Thread by @queencitynerve

The agenda for tonight's #CLTCC Strategy Session looks short, but includes some big topics sure to inspire lots of discussion. We'll be live-tweeting and you can watch the meeting here: . The meeting should be starting any second.

City manager Marcus Jones giving an update on SAFE Charlotte plan, discussing framework for work with nonprofits. Says SAFE Charlotte will become largest grant program for local nonprofits working in violence interruption/prevention. Will aim to give $50,000 to 20 organizations

These 20 organizations have yet to be selected. The $1 million will be allocated by United Way. A panel made up of grassroots anti-violence organizers and advocates will select the orgs based on a rubric created by the city that follows SAFE Charlotte priorities.

Grant application window will open on March 8.

Jones now going into an update on the “transformational mobility network,” (TMN) which includes the new CATS Silver Line as well as hundreds of miles of rapid transit bus lanes, greenways, cycling networks and new roads.

Jones and his team are still working on refining the legislative ask to bring to NCGA and will bring a more in-depth update to council on March 22. Original plans included putting a sales tax increase on the ballot this year to help fund TMN, but elections will likely be delayed.

City planning director Taiwo Jaiyeoba now giving update/presentation on the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Jaiyeoba touching on community engagement efforts around developing the CF2CP:

There will be a public hearing on the CF2CP on March 22 leading up to an April #CLTCC vote to adopt the plan.

Eleven of the comments the city has received as feedback for the 2040 Plan have been grammar corrections. #BeenThere

A look at ways the plan aims to diversify housing within Charlotte by prioritizing du/tri/quadplex development on single-family lots.

Upcoming event next week will bring in former Portland mayor Charles Hales to hear his experience with comprehensive planning.

Laura Harmon with the Planning Dept. discussing a new Unified Development Ordinance, which creates a citywide plan for zoning and land use. The UDO will help bring together all the different regulations and ordinances pictured here to the right. It is currently being drafted.

This slide includes words, pictures, letters AND numbers! Second slide gives a specific look at how the UDO will look to rework the way land use and zoning is implemented. These districts would allow more diverse housing such as du/tri/quadplexes on single-family lots.

New overlay districts include Cottage Court, not to be confused with cottagecore.

Timeline on where the UDO currently stands.

Re: TMN, Jones states there *are* legal avenues to hold a referendum on sales tax even if no municipal elections in 2021. Council member Driggs says he's frustrated with the way officials are plowing forward with this as if everyone is onboard. Says we need to consider critiques.

.@Larken says he's all for aspirational goals, such as the Vision Zero goal CLT has to eliminate all traffic-related deaths, but it's important to have reachable goals. For example, city doesn't have authority to do inclusionary zoning, and parts of 2040 Future Plan ignore that.

@Larken says there is very little chance he will be ready to vote for this plan by April. Says he wants to get to that point, but there are too many flaws, unanswered questions, etc. Says he's heard these critiques from both developers and neighborhood advocates.

State law requires that all municipalities have a comprehensive plan in place by July 2022, and to have a development ordinance such as the UDO the city is currently drafting that aligns with state law by July 1 of this year.

Driggs believed we had an old comprehensive plan in place. Taiwo Jaiyeoba says we do not, only separate area plans. Would need a new citywide plan to be in compliance. Driggs wants confirmation of what CLT needs to do, and whether we need a large plan, to meet the requirement.

@EdDriggsD7 agrees there are still too many questions about the existing plan. He's also concerned that "in some tweets" single-family neighborhoods have been blamed as the source of discriminatory housing. Says "a single-family neighborhood is an American tradition."

Newton worries about pushing higher density basically anywhere by allowing du/tri/quadplexes in most new zoning districts. Says in certain parts of the city, such as far into his district in east Charlotte, the amenities aren't there for high-density development.

.@JulieEiselt suggests #CLTCC hold a separate meeting to ask the questions that still surround this plan. Staff has had two years to work on it, it's supposed to be up for approval next month, and there are still so many unanswered questions that could take a half-day meeting.

Mayor Lyles has just signed up four council members to participate in a separate meeting. She is now taking questions from council members that will be written down and answered at this special meeting.

@Watlington4CLT wants clarification on how the comprehensive plan will be kept updated and relevant. Says she has been told it will be updated every five years, but points out, "I'm sure that was the plan for the existing area plans, too."

"I hope this is crystal clear to you that there is no path where we can get this done in the next 60 days," @FinTechInnov8r tells the city manager, regardless of how many separate 3-hour day meetings are held. "This is as complicated as a blueprint can get."

.@BraxtonWinston "This conversation reinforces that a lot of people want change but they don't want to be part of the change." Says his colleagues' criticisms aren't an indictment of staff but an indictment of #CLTCC. Says council needs to step up to give better guidance to staff

Winston says, as an at-large rep, he would love to work with district reps one on one "to craft this into a policy and guidance discussion that we can efficiently work on in an effective amount of time," and get the plan done.

@CLTMayor: "At some point we've got to say, 'We are going to go in this direction.' All the questions that have been raised about the process and content aren't bringing us to a consensus about where we are." Says work now is not the staff's but the council's to give direction.

"People are going to come here no matter what. We may not build a quadplex or a duplex on any street and just keep them where they are but the people gotta live somewhere." -@CLTMayor

"If people aren't asking the questions, I'm not sure what we're doing." @JulieEiselt says the big elephant in the room is around the single-family zoning. Says council members need to go to the document and pull out specific issues they want to talk about.

@Watlington4CLT agrees with Eiselt that everyone with issues needs to go and read the document from front to back and come back with very specific issues that they want to discuss. Says it's not productive to have meetings if nobody knows what the plan even is.

"I would not say pump the brakes, I would say figure out how the council can come to a consensus around policy." @CLTMayor.

@FinTechInnov8r: If there are people who haven't read document, that's a whole other issue. Says he has a laundry list of issues with the document, emphasizes that council members aren't prof. planners but the fact that so many ppl still have so many major concerns is a big deal.

@EdDriggsD7 says he has met with industry reps and gotten lists of their concerns. "We need to understand the concerns of these experts because they're the ones building all these buildings that we have." Don't need to be beholden to them but should be taken into consideration.

Renee Johnson says this is the first time #CLTCC has gotten together to discuss some of these things, including the UDO, so the concerns should have been expected. Wants council to come together to meet about that and future plan specifically to break down all concerns.

All council members except Bokhari have agreed to hold a special meeting re: this discussion and will begin forming an agenda for that meeting in the coming days.

To wrap the committee reports, @JulieEiselt discussed ad hoc arts committee's recent suggestions that have gotten some talk around town. Will suggest to budget committee that city increase funding to the arts by 25% (to $4 million).

City would no longer allocate grants through @ASCCharlotte as has been done in the past, but contract an "arts commissioner" who will consult with a panel of folks active in the arts community. Would aim to get private sector to match amount, have $8 mill in annual funding.

"This is not about any one organization, this is not about any one entity, this is not about any one business model. This is about how do we put more roofs over people's heads and give them the ability to put more food on their family's tables." -@BraxtonWinston on arts funding

@JulieEiselt says "We need to have a policy much like we do with affordable housing," saying the hard work comes in framing the policy and what the city expects to see in return. "That's our money to invest. We're not trying to tell ASC how to run their organization."

Asked why the city wants to replicate ASC rather than partner with them, Eiselt says, "We're not replicating them, we're using a different group and bringing different voices to the table." Says the city has no say in where their arts funding goes once it's given to ASC right now

City will be approving budget in a couple months. Eiselt says we don't have the time to create a policy for how we want to see those dollars used. Could potentially continue to partner with ASC but approach it differently, but won't know that by the time the budget passes.

Eiselt's making her point that the city can't ask for a $4-million match from the private sector only to be given to ASC, which is a separate entity altogether. The city should be able to tell private donors where that money is going specifically and have that control.

What it sounds like is the city needs to develop an arts and culture … comprehensive plan.

We've got talk of film credits and McCrory shade in the fifth hour, folks.

@JulieEiselt: "If we're being asked to fill the gap where the private sector hasn't stepped up, then we need to figure out why, what they want, and if we're going to fill that void, we need to know what it is that we expect out of that investment and answer that for ourselves."

The meeting is adjourned. "It's been a really good meeting," says @CLTMayor, "because sometimes the meetings are defined by the level of honest, candid conversation and I appreciate that."

Oh and there were two SNL references: @FinTechInnov8r calling his district the Gateway to Ballantyne on the front end and @JulieEiselt saying we can be more than the Gateway to Gastonia during the arts discussion on the back end. Sorry, logging off now.