation Strategy, as well as the Manuals and Metrics will be adopted in February/March of 2022 along with the Policy Map.

Implementation of the Comprehensive Plan will require continued engagement and conversation with the community. Tools to facilitate a participatory process, implement Plan policies, and mitigate potential negative impacts of growth pressures and strategies are highlighted throughout the Plan. In several instances, existing tools can be leveraged in better ways, but many tools will require evaluation and customization for Charlotte. The Implementation Strategy also includes the path to future plan amendments to help ensure the Comprehensive Plan remains current with Charlotte’s needs.

Before we close, we’d like to thank the people of Charlotte for contributing to a healthy discourse about the future of our great City. Varying opinions often lead to division, but our community worked to find meaningful compromise to unite around a single vision.

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Vi Alexander Lyles Mayor

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Marcus D. Jones City Manager

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 A COMMUNITY-BASED VISION

2 COMPLETE COMMUNITIES AND PLACES

3

POLICY FRAMEWORK

4

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

5

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

COMPANION DOCUMENTS UNDER SEPARATE COVER:

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

SHORT-TERM ACTIONS

PLANNING APPROACH

COMMUNITY AREA MAPPING

UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE

ANTI-DISPLACEMENT TOOLS

FISCAL CONSIDERATIONS

CIP PREPARATION

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

AMENDING THE PLAN

TRACKING PROGRESS

MANUALS AND METRICS

A: EQUITABLE GROWTH FRAMEWORK

B: PLACE TYPES MANUAL

C: GOAL AND OBJECTIVES METRICS

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01

A COMMUNITY-BASED VISION

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1.1 Introduction

1.2 Community Values, Vision, and Goals

1.3 Equitable Growth Framework

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Photo Credit: Charlotte Star Room

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The City of Charlotte has a duty to implement plans for various aspects and areas of the community. Unlike many plans developed across the country, the neighborhood, community and system-wide plans created in Charlotte should not sit on a shelf and collect dust. Instead, they are calls to action that guide and propel investment and transformation in the community. Charlotte has not had a Comprehensive Plan to guide growth and development community-wide since 1975. A comprehensive plan is a blueprint for a city’s next phase, a statement on a community’s character, and a guiding light for determining a community’s goals and aspirations for the future.

The Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan is our shared, comprehensive vision to guide the Queen City’s growth over the next 20 years. Now that it has been adopted, the Plan is the foundation for strategic policy, equitable investment in infrastructure, and regulatory tools such as the Unified Development Ordinance. The planning process was guided by a focus on equitable growth and by the residents of Charlotte coming together to prioritize what is most important to us. As a community-driven Plan, it seeks to address the inequities of the past, and unite the city around a shared set of goals for our future.

The Comprehensive Plan is a living document that integrates community input and best practices into a framework that will guide our city’s decision-making and investment in both the near- and long-term. This Plan addresses topics that affect how we will experience the built environment and layout of our city for decades to come. It also addresses how our built city can better reflect and advance our community values and aspirations around topics like equity, transportation, quality of life, economic development, jobs, affordable housing, health, safety, and sustainability.

The policies, projects, and programs in this Plan aim to shape the future of the places we live, work, shop, and play by preserving what’s important to our community and guiding investments that help make Charlotte a vibrant and unique city for decades to come. The Plan helps to ensure a high quality of life for residents and an attractive community for employers and employees.

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Redlining in Charlotte, 1935. Source: Mapping Inequality

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Charlotte Transportation Network, 1928

DIVISIONS AND INEQUITY: HOW WE GOT HERE

Charlotte was an early hub of transportation along the Catawba tribe and other tribes’ trading paths. Successful railroad bids strengthened the city as a transportation hub. Charlotte’s transformation into a prominent urban center can largely be traced to the first half of the nineteenth century. Charlotte was the location of America’s first gold rush. This led to the first US branch mint, establishing the city as a center for banking. Well-established transportation, technological advancements, and the cotton-based economy facilitated the growth of textile manufacturing and goods distribution. As the railroad and cotton industry attracted investors, innovators, and jobseekers, landowners subdivided and sold their land around the urban center and rail corridors. This urban expansion started to segregate land uses, classes, and people. It was during this time of growth that the city became more divided.

In the mid-1900s, Federal mortgage programs, automobiles, and a strong economy created a suburban development boom across the country. By this time, racial and class tensions were entrenched and limited how people of color could purchase land and where they could live. Federal financial assistance required maps that classified housing areas in the city based on racial, economic, and land use homogeneity (redlining). Low-income and African American areas were redlined (graded D) and denied loans. These maps also guided the first zoning. Redlined areas were zoned industrial or multifamily. In addition, new neighborhoods in Charlotte enacted racially restrictive covenants that prevented property sales to African Americans and poor whites¹.

"By the time the civil rights movement culminated, the city was physically segregated by race and income. This led to concentrated poverty and a need to develop new strategies for affordability and investments."

The events of the 1930s-40s hampered African American families’ ability to build wealth. Segregation limited choices. Disenfranchisement made African American neighborhoods and business centers vulnerable to change. New highway networks supported suburban growth but bisected neighborhoods, primarily lower income neighborhoods inhabited by people of color. Urban Renewal aimed to rebuild in “blighted” areas, but led to the destruction of Second Ward and other neighborhoods throughout Charlotte. Suburban shopping malls located near areas with high disposable incomes. This moved employment opportunities, goods, and services further away from African American homes.

By the time the civil rights movement of the 1950s -70s culminated, the Charlotte was physically segregated by race and income. This led to

concentrated poverty and a need to develop new strategies for affordability and investments. Some strategies have been successful in and around Uptown (e.g., First Ward Place, a mixed income, mixed tenure HOPE VI grant funded development[^p13-1]), but the increased land and housing values in these areas has placed financial pressure on residents. Some communities have been able to use opportunities and their organizing power to become more stable, but only through their own effort. Today, neighborhood change, fear, and polarization inequitably impact historically African American areas. Charlotte currently has the least amount of upward economic mobility of America’s 50 largest cities.[^p13-2] This impacts our future as a livable, vibrant, and sustainable place to live and do business. The City believes it must take responsibility for its role in creating, perpetuating, and otherwise turning a blind eye to this system of structural racism and that there are opportunities to be more accountable in its decisions around future growth and to better understand the consequences (intended and unintended) of those decisions. If we do not, we will exacerbate disparities, become more divided and risk losing the sense of community that is so uniquely Charlotte.

[^p13-1]Source: https://curs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/400/2013/09/Boulevardexecsummary.pdf

[^p13-2]Source: Equality of Opportunity Project, now rebranded as Opportunity Insights based at Harvard University

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Socio-economic patterns of First Ward in Charlotte, 1875 & 1910: The colored pins represent different races and economic classes and illustrate that Charlotte was an integrated community at the time. Source: Dr. Tom Hanchett

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Charlotte has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country, with an average annual growth rate of over 1.7% during the past 10 years. Many factors have attracted new residents and businesses to the region, including diverse employment opportunities, a relatively low cost-of-living, and the city’s unique character. This growth has established Charlotte as a vibrant and desirable city; however, this rapid development has also contributed to many challenges facing the city. If Charlotte is to continue to grow sustainably it will need to do so intentionally and strategically. Most U.S. cities have a Comprehensive Plan to establish a desired vision for the future and a strategic action framework that would help implement it. Charlotte however has not had a plan like this since 1975. The city’s current growth policies are decentralized and lack a coherent unified vision, as they were written over the course of the past 30 years and vary between different areas of the city. Though some areas have updated policy guidance by virtue of City-adopted area plans, several others have not had updated guidance for ten years or more. Taking these disparities into account, the City recognizes that an updated and holistic approach to unify long-range planning efforts is needed.

Charlotte has attracted growth and innovation for the last 130 years. Along with the innovation has come more wealth and jobs, bringing new people to the city. To new residents, Charlotte has offered a balanced quality of life with reasonably priced homes, diverse job opportunities, access to nature, and transportation choices. Yet, for those who were born in this city into a lower-income or Black

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Median Household Income, 2016

Median Household Income

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Race, 2016

Percent White Population

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Voter Participation, 2016

Percent Registered Voters that Voted

household, the economic boom has been largely inaccessible. Charlotte’s rapid growth comes with opportunities, new energy, and increased investment in the city, but it also brings with it additional pressures and strains on existing residents. Growth, among other factors, has led to home and rental prices outpacing median household income, leading to gentrification and the risk of displacement for many Charlotte residents.

Early in the planning process the City created the Charlotte Equity Atlas, which looks at the built aspects of the city through a lens of equity and inclusion. This document built upon the past work of the Opportunity Insights Team, the Leading on Opportunity Report, the Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer, and the Housing & Homelessness Dashboard. The mapping of the development, environmental, and demographic patterns across the city helped identify areas of disparity and establish a baseline to better understand the real-world results left by our inequitable system. This data-driven baseline grounds the Comprehensive Plan so that it can shape opportunities in such a manner that the impacts are equitable or, in plain terms, fair. Fair, whereby all communities are provided with access to the specific services and amenities they need to be successful. The process of mapping household income, race, and voter participation shows a clear pattern in the spatial distribution of these statistics. Charlotte’s Neighborhood Planning Areas (NPAs) with the lowest incomes, highest percentages of non-white residents, and the lowest voter participation are highly correlated.

“Mapping household income, race, and voter participation shows a clear pattern in the spatial distribution of these statistics... The spatial pattern derived from these maps can be described as an “arc” of Communities of Color and concentrated areas of poverty.”

This distribution is inherited from a history of racial and economic segregation. The spatial pattern derived from these maps can be described as a “crescent” or an “arc” of Communities of Color and concentrated areas of poverty that extend broadly around Uptown from the east to the southwest. In contrast, a “wedge” stretching from Uptown and the center city down to the southwest contains many of the NPAs with the highest incomes, percentage of White residents, and voter participation. The built environment of the arc is less complete than the wedge. These patterns are a direct impact of redlining and the ongoing effects of explicitly racist and segregationist policies of the past.

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Map Source: City of Charlotte Equity Atlas, note that this represents areas within the City limits and does not include Mecklenburg County. See the Equity Atlas for more information.

FUTURE TRENDS

Based on current projections, Charlotte is expected to continue a high rate of growth over the next 20 years. Mecklenburg County can expect a population growth rate of approximately 1.6% and a 1.5% rate of employment growth¹. This equals about 1,491,900 total residents and 1,080,100 total jobs throughout the County by 2040. The City of Charlotte is expected to add over 385,000 new residents and 212,000 new jobs over this same period. This new growth will come with both opportunities and challenges, including increasing diversity and a potentially unequal distribution of benefits without planning intervention. Establishing a vision for directing and managing future growth that is based in a clear understanding of current and past inequities is critical to the long-term success of our city.

A number of local and nation-wide trends will contribute to Charlotte’s growth over the next 20+ years. These trends include a natural population increase as more people are born than die; Charlotte’s employment growth as new jobs attract skilled workers to the region; Center City growth as more people want to live and work in urban centers than ever before; and Charlotte’s quality of life as even more people are drawn to the city as it improves. Understanding these motives is important to making decisions about future growth.

Charlotte’s future growth will be made up of a variety of demographics, including many new residents who are foreign born, non-English speaking, Millennials, and young families. This increased diversity will bring even more culture and vibrancy

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Equality versus Equity, 2017. Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

EQUALITY VERSUS EQUITY

Equality and equity are often used interchangeably. However, with Equity being the key Guiding Principle of the Charlotte Future Comprehensive Plan, it is important to properly define these terms. Equality provides everyone with the same opportunities regardless of their needs. Equity provides people with the opportunities necessary to meet their specific needs. For example, an able-bodied person may not notice the curb cuts on a sidewalk because they can easily step up and down, but a senior, someone with limited mobility, or a person pushing a cart or stroller needs the curb cuts to be able to use the sidewalk. Equity makes things accessible for everyone. A City that develops equitably is FAIR about how public investments are made and JUST in doing something about existing unfairness.

to the city, which is already rich in history and character. New residents may have different needs and customs than existing residents. An equitable plan for future growth will need to welcome and celebrate new culture and demographics, while maintaining the diversity and authenticity that makes Charlotte the city it is today.

Of its peer cities, which include Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, Minneapolis, Denver, and Raleigh (note these are only used for analysis and are not an exact one-to-one), Charlotte is slated to see the highest rate of job growth, regional job capture, and diverse development types over the next 10 to 20 years. All of these projections indicate that Charlotte will continue to have a strong economy and economic growth, however there is the risk that this wealth generation may not be available to all residents. New residents, while bringing a diverse workforce to the city, could also contribute to increasing housing prices, less housing stock and choice, fewer middle- and lower-wage jobs, increased pressure on the city’s infrastructure, and even increased racial and socio-economic tensions. The Comprehensive Plan aims to address these issues so that development can benefit existing and new residents. With proper planning, new growth could instead come without displacement of existing residents, and with a variety of new and affordable housing types; accessible jobs for all education levels; increased investment in roads, transit, and trails for all areas of Charlotte; increased access to goods and services; and a more equitable distribution of wealth and opportunity.

^2Source: Economic and Planning Systems and Charlotte CONNECT

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Charlotte Area Housing Cost and Income Index, 2000-2017. Data Source: Zillow, US Census, Freddie Mac, Economic and Planning Systems

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Change in median household income by race, 2000-2016. Data Source: US Census, 5-Year American Community Survey

PLAN ORGANIZATION

PLAN POLICY

1 The first section, A Community-Based Vision, communicates the Vision and Values that were identified during the robust community engagement process. It then lays out the Equitable Growth Framework that grew from the vision, which measures access and benefits to the community across the city. This sets the stage for what the goals will address later in the Plan Policy.

2 Section Two, Complete Communities and Places, outlines the elements of a Complete Community, which meets the needs of all residents and employees in an area. This section describes the ten Place Types, which are used as tools to direct growth and investment in an equitable and integrated way.

3 Section Three provides the Policy Framework, the essential component of the Plan recommendations. Ten primary Goals and Objectives, built from the Vision Elements, each have recommendations for big ideas and supporting policies, projects, and programs. The Plan Policy concludes with a Glossary of Key Terms and Acknowledgments of the many voices that contributed to the contents of this document.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

The Implementation Strategy, provides the details and tools used to make it all happen. This includes actions for the policies, projects, and programs; strategies for integration with other Plans; a framework for Community Area Plans and mapping; guidance for the Unified Development Ordinance, a framework for an Anti-Displacement Strategy, fiscal considerations, recommendations for Capital Improvement Projects, the Plan amendment process, and how to track our progress.

MANUALS AND METRICS

The final document provides three additional Manuals and Metrics. The first summarizes the methodology for the Equitable Growth Framework’s Metrics. The second is a Place Types Manual that provides detailed direction for each Place Type, and an overview of Place Type Mapping. The third is a set of metrics to track the progress of the goals and objectives.

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Sub-sections

Policy case study or informational sidebar

Numbered policies, projects, and programs (corresponds to the Implementation Strategy)

Illustrative photos: Images from Charlotte that illustrate concepts described in the big ideas, policies, projects, and programs

HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT

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Section marker: the filled blue dots indicate the current section of the Plan Policy

Place Types title, goal, and photo bar

Distribution of land uses within Place Type

Abbreviated Place Types components (more detail can be found in the Place Types Manual)

Place Types close-up and highlights: conceptual graphic illustrating key features

Page footer with document name, section number, section name, and page number

Section Two: Place Types spread

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Section Three: Policies, projects, and programs spread

9.13 In CIR, continue to invest in the installation of planting strips that support large trees through maturity. 9.14 Explore opportunities to support vulnerable neighborhoods such as weatherization and grant programs which enable low-income homeowners to remain in or move into homes and preserve historic structures, when feasible. 9.15 Develop a fund for the maintenance of artworks created through City funding, including the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Art Program, the Placemaking Fund, and Capital Improvement Projects by which title to the artworks is transferred to the City upon the project's completion and maintenance instructions are provided with the transfer of title; the artwork becomes a valuable City asset. 9.16 Develop a fund for the maintenance and programming of public spaces. 9.17 Continue and expand City and partner grant programs that support neighborhoods and other community organizations to undertake projects aimed at retaining local identity and charm and supporting capacity building of artists.

Strategic Partnerships 9.18 Educate community members and City staff (including inspection staff) about regulations and programs that support historic preservation. 9.19 Enhance support of neighborhood planning and engagement to develop "neighborhood stewardship ethos" in all neighborhoods by identifying and empowering residents to be community planners and neighborhood advocates. 9.20 Develop a formal process, such as through Neighborhood Improvement Districts, to support neighborhoods and organizations seeking to improve and enhance neighborhoods and business districts; and provide technical support and guidance for capacity building. 9.21 Develop registries of vacant properties and large surface parking lots and work with property owners to evaluate and encourage beneficial reuse of sites. 9.22 Create a culture of developer-community collaboration through the encouragement or requirement of Community Benefit Agreements.¹ 9.23 Through infrastructure investment and partnerships, invest in public art within neighborhoods and prioritize installations within vulnerable neighborhoods. 9.24 Formalize a toolbox for restoration and reuse of existing structures, prioritizing historic structures. 9.25 Formalize a process with neighborhoods and Mecklenburg County to program new and existing public spaces with culturally relevant activities.

Other City Initiatives 9.26 Encourage innovative urban design, placemaking, and preservation strategies along commercial and cultural corridors to maintain and enhance landscapes and public spaces. 9.27 Develop a Preservation Plan that identifies places, traditions, landscapes, and buildings that tell the full story of the City's history and outlines future direction for celebrating and enhancing the unique physical character, cultural values, and social identity of the City.

9.28 Support public outreach efforts to notify residents of vulnerable neighborhoods of City programs of programs that help avoid displacement, such as aging-in-place programs. 9.29 Provide design guidance for infill and redevelopment projects in Charlotte's historic neighborhoods and other cherished places.

RECOMMENDED PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS

9.30 Cultivate placemaking and local culture by continuing to fund the Placemaking Program and allocate 1% of capital project budgets for public art from local, regional, and national and international artists. 9.31 Consider increasing the percentage of capital project budgets devoted to placemaking and public art to further support placemaking, development of public art installations and capacity building for local residents, designers and artists. 9.32 Develop a vacant properties registry and program to work with landowners to repurpose sites. 9.33 Develop a program to encourage the development of infill small-scale single-family and duplex residences that meet the City's desired form requirements. 9.34 Develop a community design handbook to guide redevelopment of Charlotte's cherished places that are not protected by a historic district designation and associated guidelines. 9.35 Develop a monitoring system to track redevelopment in historic areas and neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement. 9.36 Provide financial and technical support to small businesses in areas at high risk for commercial displacement. 9.37 Complete final survey of remaining five historic neighborhoods identified in Historic Route 4 Study. 9.38 Implement the maintenance recommendations for public art identified in the Art Conservation Report (produced in 2015 by RLA Art and Architecture Conservation) by funding maintenance of publicly-owned art installations. 9.39 Expand upon previous mapping efforts to develop a map of public and privately developed art throughout the City that is accessible to the public. 9.40 Expand technical assistance to residents who want to develop more detailed understanding and guidance in identifying assets, preserving and creating places, and documenting the character of their community. 9.41 Develop and support a low-income assistance program that would aid in tree preservation and care for trees on private property.

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1.1 INTRODUCTION

The City of Charlotte has a great legacy of developing and implementing plans for various aspects and areas of the community. Unlike many plans developed across the country, the neighborhood, community and systemwide plans created in Charlotte do not just sit on a shelf and collect dust. Instead, they are calls to action that guide and propel investment and transformation in the community. With that said, Charlotte has not had a Comprehensive Plan to guide growth and development communitywide since 1975. A comprehensive plan is a blueprint for a city's next phase, a statement on a community's character, and a guiding light for determining a community's goals and aspirations for the future.

The Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan is our shared, comprehensive vision to guide the Queen City's growth over the next 20 years. Once adopted, the Plan will be the foundation for strategic policy, equitable investment in infrastructure, and new regulatory tools such as the Unified Development Ordinance. The planning process has been guided by a focus on equitable growth and by the residents of Charlotte coming together to prioritize what is most important to us. As a community-driven Plan, it seeks to address the inequities of the past, and unite the city around a shared set of goals for our future.

The Comprehensive Plan is a living document that integrates community input and best practices into a framework that will guide our city's decision-making and investment in both the near- and long-term. This Plan addresses topics that affect how we will experience the built environment and layout of our city for decades to come. It also addresses how our built city can better reflect and advance our community values and aspirations around topics like equity, transportation, quality of life, economic development, jobs, affordable housing, health, safety, and sustainability.

The policies, projects, and programs in this Plan aim to help shape the future of the places we live, work, shop, and play by preserving what's important to our community and guiding investments that help make Charlotte a vibrant and unique city for decades to come. The Plan will help ensure a high quality of life for residents and an attractive community for employers and employees.

Sub-section introduction text

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1.2 COMMUNITY VALUES, VISION, AND GOALS

In order to create a Comprehensive Plan that is successful and meaningful, the values of the community must be central to the process and outcomes. This understanding is at the heart of the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Building on the efforts of previous engagement efforts, the Plan’s equitable and inclusive process focused on hearing from a great number and variety of voices. What we learned from the community led to the development of guiding principles and vision elements that are true to Charlotte’s character and the needs of all Charlotteans. As Charlotte continues to grow and welcome newcomers from around the country and the globe, it will be critical to foster a community ethic of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The values, vision, and goals for Charlotte embrace and celebrate differences, as well as the places and opportunities that unite us. The timeline, methods, and outcomes of the community values and Plan process are described in this section.

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PROCESS

The development of the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan has been a nearly 3-year process, including eight additional months for review and adoption. This process included significant analysis, community outreach, education, and coordination across departments, organizations, and entities. To simplify the process and engagement, the project schedule was divided into four phases.

The first phase, from Winter 2018 to Spring 2019 focused on Charlotte’s history, existing conditions, and community vision and values. This phase included significant community outreach, leading to the creation of the Plan’s guiding principles and vision elements. An analysis of the city’s existing conditions and the impacts of past policies was also completed and represented in the Built City Equity Atlas, the Growth Factors Report, and the Policy Audit. The goal of this phase was to understand the impacts of our history, the city of Charlotte as it is today, and the community’s vision for its future.

The second phase, from Summer 2019 through Fall 2019, focused on growth strategies; examining the implication of concentrating future growth along corridors, in and around major activity centers, or in and around neighborhood nodes. The process of educating and engaging the community about growth began with the Growing Better Places Game, an innovative and fun approach to having complex conversations around growth and trade-offs. The input received from the game informed the creation of three growth scenarios. The community learned about and weighed-in on these different strategies for locating future growth. Both the data analysis and the community’s feedback on these scenarios helped establish and support the notion that future growth should not be distributed through “business as usual,” but rather through an intentional and coordinated growth strategy.

The third phase, from Winter 2019 to Fall 2020, focused on the development of policies, projects, and programs around our future growth strategies and overall vision. During this phase the community, and particularly the Plan Ambassadors and Strategic Advisors, weighed in on the ten main goals and objectives that form the policy framework; the data and conclusions from the Equitable Growth Framework; and the ten Place Types. During this phase, all of the content, community feedback, and analysis to-date were compiled and released in the Public Review Draft Plan.

In the fourth phase, from Fall 2020 to Summer 2021, the initial and revised draft Plan documents were released and reviewed by the Charlotte City Council and the community. An eight-month review phase culminated in Council adoption on June 21st, 2021. During this phase feedback was collected in a variety of ways from many voices throughout Charlotte. The Final Plan was then edited to incorporate the feedback received. Following adoption, the Plan is in the process of ongoing implementation and monitoring to ensure the goals and objectives are being met.

To ensure that the final Comprehensive Plan represents an equitable future for all residents, the public engagement process was robust, innovative, and inclusive. The planning team engaged many perspectives through a variety of tools so that all Charlotteans could be included at the table. The outreach focused on accessibility and we listened to input from groups representing all segments of Charlotte’s population, including those we don’t hear from often enough – people of color, youth, non-English speaking residents, and those with lower incomes.

Over the course of the planning process the team had over 500,000+ interactions with over 6,500 voices through more than 40 methods of engagement. An additional 477 key stakeholders, including community leaders, local business and non-profit representatives, advocacy groups, major employers, local institutions, and neighborhood groups from across Charlotte.

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Key Themes

• Like having more time for exercise
• Missed collaboration
• More info about examples and photos would help
• Didn't know specific areas

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Your impressions

• Opportunity to pause and think
• I found plenty about each area by studying overhead photos from Google Map
• Missed collaboration and interaction
• I liked the ability to pause and think about the question. On the other hand I missed the interactions with other advisors.
• Great examples and worked mostly.

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Overall goals for engagement included to increase awareness of the Comprehensive Plan and its purpose; to advance understanding of equity; to build community relationships; to meet people where they are; to attract diverse participation; to clearly communicate the community’s inputs will influence the plan; and to gather feedback on the plan process and deliverables.

The primary methods for plan engagement included workshops, open houses, online surveys, pop-up events, the Growing Better Places Board Game, Ambassadors and Strategic Advisors meetings, Elected and Appointed Officials meetings and workshops, virtual meetings and open houses, the Charlotte Card Game, a socially-distanced drive-in workshop, social media outreach and education, and focus groups. All in-person meetings included translation services, refreshments, and access to childcare. All major materials were translated into Spanish and information from the project website can be translated into over 100 languages.

Starting in the Spring of 2020, with the onset of the novel COVID-19 virus, the approach for engagement needed to pivot quickly and significantly. While the overall goals of the engagement process did not change, and equity and inclusion remained at the center of the effort, the methods of outreach became completely socially distanced and/or virtual in order to protect the public health. Efforts switched to focus on safe engagement activities that primarily kept the public interested and up to date on the Plan, while more specific surveys and virtual meetings were targeted towards the Plan Ambassadors and Strategic Advisors. Acknowledging that people’s schedules and day-to-day lives may have changed during this time, the invitation to be a Strategic Advisor was re-opened to all members of the community. Some fun, at-home engagement methods included Charlotte Future City Building coloring sheets and contest, a Charlotte planning Tik Tok Challenge, a virtual scavenger hunt, the Charlotte Future

card game, socially-distanced chalk the walk, and social media games and quizzes. Many activities during this time were aimed at young adults and families, who may have had more capacity or the need for activities during school closures.

Throughout each phase of the Plan public input was compiled and integrated into deliverables and recommendations. Emerging themes were major drivers of the final plan goals and strategies. Some of the themes expressed most often throughout the process included:

• Accommodate projected growth along our transit/ transportation corridors;

• Allow varieties of housing types in neighborhoods around mixed-use activity centers;

• Create more walkable and bikeable communities;

• The strong desire to rethink “business as usual”;

• The need for missing middle, diverse, and affordable housing options;

• Strong support for complete neighborhoods and equitable access to goods and services;

• Protect and create a healthy and robust tree canopy;

• Create more meaningful and accessible tree-canopied parks and open space; and

• The need for better access to a diverse range of jobs and employment types.

With significant input from the public at every phase in the process, this Plan and its recommendations could not have been created without the help of the Charlotte community. The community’s willingness to participate in a variety of honest and sometimes difficult conversations throughout the development of the Comprehensive Plan has been instrumental to its creation.

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TOTAL INTERACTIONS

500,000+

VOICES

6,500+

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

477

METHODS OF ENGAGEMENT

40+

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The process of community outreach and visioning began with the creation of the Guiding Principles. Guiding principles are the values that Charlotte will use to establish a framework for decision-making throughout the life of the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan. These principles were conceived through robust and meaningful conversations with over 6,500 voices from the community.

The four guiding principles that emerged will help shape the Comprehensive Plan as it looks to the future: equitable, authentic, integrated, and resilient. These principles form the basis for the Plan vision and goals and ensure that the recommendations are in-line with how we as a community want to grow and change in the coming years.

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Equitable

Equity is not simply a part of our plan; acknowledging and working to correct Charlotte’s legacy of discriminatory policies and practices is one of the Plan’s primary driving forces. Keeping equity at the root of the Plan ensures that future actions contribute to every member of our community having the resources, skills, access, and sense of belonging that they need.

Authentic

For the Comprehensive Plan to be successful, it must be true to the city’s history and character. This authenticity has been shaped through an extensive public process and honest feedback from all voices and perspectives in Charlotte about our city’s strengths and challenges.

Integrated

A key purpose of the Plan is creating an integrated framework for growth, development, and community design. Unifying our City and County departments, as well as non-government partners, around a holistic long-range plan ensures we are committed to a shared vision for Charlotte and working together to address challenges and create opportunities. This Plan was not completed in isolation; there other plans that it connects with.

Resilient

An underlying piece of all the goals is resiliency, particularly around how Charlotte prepares for and responds to the challenges of public health, affordable housing, climate change, and infrastructure. A resilient city has the ability to absorb, adapt, and grow from current and future trends, stresses and shocks.

City of Charlotte Vision: “Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses, and visitors alike; a safe family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive.”

PLAN VISION

Continuing from the community’s values that established the guiding principles, five vision elements were created to help inform the coming goals and equity metrics. These vision elements describe how Charlotteans picture their city in the future. In addition to being equitable, authentic, integrated, and resilient as stated in the Guiding Principles, the Charlotte of tomorrow is inclusive and diverse, livable and connected, healthy and sustainable, prosperous and innovative, and regional. This vision also reflects the lens through which goals and objectives were created and analyzed.

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Inclusive & Diverse

An Inclusive and Diverse City welcomes and accommodates people of all walks of life. It unpacks, measures, and mitigates displacement risk. It preserves and expands access to affordable housing. It provides services and choices for daily goods and services for a variety of price points and promotes environmental justice.

Livable & Connected

A Livable and Connected City provides public services and infrastructure to maintain an accessible environment for all. Livability manifests as complete neighborhoods that provide essential goods and services, multimodal transportation networks, a diverse array of public spaces, and a respect for neighborhood character.

Healthy & Sustainable

A Healthy and Sustainable City incorporates environmental protection and sustainability to improve public health for all. It addresses access to healthy food, health care, tree canopy, and recreation. In the context of climate change, it plans for adaptability and mitigation by enhancing stormwater infrastructure, waste diversion strategies, our tree canopy and energy efficiency.

Prosperous & Innovative

A Prosperous and Innovative City leverages growth to benefit the livelihoods and economic opportunities of all residents. It develops diverse employment opportunities that are well-matched to residents’ skill levels, expanding access to higher education and job-training for all, and supporting innovative entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Regional

The Regional City serves to improve linkages with the broader region at the political, social, and economic levels. Active participation in multi-jurisdictional planning efforts can contribute to large-scale improvements in transportation infrastructure which enhance physical and economic links between cities in the region.

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1.3 EQUITABLE GROWTH FRAMEWORK

With a pervasive dedication to facilitating a more equitable and inclusive planning process and guiding policy plan, the Comprehensive Plan’s very DNA is an Equitable Growth Framework informed and shaped by the community. The Equitable Growth Framework is intended to reflect and build upon the community’s input regarding long standing disparities and inequities, as well as an existing set of stated and unstated policies that do not go far enough in addressing the inequitable distribution of costs and benefits associated with Charlotte’s historic development and more recent surge in growth and investment. For so many of those policies and resulting practices, equity and the impact on our more vulnerable neighborhoods and residents has been an afterthought. Unfortunately, the effects have been long lasting and manifest themselves as disinvestment, gentrification, displacement, distrust, disenfranchisement, and a frighteningly high barrier to upward mobility in Charlotte, especially for people of color.

The Comprehensive Plan is crafted through a lens of equity and with a commitment to thinking of our most vulnerable populations first with a vision of helping our city become a place where all residents can thrive, regardless of race, income, age, ability, or where they live. We choose to define equity as an active principle, a tool for recognizing and remedying inequality and injustice. Equity is, in a sense, what we owe to each other: a fundamental part of our social contract that recognizes the inherent value of every Charlotte resident, actively works for justice and equality of opportunity in our City, and treats every person with dignity.

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DEFINING EQUITABLE GROWTH

Change is an inevitable part of cities. Whether a city is growing, shrinking or evolving, a variety of change is happening all the time. This is in part because individual residents and households change. Births, and deaths, aging, joining and leaving the workforce, changing jobs, moving within the community, and changing household composition all have tremendous impacts on individual households, neighborhoods, and the community as a whole. This natural evolution of households is then compounded with local, regional, and global changes in the economy, our climate, and changing tastes and preferences. For Charlotte over the last decade, these forces have contributed to an unprecedented period of growth of any similar length period in the City’s history. While the influx of new residents gets the most headlines, the number of people choosing to stay or return to Charlotte is also a major contributing factor to Charlotte’s growth.

The type of growth that Charlotte is experiencing comes with a large amount of public and private investment in the community. While some strides have already been made to begin directing some of this investment to supporting newcomers in need and to areas of the community with the most need, the vast majority of new growth in housing and employment has been in Center City, University City and south Charlotte. And many of the older, diverse, and naturally affordable neighborhoods adjacent to these places – especially those in Center City – are experiencing a large amount of gentrification and displacement. While a host of factors are at play, the bottom line is that residents of color and households with lower incomes are often being left out and pushed out. Targeted efforts have certainly attempted to be more inclusive and equitable in the approach to planning and development, but the truth remains that there has not been an overarching vision or plan that truly includes all Charlotteans in the future of the City.

The Comprehensive Plan has been created by the community and on a basic assumption that we must listen to each other and consider the intended and unintended consequences of the Plan’s recommendations on all residents, households, and neighborhoods. The Equitable Growth Framework is intended to provide more transparency and accountability as we plan, design, and implement public and private investments in housing, employment, services, schools, parks, roads, trails, and other infrastructure. It is a framework to help ensure that the costs and benefits of growth and change in Charlotte are distributed more equitably. When an investment is made in a particular area, how will the residents and businesses that are already there benefit? How do we ensure that all neighborhoods share in the impacts of growth?

The Equitable Growth Framework and the Comprehensive Plan can not reverse the wrongs of two and a half centuries, but it can acknowledge those injustices and set a clear direction for change, establish goals for more equitable growth, and provide a lens through which to evaluate a deliberate and concerted effort to make a more inclusive and equitable Charlotte. The remainder of this section highlights a set of Equitable Growth Metrics, the key tenets of a more equitable growth strategy, and ten community goals for Charlotte in 2040.

Metrics for Equitable Growth

Building on the Built City Equity Atlas developed in Phase One of the Comprehensive Plan planning process, a methodology for measuring access, environmental justice and equity has been developed to help identify areas where residents and businesses may not have access to daily needs, choices for housing, a diversity of employment, or safe and healthy environments. The Equity Metrics described and mapped herein were used to 1) inform the development of Goals (introduced later in this section) and supporting Policies, Projects and Programs (presented in Section Three); 2) to identify priorities for Community Planning Areas for subsequent mapping and planning efforts within sub-geographies throughout the community; and 3) to assess and track progress towards becoming a more equitable, fair and just city over the next 20 years.

Each of four Equity Metrics comprises a series of relevant indicators within neighborhoods and is compared to data that helps us understand where populations that are vulnerable to displacement are concentrated (Populations Vulnerable to Displacement Overlay) and where neighborhood character is threatened by new development. The four Equity Metrics described in greater detail after an explanation of the Populations Vulnerable to Displacement Overlay include:

• Access to Essential Amenities, Goods and Services;
• Access to Housing Opportunities;
• Access to Employment Opportunities; and
• Environmental Justice.

The methodology and sources for each of the Equity Metrics is described in more detail in the Plan Manuals and Metrics in the Equitable Growth Framework Manual.

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NEW TERM IN THIS SECTION: SPHERE OF INFLUENCE This is the common reference for the geography in which the City of Charlotte can exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction and where voluntary annexations may occur; utilized as the Planning Area for the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

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AREAS VULNERABLE TO DISPLACEMENT

What is Vulnerability to Displacement?

Displacement occurs when an individual, household or business leave a neighborhood or district. Displacement can be voluntary or involuntary. While the Comprehensive Plan’s preference is to minimize voluntary displacement, especially in areas of the community where change is occurring very quickly and the history and culture of a community is being weakened, the primary focus is mitigating involuntary displacement to the extent possible. Involuntary displacement typically results from increased land values, rents, taxes and other household or business expenses. There are certain characteristics that tend to make certain individuals and households more vulnerable to displacement. Unfortunately, the same characteristics – race, income, education level, and age – that make certain populations susceptible to displacement are also used in identifying whether environmental impacts are justly distributed. They are often good indicators, along with low or no car ownership, of transit propensity – the likelihood of using public transit. Mapping these key contributing factors can help us understand how physical conditions, access, costs and benefits impact residents that have suffered from systemic racial and other social discrimination and/or are less likely to be able to adapt to rapid economic and other changes.

Four measures have been documented as major contributors to vulnerability to displacement and are used to identify the areas with the most vulnerable populations across Charlotte:¹

• Poverty Rate;
• Educational Attainment;
• Race; and
• Age.

The Importance of Mitigating Vulnerability to Displacement

When individuals, households and businesses are displaced from an area they have been a part of for a long long time, the unique culture and identity of that area can quickly erode. Charlotte is a city of neighborhoods, each with its own distinct past and social fabric. Unchecked gentrification of an area can result in substantial displacement. And with prices increasing across the entire community, there is a chance that those who are displaced are forced to move out of Charlotte or even the region. In Charlotte, those most vulnerable to displacement are also those who have suffered most and benefited least over decades of growth and development. Additionally, when we help those who are most vulnerable, it benefits the entire community through shared wealth building, economic sustainability, expanding the tax base, attracting investment, and adding local businesses, jobs, and skilled workforce into the system. Thus, it is especially critical that the Comprehensive Plan begin identifying ways in which existing residents and businesses can participate in and benefit from new investments throughout Charlotte.

[^p33-1] Grid cells that met the "vulnerable" criteria for each of the 3 metrics are scored with a 1, while those that do not meet the criteria receive a 0. Scores are added to create a final Vulnerability to Displacement score. All vulnerability metrics are measured using US Census American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates (2018); data was collected at the Census Block Group level and apportioned to grid cells. County-wide metrics were pulled from the same data source as the point of comparison.

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Vulnerability to Displacement

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ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL AMENITIES, GOODS, AND SERVICES

What is Access to Essential Amenities, Goods, and Services?

The community expressed a strong desire for more complete neighborhoods across the entire city. Measuring access to essential amenities, goods and services can help identify areas where residents and businesses may not have access to what they need close to home. The result typically involves having to travel farther and pay more to meet basic daily needs. In extreme cases, the results can be even more dire if the lack of nearby access means simply missing out on essential amenities, goods and services. The following measures are proposed to measure access to essential amenities, goods and services.

Access to essential amenities, goods and services is analyzed using seven measures¹:

• Proximity to Childcare and Early Childhood Education;
• Proximity to Parks, Open Space and Trails;
• Proximity to Community Facilities;
• Proximity to Fresh Food;
• Proximity to Health Care & Pharmacies;
• Proximity to Financial Services; and
• Access to Internet Service.

The Importance of Improving Access to Essential Amenities, Goods and Services

The lack of access to essential amenities, goods and services can significantly impact the health and well being of an individual or household. A lack of easily accessible childcare may result in substandard care or a parent or guardian passing on employment or other opportunities. A lack of access to parks, trails and community facilities can create a significant barrier to physical, mental and social health. Likewise, a lack of access to fresh, healthy food often results in settling for less healthy options and can contribute to a number of chronic health issues and disease. Lack of access to health care, pharmacies and financial services all pose barriers investing one's self, property and/or business. A lack of Internet access can be detrimental to learning, working remotely, and communicating with friends and loved ones.

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Access to Essential Amenities, Goods, and Services

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ACCESS TO HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

What is Access to Housing Opportunity?

The Access to Housing Opportunity metric identifies areas where the housing stock in a particular area of Charlotte does not provide opportunities for all residents to live. Housing Opportunity, for the purposes of this analysis, is defined as the ability for residents of all income, household compositions, and life stages to access housing options that meet their needs and economic conditions.

Access to housing opportunity is analyzed using six measures¹:

• Housing Unit Diversity;
• Housing Cost;
• Housing Size;
• Subsidized Housing;
• Tenure; and
• Level of (Re)Investment.

The Importance of Improving Access to Housing Opportunity

Neighborhoods should include unique compositions of housing types, but they should also include some diversity of housing stock to help promote diversity, inclusion, and economic stability throughout the entire community. It can also be difficult for a family or household to stay within a neighborhood they desire as circumstances change if all the housing units that are available are of the same size and type. Different life circumstances can result in the need for owning or renting, a yard requiring lots of maintenance versus a relatively maintenance free attached unit, and one or two bedrooms as opposed to three or more. This variety helps support young families as well as seniors who want to age within their neighborhood. Access to housing opportunity in a neighborhood also results in access to the amenities, goods, services, and employment opportunities nearby. A variety of housing opportunities may reduce the barriers to entry into an area with the job of choice or right mix of opportunities nearby. Housing diversity is also an important aspect of creating an economically resilient community, with studies showing that neighborhoods with diverse housing choices have lower foreclosure and sales rates.

¹ Grid cells that meet the “opportunity” criteria for each of the 6 metrics are scored with a 1, while those that do not meet the criteria receive a 0. Scores are added to create a final Access to Housing Opportunity score. The primary housing data source is Mecklenburg County tax parcel data (2019). Additional data includes building permits (Mecklenburg County, 2017-2019), rental housing (apartment) properties (City of Charlotte, 2020), subsidized housing units (units with development-based rental assistance, Quality of Life Explorer, 2017), and household income (US Census, 2018).

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ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

What is Access to Employment Opportunity?

The access to employment opportunity metric identifies areas with a lack of employment opportunities for residents. Employment Opportunity is defined as the ability for residents to live proximate to jobs that are attainable for a variety of residents and provide a family sustaining wage. For the sake of measuring access to employment opportunity, a commute shed is defined as a 20-minute (2.5 mile) radius from a residence.

Access to Employment Opportunity is analyzed using five measures¹:

• Proximity to Employment;
• Employment in Commute Shed;
• Wage Levels;
• Middle Skill Jobs; and
• Knowledge Based Jobs.

The Importance of Improving Access to Employment Opportunity

The financial stress and wellbeing in a household is largely driven by the balance – or lack of balance in many cases – of income and household expenses. The two largest household expenses are housing and transportation. And the largest driver of both income and transportation costs is related to employment opportunity. It can be challenging to find a good paying job that matches a person’s skills close to an area they can afford to live. In most cases, the individual will compromise and take a lower paying job that may not be as good of a fit or have to spend a good portion or all of the higher pay they receive on getting to and from work. Thus, Access to Employment Opportunity is largely related to Access to Housing Opportunity. In addition, it should be noted that education and training are an important component in promoting upward mobility and aligning individual skills and expertise with employment opportunities.

¹Grid cells that meet the “opportunity” criteria for each of the 5 metrics are scored with a 1, while those that do not meet the criteria receive a 0. Scores are added to create a final Access to Employment Opportunity score. All employment metrics are measured using US Census Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) employment data (2017). Data is reported at the Census Block level, and aggregated to grid cells based on the centroid location of each Block.

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice seeks to minimize and equalize effects of environmental hazards among the entire community regardless of income, race, education level and age. Issues of environmental justice often arise from geographic or procedural inequities. Geographic inequities occur when neighborhoods with high percentages of low-income residents, minority residents, and/or immigrant communities take more than their share of the worst environmental hazards, nuisance impacts, and resulting health problems from exposure to these hazards. Procedural inequities occur when the same neighborhoods face obstacles to participate in the decision-making process for projects that directly affect their neighborhoods.

Many factors contribute to these geographic and procedural inequities. These include a development pattern that concentrates undesirable or unhealthy land uses in certain areas, the placement of desirable public amenities outside of disadvantaged communities and limited or non-existing political influence among certain demographic groups. The following measures – coupled with sociodemographic characteristics captured in the Populations Vulnerable to Displacement metric – are used to measure environmental justice (or injustices as the case may be).

Environmental Justice is analyzed using five measures¹:

• Tree Canopy;
• Impervious Surface;
• Proximity to Heavy Industrial Uses (including extraction operations (i.e., quarries));
• Proximity to Major Transportation Infrastructure; and
• Floodplain.

The Importance of Improving Access to Environmental Justice

As previously stated, the costs and benefits of growth and change in Charlotte have been distributed inequitably throughout the community for decades, if not centuries. Some of the major costs of development include nuisance and health impacts of large land use and infrastructure decisions. Health impacts include accute and chronic conditions as well as shortened life expectancy. Highways and other disruptive infrastructure divided neighborhoods and now focus pollutants and noise generated on those facilities in the neighborhoods that remain nearby. Similarly, land use decisions have often resulted in a lack of trees and greenspace in neighborhoods that are lower income and communities of color. Flooding risk is increasing with climate change and many lower income neighborhoods are most susceptible. Along with enhanced standards and regulations addressing many of these issues for the entire community, decisions regarding land use, new development and infrastructure investments should be made with these disparities and new consequences in mind.

¹ Grid cells that meet the environmental justice criteria for each of the 5 metrics are scored with a 1, while those that do not meet the criteria receive a 0. Scores are added to create a final Environmental Justice score.¹ Environmental justice data sources include a tree canopy study (Mecklenburg County, 2016), impervious surfaces (Mecklenburg County, 2020), zoning (heavy industrial zoning districts, City of Charlotte, 2020), major transportation infrastructure (freeways, expressways, railroads and the airport, Mecklenburg County, 2020), and FEMA Existing 100 Year Floodplain (Mecklenburg County, 2020).

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Access to Environmental Justice

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GROWTH STRATEGY

It became readily apparent during the development of the Comprehensive Plan that detailed mapping at the neighborhood and community level would not be equitable and inclusive if conducted on a citywide scale. Thus, a first step in the implementation of the Equitable Growth Framework and the Comprehensive Plan will include mapping of Place Types (see Section Two for more detail) and then developing Community Area Plans for the entire city (see the Implementation Strategy and Manuals and Metrics for more detail) with recommendations for public investments and desired benefits to the public. With that said, there are clear tenants of the overall growth strategy that are shared across the entire community and have been foundational in developing the components of Complete Communities and Places, as well as the Plan’s Policy Framework.

The major tenets of the community’s desired growth strategy include:

• Develop a more localized and context sensitive network of Connected Corridors and Neighborhood Centers: While the community expressed a strong desire to bolster and grow large mixed use centers like Uptown, University City and Ballantyne, an equal or stronger emphasis was on creating improved access to employments and daily amenities, goods and services close to home by promoting more walkable and bikeable corridors and small scale neighborhood centers. Community members highlighted economic and environmental benefits of this emphasis related to shorter trips, more transportation options, more equitable access, and a development pattern that still focused on concentrating growth, but in smaller footprint and less intensive ways.
• Accommodate a large portion of projected growth equitably along our existing and planned transit and other transportation corridors: The community is concerned about the pressure that housing and employment growth is creating in established neighborhoods. While many community members expressed a desire to strategically diversify existing neighborhoods, a focused emphasis of new growth along transportation corridors was identified as an opportunity to help retain the character and charm of existing residential areas as well as a means to distribute new growth and services equitably around the community. A particular emphasis has been identified for transit corridors, as well as trails and other bicycle friendly connections. The combined focus will help to leverage investments in transportation options and better manage demands on the existing roadway network. Community members also expressed a desire for larger scale Community and Regional Activity Centers to be developed along and connected by multimodal corridors.
• Ensure existing neighborhoods and businesses have opportunities to thrive and benefit from public and private investment: As articulated throughout Section One and emphasized in the Equitable Growth Framework, the community wants a set of goals and recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan and companion planning efforts that plan for the inclusion of and benefit to existing residents and businesses. From new housing and employment opportunities to new investments in transportation, recreation and entertainment, the needs of current residents and businesses should be considered and incorporated into both public and private investments. The community desires an asset-based approach to planning and development

in existing places that celebrates, enhances and integrates the best parts of neighborhoods (including the people) rather than planning for or allowing mass replacement and displacement.

• Allow greater varieties of housing types in neighborhoods around mixed-use activity centers: While the community expressed a strong desire to retain the character, charm and relative affordability of existing neighborhoods, there was also a desire to introduce new housing options throughout the community. Coupled with development and design standards to ensure context sensitive development, many community members supported strategically introducing more housing types in existing neighborhoods. And nearly all participants in the planning process supported creating a greater variety of housing options in new development, especially new neighborhoods, along corridors and in mixed use activity centers.

• Create more complete places that are walkable and bikeable: Although it is related to several of the other growth strategies, Complete Places that are well-connected cannot be overemphasized. Many community members highlighted the fact that neighborhoods and business districts that already benefit from a diverse mix of offerings and amenities are receiving more investments in the form of private development and public infrastructure that make these places even more desirable. In addition, the community expressed concerns that individual developments were not context sensitive, not contributing to a larger whole, and not benefiting existing residents and businesses nearby. Thus, the goals that follow and Section Two of this Plan emphasis the creation of complete communities and complete places throughout Charlotte.

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GOALS

The Comprehensive Plan goals reflect the voices of our community. They make critical connections between community values, guiding principles and vision elements; articulate key elements of the growth strategy and establish the foundation for complete communities and complete places; and provide the structure for the Plan’s Policy Framework presented in Section Three.

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GOAL 1: 10-MINUTE NEIGHBORHOODS

All Charlotte households should have access to essential amenities, goods, and services within a comfortable and tree-shaded 10-minute walk, bike, or transit trip by 2040. Not all neighborhoods are expected to include every essential amenity, good, or service, but every resident should have access within a ½ mile walk or a 2-mile bike or transit ride.

GOAL 2: NEIGHBORHOOD DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Charlotte will strive for all neighborhoods to have a diversity of housing options by increasing the presence of middle density housing (e.g. duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, accessory dwelling units, and other small lot housing types) and ensuring land use regulations allow for flexibility in creation of housing within neighborhoods.

GOAL 3: HOUSING ACCESS FOR ALL

Charlotte will ensure opportunities for residents of all incomes to access affordable housing through the preservation of naturally occurring affordable and workforce housing and increasing the number of affordable and workforce housing units through new construction.

GOAL 4: TRANSIT- AND TRAIL-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (2T-OD)

Charlotte will promote moderate to high-intensity, compact, mixed-use urban development along high-performance transit lines and near separated shared-use paths or trails.

GOAL 5: SAFE AND EQUITABLE MOBILITY

Charlotte will provide safe and equitable mobility options for all travelers regardless of age, income, ability, race, where they live, or how they choose to travel. An integrated system of transit and tree-shaded bikeways, sidewalks, shared-use paths, and streets will support a sustainable, connected, prosperous, and innovative network that connects all Charlotteans to each other, jobs, housing, amenities, goods, services, and the region.

What we heard from the Community:

• Address disparities and inequity in access to basic daily household needs
• Ensure all parts of Charlotte are a part of future growth
• More equitable distribution/allocation of costs and benefits
• Help to keep and create a variety of housing that is attainable for all residents
• Embrace and celebrate diverse cultures and ethnicities, a growing international population, and the needs and contributions of all newcomers, immigrants and refugees
• Focus a good portion of growth in mixed use centers and along transportation corridors
• Add more high-quality transit and trail connections throughout the community, especially in places with poor access today
• Create safer and more accessible transportation infrastructure and options across the entire city
• Create more places that are accessible from neighborhoods that are walkable and bikeable

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GOAL 6: HEALTHY, SAFE, AND ACTIVE COMMUNITIES

All Charlotteans will live and work in safe and resilient neighborhoods that enable healthy and active lifestyles by reducing exposure to harmful environmental contaminants, expanding and improving the quality of tree canopy, encouraging investment in walking, cycling, and recreation facilities, and providing access to healthy food options and health care services.

GOAL 7: INTEGRATED NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

Charlotte will protect and enhance its surface water quality, tree canopy, and natural areas with a variety of trees, plantings, green infrastructure, green building practices, and open space at different scales throughout the entire community as a component of sustainble city infrastructure that addresses the threat of climate change.

GOAL 8: DIVERSE AND RESILIENT ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Charlotteans will have opportunity for upward economic mobility through access to a diverse mix of jobs and careers that align with education and skill levels of residents and the economic strengths of the region.

GOAL 9: RETAIN OUR IDENTITY AND CHARM

Charlotte will cultivate community-driven placemaking and identity, while limiting displacement and retaining the essence of existing neighborhoods by intentionally directing redevelopment.

GOAL 9: 10: FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE

Charlotte will align capital investments with the adopted growth strategy and ensure the benefit of public and private sector investments benefit all residents and limit the public costs of accommodating growth.

What we heard from the Community:

• Address large disparities in factors contributing to personal and community health
• Create strategies to address healthy food deserts
• Maintain and enhance Charlotte's tree canopy, drainage ways and natural areas
• Plan for better air quality and water quality
• Integrate sustainable and resilient building and development practices
• Support upward mobility
• Improve access to and diversity of employment options, especially on east and west sides
• Mitigate residential and business displacement
• Use community resources efficiently
• Leverage public dollars to guide and shape private investment
• Address major disparities in spending across the community

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

See page 16

• EQUITABLE
• AUTHENTIC
• INTEGRATED
• RESILIENT

VISION ELEMENTS

See page 17

• INCLUSIVE & DIVERSE
• LIVABLE & CONNECTED
• HEALTHY & SUSTAINABLE
• PROSPEROUS & INNOVATIVE
• REGIONAL

EQUITABLE GROWTH METRICS

See page 21

• VULNERABILITY TO DISPLACEMENT
• ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL AMENITIES, GOODS, AND SERVICES
• ACCESS TO HOUSING OPPORTUNITY
• ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
• ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

PLAN GOALS

See page 34 and Section 3

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1. 10-MINUTE NEIGHBORHOODS

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2. NEIGHBORHOOD DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

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3. HOUSING ACCESS FOR ALL

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4. TRANSIT- AND TRAIL-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT

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5. SAFE AND EQUITABLE MOBILITY

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6. HEALTHY, SAFE, AND ACTIVE COMMUNITIES

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7. INTEGRATED NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

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8. DIVERSE AND RESILIENT ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

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9. RETAIN OUR IDENTITY AND CHARM

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10. FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE

02

COMPLETE COMMUNITIES

2.1 Complete Communities and Places

2.2 Place Types

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2.1 COMPLETE COMMUNITIES AND PLACES

During the Comprehensive Plan engagement process the community communicated a desire for all areas of Charlotte to meet the needs of nearby residents and employees. Charlotteans expressed the need for access to their everyday essentials as well as amenities such as parks, shops, restaurants, trails, and community centers near where they lived. These needs were also reflected in the findings from the Equity Framework maps. Neighborhoods that provide people with safe and convenient choices for a variety goods and services, jobs, and housing options are considered equitable and Complete Communities. A key objective of the Comprehensive Plan, as expressed through the public engagement, is to help ensure all areas of Charlotte can become Complete Communities.

A Complete Community is made up of a variety of places that provide opportunities for people to live, work, and play. Many neighborhoods in Charlotte today are more or less single use. For example, residential neighborhoods that have no nearby goods and services, or employment areas that are far removed from the housing where employees live. These more or less single use areas mean that the average Charlottean has to travel farther and longer to access all of their needs. It also means that those who have limited or no access to driving, biking, or using transit may not have their needs met. An incomplete community impacts equity, transportation, health, and the environment.

By locating a variety of places near each other, communities can benefit from supporting uses, like homes adjacent to opportunities to shop and dine, or employment centers close to commercial areas where people can access services after work. In addition to a variety of places, a Complete Community includes a variety of amenities and benefits within each place. This means embedding high-quality parks, open space, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, parking, and other benefits to the community within each place that makes up an area. The desire for Complete Communities with accessible amenities and strategically located uses led to the creation of the Place Types.

COMPLETE PLACES

Most comprehensive planning documents provide direction for future growth through a land use map. Future land use, which informs parcel-based zoning, does not give guidance on the aspects of place like building form, streets, multi-modal facilities and connections, and open space, that make it comfortable for those who use it. To achieve the goal of truly Complete Communities, the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan uses Place Types, which provide direction beyond just land use at the parcel level. A Place Type thinks about a place more holistically and at a larger scale, incorporating guidance for land use, transportation, layout, and design. Place Types help to articulate desired physical characteristics with context-sensitive application across the city, while helping to prioritize trade-offs associated with our stated goals. A Place Typology defines a set of Places that are unique and authentic to the community and its needs.

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COMPONENTS OF A PLACE TYPE

There are several components of the Place Types guidance provided in this Plan. These are the categories that are used to organize the direction for each of Charlotte’s Places. Their characteristics will change and adapt accordingly from less developed to highly urban. This adaptation will allow different degrees of regulation to occur in the zoning districts in the UDO. More detailed guidelines for the Place Types can be found in the Place Types Manual, in the Manuals and Metrics document. Each component is described in further detail below.

Land Use

• Land Use lays out the primary and secondary uses that will be found in each Place, as well as any supporting uses. This section also provides some guidance as to how those uses may be laid out within a Place Type, for example, where there should be higher or lower density development of the specified land uses.

Character

• This category gives a broad picture of the characteristics that make the Place Type identifiable, such as the general building type, lot size, public space, and layout.

Mobility

• Mobility describes how people travel to and within Place Types. This category includes guidance for the street network; trails, greenways, sidewalks, and other pedestrian and bicycle facilities; transit facilities; access; and mode share for each Place Type.

Building Design

• This category establishes direction for the form, placement, and orientation of buildings within a Place Type. This includes recommendations for building height, style, step backs, and interface with the public realm.

Open Space

• Open space describes the types of open spaces typically located within a Place Type, including private open space, public open space, parks, greenways, green infrastructure and natural or preservation areas. It also indicates how prevalent these types should be.

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CHARLOTTE PLACE TYPES

Through many rounds of public input and revision 10 distinct Place Types were established for the City of Charlotte. These Place Types represent the types of development and land uses that currently exist in Charlotte, as well as the aspirational character for those types. These Place Types can generally be organized into the categories of the neighborhoods where we live (Neighborhood 1, Neighborhood 2, and Parks and Preserves), the employment areas where we work (Commercial, Campus, Manufacturing & Logistics, and Innovation Mixed-use), and centers where we shop, dine, and play (Neighborhood Center, Community Activity Center, and Regional Activity Center).

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NEIGHBORHOOD 1

• Neighborhood 1 places are the lower density housing areas across Charlotte, where most of the city’s residents live, primarily in single-family or small multi-family homes or (Accessory Dwelling Units) ADUs.

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NEIGHBORHOOD 2

• Neighborhood 2 places are higher density housing areas that provide a variety of housing types such as townhomes and apartments alongside neighborhood-serving shops and services.

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PARKS & PRESERVES

• Parks & Preserves serve to protect public parks and open space while providing rest, recreation, and gathering places for Charlotteans.

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COMMERCIAL

• Commercial places are primarily car-oriented destinations for retail, services, hospitality, and dining, often along major streets or near interstates.

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CAMPUS

• Campuses are a relatively cohesive group of buildings and public spaces that are all serving one institution such as a university, hospital, or office park.

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MANUFACTURING & LOGISTICS

• Manufacturing & Logistics places are employment areas that provide a range of job types, services, and wage levels in sectors such as production, manufacturing, research, distribution, and logistics.

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INNOVATION MIXED-USE

• Innovation Mixed-Use places are vibrant areas of mixed-use and employment, typically in older urban areas, that capitalize on Charlotte’s history and industry with uses such as light manufacturing, office, studios, research, retail, and dining.

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NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER

• Neighborhood Centers are small, walkable mixed-use areas, typically embedded within neighborhoods, that provide convenient access to goods, services, dining, and residential for nearby residents.

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COMMUNITY ACTIVITY CENTER

• Community Activity Centers are mid-sized mixed-use areas, typically along transit corridors or major roadways, that provide access to goods, services, dining, entertainment, and residential for nearby and regional residents.

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REGIONAL ACTIVITY CENTER

• Regional Activity Centers are large, high-density mixed-use areas, typically along transit corridors or major roadways, that provide access to goods, services, dining, offices, entertainment, and residential for regional residents and visitors.

RELATIONSHIP TO UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE

The Place Types in this plan represent the form of future development, as envisioned by the residents of Charlotte. These Place Types will in turn provide the policy-level guidance that will inform the City’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The UDO is the regulatory tool that will shape future development so it results in the type of complete communities and places defined within the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan goals and policies. Using the intent and direction of the Place Types in the Comprehensive Plan and the upcoming Future Place Types Mapping, the UDO will identify zoning districts and other ordinances that will further define how the Place Types are realized in actual development. Each Place Type will correspond with multiple zoning districts that will provide a high-level of detail and regulatory guidance on items such as height, lot size, setbacks, adjacencies, and allowed uses.

The high-level policy guidance for each Place Type, that will inform the UDO throughout the life of the Plan, is described in the following sections. More detailed guidelines for the Place Types are included in the Plan Manuals and Metrics.

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PLACE TYPES: NEIGHBORHOOD 1

Goal: Provide places for neighborhoods with a variety of housing types, where single-family housing is still the predominant use.

Neighborhood 1 places are the lower density housing areas across Charlotte, where most of the city’s residents live, primarily in single-family or small multi-family homes or ADUs.

LAND USE

• Single-family detached homes on lots are the primary use in this Place Type. Accessory Dwelling Units are frequently found on the same lots as individual single-family detached homes.
• Duplexes, triplexes, quadraplexes, and civic uses, such as parks, religious institutions, and neighborhood scaled schools, may also be found in this Place Type. Smaller lot single-family detached developments, small townhome buildings, and small multi-family buildings, as well as civic uses, are also found on some 4+ lane arterials. These building types provide a transition between higher volume streets and the interior of neighborhoods.
• The greatest density of housing in this Place Type is located within a ½ mile walk of a Neighborhood Center, Community Activity Center, or Regional Activity Center and is located on an arterial, with a high frequency bus or streetcar route. In some cases, small neighborhood commercial buildings are found in older neighborhoods.

CHARACTER

• Characterized by low-rise residential buildings, uniformly set back from the street, and generally consistent lot sizes. Front lawns, landscaped yards, and tree-lined sidewalks are found between residences and the street, and individual back yards are commonly found for each main residential building.
• Many of the individual neighborhoods in this Place Type have unifying characteristics, such as setbacks and building heights, that have been maintained over time. Others have seen changes in these and other characteristics.

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MOBILITY

• A very well-connected local street network provides safe and direct access throughout the neighborhood and to and through the neighborhoods and adjacent Place Types. This street network helps disperse vehicular traffic and allows residents to walk or bike to transit and nearby destinations.
• Arterial streets also support walking, cycling, and transit use by providing a safe and comfortable environment to reach transit or nearby destinations.
• Direct access to buildings, parks, and other facilities is usually from Local streets, with more limited access opportunities along arterials. Alleys are also used to provide access to residences located on narrower lots.

BUILDING FORM

• The typical building in a Neighborhood 1 place is a single-family residential building up to 3 or 4 stories. Townhome style buildings, typically have 4-6 units. The size of civic and institutional buildings varies based on context and accessibility.

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OPEN SPACE

• Private yards and improved common areas are typical open spaces in this Place Type. Public open spaces such as small parks and greenways, and natural open spaces such as tree preservation areas, are also an important feature and should be included in neighborhoods.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ⓐ Comfortable sidewalks with planting strips and shade trees

Ⓑ Alleys in select locations to access garages and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

Ⓒ Multiple housing types in proximity to each other

Ⓓ ADUs typically accessed off alleys

Ⓔ Transition to Adjacent Place Types

PLACE TYPES: NEIGHBORHOOD 2

Goal: Provide a range of moderate to higher intensity housing types, including apartment and condominium buildings, to meet the needs of a diverse population.

Neighborhood 2 places are higher density housing areas that provide a variety of housing types such as townhomes and apartments alongside neighborhood-serving shops and services.

LAND USE

• The primary uses in this Place Type are multi-family and single-family attached residential, including some buildings with ground floor, non-residential uses.
• Lower intensity housing types are also found in Neighborhood 2, especially as part of a large development with a mix of housing types. Neighborhood 2 places also include civic uses such as schools, neighborhood parks, and religious institutions.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is characterized by low- to mid-rise multi-family residential buildings, in a walkable environment. Neighborhood 2 places include larger scale residential buildings than are found in Neighborhood 1 and residential developments typically include shared community amenities, such as open spaces or recreational facilities, and common parking areas.

MOBILITY

• Because Neighborhood 2 places typically serve as a transition between lower-density development and higher-intensity commercial or mixed-use centers, they have a very well-connected and dense street network with short blocks. This provides multiple route options to better accommodate walking, cycling, and transit use.
• Both Local and Arterial streets are designed to support and encourage walking, cycling, and transit use to reach transit or nearby destinations.

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BUILDING FORM

• The typical building is a single-family attached or multi-family building and is usually not more than five stories. Civic and institutional buildings vary in size based on their context and accessibility.
• Buildings are designed with active ground floor uses, either residential or in some instances, economically viable commercial, to support a vibrant pedestrian environment.. Buildings with ground floor commercial have tall ground floors and a high degree of transparency using clear glass windows and doors.

OPEN SPACE

• This Place Type includes privately owned, common open space that serves individual residential developments. This open space takes a range of forms, from playgrounds and recreation spaces, to plazas, courtyards, and rooftop decks. Public open spaces such as small parks and greenways, and natural open spaces such as tree preservation areas, are also an important feature and should be included in neighborhoods.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Ⓐ Infill development forming a consistent street edge

Ⓑ Trail-oriented development

Ⓒ Shared public open spaces

Ⓓ Neighborhood trail connections

Ⓔ Comfortable sidewalks with planting strips and shade trees

Ⓕ Mix of different housing types (including townhomes, condos, and medium-density residential development)

Ⓖ Transition to Adjacent Place Types

PLACE TYPES: PARKS AND PRESERVES

Goal: Protect land that is intended to remain as parks or natural preserves in perpetuity. These places contribute to the quality of life of residents and visitors by providing places to gather and recreate, and further the environmental quality of our ecosystems including the tree canopy, waterways, and wildlife habitats.

Parks & Preserves serve to protect public parks and open space while providing rest, recreation, and gathering places for Charlotteans.

LAND USE

• Primary uses may include larger public parks, cemeteries, wildlife refuges, nature preserves, and recreational centers and facilities. Limited commercial uses may be compatible in some Parks and Preserves.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is characterized by natural areas, green spaces with tree canopy, and active uses where appropriate. Structures are typically limited in number and are intended to support on-site recreational activities and/or civic uses.
• Active uses and structures are located so as to provide minimal impact to sensitive environmental features.

MOBILITY

• Parks and Preserves are easily and directly accessible from all places and are located along all street types. Any streets leading to, by, or through these places are designed to encourage safe and comfortable access by all transportation modes.
• The internal transportation network typically consists of pedestrian and bicycle paths for smaller parks, and for larger Parks and Preserves also includes driveways and very low-speed Local streets to provide access to internal facilities. Both the streets and the off-street network are well-connected and include pedestrian and bicycle facilities, even where natural features and large recreational areas limit street connections.

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BUILDING FORM

• Typical buildings in this Place Type include recreation facilities, nature centers, restroom facilities, shelters, maintenance buildings, and accessory commercial structures such as concession stands. Building sizes vary depending on the purpose of the building and the setting and are typically low-rise.

OPEN SPACE

• Open space is the primary element of this Place Type. Depending on the purpose, the on-site open spaces typically include preserved natural areas, outdoor recreation facilities, or both. Examples of other open spaces include community or botanical gardens, arboreta, and landscaped areas.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Ⓐ Community gathering space with small-scale commercial uses such as cafes along roadway

Ⓑ Amenities interspersed throughout the public realm (benches, tables, trash receptacles, bike parking, etc.)

Ⓒ Active space including sports fields/courts, play area, and community garden

Ⓓ Safe multi-use paths, accommodating a lot of people and activation

Ⓔ Transition to Adjacent Place Types

PLACE TYPES: COMMERCIAL

Goal: Provide places for the sale of goods and services in locations readily accessible by automobile.

Commercial places are primarily car-oriented destinations for retail, services, hospitality, and dining, often along major streets or near interstates.

LAND USE

• Typical uses include shopping centers, standalone retail uses, personal services, hotels, restaurants, and service stations.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is characterized by low-rise retail structures with a walkable, landscaped public realm that balances automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian design elements.

MOBILITY

• Commercial places are typically located along high-volume arterial streets, limited access roadways, and near interstate interchanges. While uses and sites are generally automobile-oriented, streets are designed to accommodate safe and comfortable travel by all modes of travel.
• Cross-access between adjoining sites limits the number of driveways off arterial streets, thereby improving the public realm and circulation.
• Arterial streets support walking, cycling, and transit use by providing a safe and comfortable environment to reach transit stops, jobs, or nearby destinations.

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BUILDING FORM

• The typical building height is four or fewer stories. If located in an interchange area, buildings may be up to five stories. Long, continuous buildings, especially strip commercial buildings, can be found in Commercial places. These buildings still accommodate the desired block structure and connected street network. Some sites include accessory drive through facilities and gas pumps.

OPEN SPACE

• This Place Type includes numerous improved open spaces such as plazas, patios, and courtyards that may include landscaping. Natural open spaces, such as tree preservation areas, are also found and encouraged here. Landscaping provides an attractive public realm by softening street edges.

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HIGHLIGHTS

(A) Comfortable sidewalks with landscape buffers

(B) Mid-block crossings

(C) Active ground floors with patios/plazas typically behind buildings along major roadways

(D) Buildings oriented to streets

(E) Signage opportunities

(F) Transition to Adjacent Place Types

PLACE TYPES: CAMPUS

Goal: Provide places for large, multi-building institutions, such as educational, religious, civic, or health facilities, or for a concentration of office and research and development uses.

Campuses are a relatively cohesive group of buildings and public spaces that are all serving one institution such as a university, hospital, or office park.

LAND USE

• Primary uses vary, depending on the purpose of the Campus and may include facilities for office, research and development, education, medical, and places of assembly that require a significant amount of space for various activities spread across sites.
• Additional uses intended to support the primary use include residential, retail, hotels, restaurants and dining facilities, sports facilities, laboratories, and galleries intended to serve workers, residents and visitors.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is characterized by low- to mid-rise office or civic buildings. Some institutional Campuses are more intensely developed and may include some high-rise buildings.
• Campuses may be on one large site or multiple adjacent sites that create a unified appearance with defined edges.

MOBILITY

• Campuses are typically located along at least one arterial street with an internal street network that encourages walking and bicycling, particularly when sites are located near transit routes and stops. More intensely developed Campuses have a denser street network and a higher level of non-auto mode share than less intensely developed Campuses.

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• Campuses should include amenity-rich transit stops and mobility hubs at key entries, stations, and intersections.
• Arterial streets support walking, cycling, and transit use by providing a safe and comfortable environment to reach transit stops or nearby destinations.

BUILDING FORM

• The typical building is an office or civic building and is usually no more than five stories. Residential buildings may be also found in this Place Type but are less prevalent. More intensely developed institutional Campuses sometimes include high-rise buildings. Office Campuses may also include taller buildings where additional open space or benefits to the community are provided. Campuses usually have a variety of activities on site, and buildings vary depending on the needs of the primary user. As a result, Campuses have a range of building types and sizes. Buildings may be designed with active ground floor uses to support a walkable environment and have a high degree of transparency using clear glass windows and doors.

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OPEN SPACE

• Open space is a key feature of this Place Type. Campuses typically include numerous pervious areas, including lawns, passive landscaped areas, park space, and natural open spaces. Improved open spaces such as plazas, courtyards, and outdoor recreational facilities are also important and should be included in all types of Campuses.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ⓐ Comfortable and convenient internal multi-modal connections

Ⓑ Highly amenitized public realm

Ⓒ Enhanced walkable “main street” connection to adjacent commercial development

Ⓓ Transition to Adjacent Place Types

PLACE TYPES: MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS

Goal: Contribute to Charlotte’s economic viability by accommodating places of employment for a range of uses related to manufacturing, logistics, production and distribution.

Manufacturing and Logistics places are employment areas that provide a range of job types, services, and wage levels in sectors such as production, manufacturing, research, distribution, and logistics.

LAND USE

• Primary uses include manufacturing, research and development, warehousing, distribution, and other similar uses.
• Uses in this Place Type also include limited office usually to support primary uses; outdoor storage of materials and vehicles; limited hospitality and restaurants, limited retail, and personal services to serve area workers.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is typically characterized by large scale, low-rise manufacturing or warehouse buildings, and other assembly and distribution facilities.
• Parcels are often large, with buildings placed on the interior of the site surrounded by service areas, outdoor and container storage, parking, and landscape buffers to provide a transition to adjacent uses.

MOBILITY

• Manufacturing & Logistics places are accessible by higher capacity transportation facilities, such as arterials and interstates, as well as by freight rail. These places may also benefit from proximity to airports. Streets accommodate large trucks, while still serving all travel modes.
• The local and collector street network is well-connected to serve sites directly and to provide good access to arterials. Streets and sites prioritize

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access for motor vehicles while still providing safe and comfortable access for other modes of travel. Truck traffic will use routes that minimize impacts on neighborhoods and open spaces.

• Where possible, mobility hubs with transit stations, pick-up and drop-off areas, bike parking and bike share, and micro-mobility options should be provided within this Place Type to accommodate employees without access to a vehicle.
• Arterial streets support walking, cycling, and transit use by providing a safe and comfortable environment to reach transit stops, jobs, or nearby destinations.

BUILDING FORM

• The typical building is a high-bay, single-story manufacturing, or warehousing building. Buildings widely range in size and scale depending on their context and use. Long, continuous buildings can be found within Manufacturing & Logistics more so than in other Place Types. Nevertheless, buildings accommodate the desired block structure and connected street network.

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OPEN SPACE

• Improved open spaces are typically recreational facilities, picnic areas, walking trails, patios, and courtyards provided on individual sites and designed to be used by employees. Natural open spaces, such as tree preservation areas, are also found here. Generous landscaped or natural buffers separate large site, less desirable uses, and the public realm.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ⓐ Improved bike and pedestrian facilities and connections

Ⓑ Generous landscaping and buffers

Ⓒ Small shared outdoor gathering space for employees

Ⓓ Dedicated rideshare pickup/dropoff locations

PLACE TYPES: INNOVATION MIXED-USE

Goal: Contribute to Charlotte’s economic viability by providing mixed-use urban places that include light manufacturing, office, residential, and retail.

Innovation Mixed-Use places are vibrant areas of mixed-use and employment, typically in older urban areas, that capitalize on Charlotte’s history and industry with uses such as light manufacturing, office, studios, research, retail, and dining.

LAND USE

• Typical uses include office, research and development, studios, light manufacturing, showrooms, hotels, and multi-family residential.
• Uses in this Place Type also include retail, personal services, restaurants, and bars, and limited warehouse and distribution associated with light manufacturing and fabrication.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is characterized by adaptively reused buildings and low to mid-rise single-use structures that are transitioning to vertically integrated uses in a pedestrian-oriented environment.

MOBILITY

• Innovation Mixed-Use places are accessible by higher capacity facilities such as arterials and may also include access from interstates and freight rail. Streets serve all travel modes while still accommodating large trucks along primary arterial streets. The local and collector street network is well-connected to serve sites directly and to provide good access to arterials. Truck traffic will use routes that do not impact neighborhoods or open spaces.
• Mobility hubs with transit stations, pick-up and drop-off areas, bike parking and share, and micro-mobility options should be provided within this Place Type to accommodate employees without access to a vehicle.
• Arterial streets support walking, cycling, and transit use by providing a safe and comfortable environment to reach transit stops, jobs, or nearby destinations.

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BUILDING FORM

• The typical building in Innovation Mixed-Use places is an older industrial structure that has been adaptively reused.
• Newer office, residential, and mixed-use buildings typically have heights up to six stories in this Place Type. New buildings are designed with active ground floor uses to support a vibrant pedestrian environment. They have tall ground floors and a high degree of transparency using clear glass windows and doors.

OPEN SPACE

• This Place Type includes improved numerous open spaces such as plazas, patios, and courtyards that may include landscaping. Public open spaces such as small parks and greenways, and natural open spaces such as tree preservation areas, are also an important feature and should be included in Innovation Mixed-Use places.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Ⓐ Active and passive community gathering spaces Ⓑ Adaptive reuse of light industrial or underutilized buildings, embracing unique history and form Ⓒ Regular rail crossings Ⓓ Increased tree canopy

PLACE TYPES: NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER

Goal: Provide places that have a pedestrian-friendly focal point of neighborhood activity where nearby residents can access daily shopping needs and services within a 5-10 minute walk or a short drive.

Neighborhood Centers are small, walkable mixed-use areas, typically embedded within neighborhoods, that provide convenient access to goods, services, dining, and residential for nearby residents.

LAND USE

• Typical uses include retail, restaurants, personal services, institutional, multi-family, and offices.
• Some types of auto-oriented uses, well-designed to support walkability, may be located on the edges of this Place Type.

CHARACTER

• This Place Type is characterized by low-rise commercial, residential civic/institutional, and mixed-use buildings in a pedestrian-oriented environment.

MOBILITY

• Neighborhood Centers are easily and directly accessible from nearby neighborhoods to encourage walking and cycling, and to support the concept of a complete neighborhood.
• The Local street network is well-connected, designed for slow traffic, and includes good pedestrian facilities. Arterial streets provide for safe and comfortable pedestrian, bicycle, and transit travel along and across them for easy access to and from the Neighborhood Center and surrounding areas.

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BUILDING FORM

• The typical building type is a commercial, institutional, or multi-family building of up to five stories. Buildings are designed with active ground floor uses to support a vibrant pedestrian environment. They have tall ground floors and a high degree of transparency using clear glass windows and doors.

OPEN SPACE

• Neighborhood Centers include numerous improved open spaces such as plazas, patios, and courtyards that may include landscaping. Public open spaces such as small parks and greenways, and natural open spaces such as tree preservation areas, are also an important feature and should be included in centers.