Tonight, both the Charlotte City Council and Huntersville Town Board are considering adopting resolutions of support endorsing draft legislation that would allow for a sales tax increase to fund future transportation priorities. Additionally, the draft bill would also establish a transportation authority to manage the system and direct those funds. Ultimately, other counties could also opt-in through a process laid out in the proposal.
The resolutions are similar to one that was adopted by the Cornelius Town Board two weeks ago. The Towns of Davidson and Pineville will debate similar measures on September 10th, with the Town of Mint Hill likely to take action on September 12th. Mecklenburg County Commissioners are scheduled to take up consideration of their resolution on September 17th.
As was previously reported several weeks ago, an initial agreement had been reached by the Managers of Mecklenburg County, the City of Charlotte, and the Towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Mint Hill, and Pineville.
The draft outlines a request to the General Assembly that it pass legislation authorizing a referendum to the voters within Mecklenburg County to increase the sales tax to support future transportation infrastructure. The bill would also establish an authority to manage the public transportation system.
Here are some of the key points:
My take: It’s really encouraging to see this concept gaining real forward motion after several years of stagnation. Mecklenburg County and most of the jurisdictions within the county have all compromised a bit in order to realize long-term gains. That’s how a negotiation should work. However, leadership for the Town of Matthews seems to think it’s in its best interest to grind the wheels of progress to a halt. That’s pretty short-sighted. Over the weekend the Matthews mayor put out a call for a transportation summit to take place between the parties. Seems kind of late for that. Nearly five months ago, REBIC and the Partnership for Regional Cooperation sponsored and presented a discussion summit to offer regional mayors an opportunity to discuss their transportation priorities. We followed that up in June with an event dedicated to the discussion of a newer and more novel transportation tool: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Then, just last week, we sent a delegation of elected officials and staff to Miami for a one-day trip to view progress on its BRT project. Where was the Matthews mayor then?
Earlier today at the Charlotte City Council’s Transportation, Planning, and Development Committee meeting, Planning staff provided an update on two major initiatives:
The presentation provided a recap of recent activity on both topics as well as a brief summary of what’s next. Specifically, as it relates to housing supply, the following was discussed:
Staff also reminded Council Members it had begun the next phase of community engagement on the Area Planning Process. Those upcoming meetings are as follows:
West – Thursday, September 5th, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm – In Person
Ophelia Garmon – Brown Community Center
2647 Freedom Drive, Charlotte, NC 28208
North – Tuesday, September 24th, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm – Virtual
North – Thursday, September 26th, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm – In Person
604 Doug Mayes Place, Charlotte, NC 28262
East – Tuesday, October 15th, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm – Virtual
East – Thursday, October 17th, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm – In Person
3800 Shamrock Drive, Charlotte, NC 28215
South – Tuesday, November 12th, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm – Virtual
South – Tuesday, November 14th, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm – In Person
Queens University Sports Complex & Conference Center
2229 Tyvola Road, Charlotte, NC 28210
My take: This morning’s presentation was helpful in setting the stage for planned activity over the remainder of the year. The UDO has been in place for a little over 14 months and we are about to see two more major clean-ups which would bring our total tally to five. In addition, there have been several other smaller amendments adopted. Through our REBIC UDO Change Request Form, we have provided significant input and feedback resulting in many changes. More than 60 requests! There’s still a lot of work to do, but that’s what advocacy in action looks like. One more thought. During today’s committee meeting, staff indicated they had asked colleagues in Raleigh how long it had taken them to smooth out the rough edges in their UDO. The answer came back stating that it takes about two years. We will keep our sites focused on that intended light at the end of the tunnel … come next June.
BACK TO LATEST NEWS