Two For Tuesday | June 25, 2024

1. New Podcast Released! – Chris Carney, Mayor of Mooresville

Let’s hit this topic head on: The crux of the no-growth argument contends that by stopping growth, current residents can keep things stable and unchanged. Although avoiding change is impossible and unhealthy, they ignore this decision’s devastating results proven out repeatedly across the country such as skyrocketing taxes, shrinking access to housing, the inability to attract the best talent to fill needed service positions, business failure, even a disconnect from funding at the state and federal level. Towns age out, infrastructure deteriorates, young people stay away, and regret sets in.

In this vein we were pleased to invite Chris Carney, Mayor of Mooresville, to our sound booth this month. He is both a leader, guide, and an equalizer. Contending with these passionate sentiments daily, he is slowly and surely helping his Town Commissioners and residents cooperate at the ground level promoting solid financial strategies. With deft charm, logic, and irrefutable facts he explains how crippling the no-growth outcome is to any area. How? Listen to this enjoyable episode and find out.

By way of background, our guest, Carney never set out to be in politics. However, he proclaims during his interview that he is the product of parents whose political beliefs were on opposite ends of the spectrum, exposing him to a myriad of issues with a sense of scale and humanity. Elected to the office of Mayor in November 2023, he previously served on the town board as Ward 4 Commissioner. He was elected to that position in 2005 then reelected in 2009 and selected as mayor pro-tem. Carney was a North Carolina Senator from 2011-2013, serving on several key committees including education, healthcare, and finance. He was also vice chairman of the transportation committee. Carney, who has been a supporting voice of REBIC during many previous events, is himself a business owner of Strategic Capital Solutions. He and his wife, Francie, have three children – Rachel, Maddie, and Will.

My take: Recording this podcast was just flat out fun. I can’t tell you how invigorating it is to have a conversation with an elected official that has a plan and is willing to stick to it even when some segments of the community disagree. Mayor Carney does an excellent job of trying to balance divergent interests and I think you’ll hear it come through as you listen to this episode. He ran for mayor to use his talents in a way to serve the public. We need more folks like him that are willing to engage the community and make things better rather than follow a narrow political activist agenda.

2. Charlotte City Council Approves Compact Development Provision, Alignment Rezoning On Tap

The Compact Development provision proposed by Planning staff and discussed during a prior council and committee meeting, and ultimately approved by the Planning Commission’s Zoning Committee was approved during last night’s Charlotte City Council meeting. This text amendment seeks to partially address the need for entry-level and workforce housing by allowing higher density developments in certain parts of the city. Next up will be a summer discussion of strategies to increase the amount of allowable townhome developments. We look forward to further engagement and are optimistic about the potential approval of another text amendment targeting this need this coming fall.

Our attention is also directed toward the City’s Alignment Rezoning process that is already underway. City staff is hosting webinars this evening at 6:00 pm, tomorrow during the lunch hour, and again on Thursday at 2:00 pm. Please take time to register and participate in one of these informational sessions.

My take: Passage of the Compact Development option is a good thing and a good first step in backfilling the opportunities lost when the Conservation Development provision was amended. When 90% or more of your development applications are coming in under a specific provision and not under the base ordinance, that tells you something. Clearly under the Unified Development Ordinance, the regulatory scale tipped drastically in one direction making it difficult to produce the types of housing being sought by consumers. As we move forward with discussions during the summer months, we should also be looking at other areas of the ordinance that have proved to be problematic. Trees and stormwater immediately come to mind.

Rob Nanfelt
Executive Director, REBIC

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Two For Tuesday | June 25, 2024

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