Nathan2

While the frontage directly in front (as long as you don't look up) is not the worst in the world. The massing and scale of the screening affect the pedestrian experience at the station and on Camden by making you feel small and inferior. It does nothing to invite you in and make you want to enjoy your surroundings. The building itself completely ignores its surroundings and that's what makes it stick out so badly. " blank walls kill sidewalks and suck the energy out of urban life". https://www.safegrowth.org/blog/purge-the-scourge-of-blank-walls

That's absolutely your opinion and I respect that. But that is not the opinion of most of the people in the group and the people I know when showing them Charlotte. If that is a crap ton of effort, then I am scared of the future of architecture and design. Screening does not automatically equal good. I do appreciate all you have done for sharing development news and being part of the Planning Committee but your opinions don't always represent everyone. Having the "biggest" voice does not invalidate everyone else's opinions and concerns or make you the voice of reason. The point of being on a committee is to hear out everyone and consider those concerns when making recommendations.

I think the problem is people like you who act like you can determine what is and isn't criticism just because you have your "ins" with developers. Everyone can have an opinion whether it's negative or positive, that is the point of a site like urbanplanet. Some of us don't like to rollover to every proposed development in the city and know that Charlotte deserves better. Maybe the constant negativity from people on new projects is a sign that Charlotte isn't getting great development. Growth for the sake of growth isn't always a positive.

This is such a crap take. God forbid a developer puts a sliver of effort into their buildings which become the fabric of our city and determine how people interact with it. You of all people should understand that. We all here understand that a parking deck is necessary, what is not necessary is doing absolutely nothing to blend the garage into the overall design of the building. The level of awful design that is affecting the pedestrian street level interaction and feel of our neighborhoods is going to have a lasting negative effect that pushed people off of sidewalks and into their cars. A skyline full of skyscrapers looks great but has no bearing on the greatness of a city.

We have got to get away from large block apartment developments. Small to Medium incremental apartments create just as much density and still fit in with the surrounding community. Second, it is unfortunate that most of the new and existing apartment developments in the plaza area are surrounded by excessively noisy and polluting highways. I hate that I sound like a NIMBY here but damn that is a lot of people that are going to be driving to the one grocery store in plaza midwood. Hopefully, we get business that will open to support all the new homes going in, but nothing about this area is friendly to walking.

This tower is going to single-handedly destroy the pedestrian environment along the greenway and park in midtown. This is truly awful.

This is an awful design. When are we going to get a development that fully considers how it interacts with its surroundings? It would not be hard to better disguise the parking and create a welcoming ground floor, but I guess cheap money talks.

We'll do anything but fix the problem.

CATS already has separate designs and plans for direct access to park and rides from the express lanes. Not sure if these plans have been published publicly yet.

Because Transportation only means Cars to CDOT.

This project is like a giant lifeless wall that cuts off the life of the neighborhood. Design and architecture play a massive part in creating an inviting and welcoming neighborhood. This does the complete opposite. Camden is now overshadowed and the focal point is now on a massive wall. We all need to do a better job at demanding a better city.

What's crazy about this is that there are probably close to 1000+ parking spots within an easy 5-minute walk from here. They are just extremely lazy. If the city isn't going to enforce they need a citizen-driven reporting system like NYC where the reporter gets a 25% kick back as in incentive.

They have a decent amount of room but double tracking is not necessary the entire length. You can have a decent frequency, probably up to 15 minutes, using a single track through the downtowns as long as there are sections where you add double tracking for trains to pass. There are plenty of examples out there of good lines that exist entirely of single track, with the stations as the only spot for trains to pass.

Norfolk is willing to work with Charlotte on Red Line! https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/breaking-norfolk-southern-says-its?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6449&post_id=138014401&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=cyirz&utm_medium=email

Does anyone know what the Rezoning is for in front of Legion and Okra? The City website for #2023-062 doesn't provide much information. The description just says that they want to allow uses within the CAC-2 zoning district.

It's one thing wanting to retain the uniqueness and charm of a neighborhood but it's another to expect that neighborhood to be frozen in time. You can have change and the existing uniqueness and charm, but the city needs to do a much better job of pushing better development that can coexist with its surroundings while still providing the needs of today's Charlotte. The problem with wanting to essentially "freeze' a neighborhood in time is that the neighborhood becomes exclusive to no one else except the wealthiest of the city, it's selfish. I hear this sentiment all over Charlotte and I see it in places like Plaza and Noda and it's frankly disgusting. I think people forget that there are real people who would love to afford a home but can't because of neighbors' unjust power to never allow change. Why should the wealthiest be the only ones with access to green and walkable neighborhoods? Why should everyone else be forced to move out of the city purely because a few people want the existing neighborhood to stay the same? This form of preservation doesn't work as some have described and many of us have seen in the form of large modern homes taking the place of the homes with so-called "Character". So everyone can take your pick of what you want, homes for everyone, or "Character" for a few.

Is the parking garage going to be adequately screened? Or is the neighborhood going to have to stare at another giant blank wall?

Yea, its kind of sad we can't have stand-alone stations that actually resemble a station. There's a reason classic train stations have turned into tourist destinations in other cities.

I thought the Silver Line alignment into the station was decided years ago. What the hell are we waiting for? And why does that mean we need to wait another two years to even start construction? Charlotte can not even do the basics.

Honestly, I think it's a good thing. More lanes, toll or not, are not going to benefit the community in the long run. Tolls lanes on 77 North already don't make much of a difference and only benefit those who can afford it. We shouldn't be throwing billions at projects that are band aids. Maybe the continued crazy traffic will get the State and Local officials to think outside of the box (transit).

Job Growth means nothing if the city is doing nothing to keep up with that growth or do anything to improve the lives of the people who have lived here for years, especially when most of that growth is not affecting or improving the lives of those people. The past few years have seen less useful city services and more expensive housing.

Perfect time for the County and City to get out of the development business and just sell off the properties piece by piece.

Mud on the little sugar creek seems to never go away. I have seen issues on the new section near the south carolina state line where it is out of the floodplain.

They definitely need to get serious about making sure the greenways are clear of mud. I have seen some people get seriously hurt biking through some of the muddy sections. It is also a deterrence to people who use the greenway to commute or go to the grocery store, no one wants to show up to a store, work, or home completely covered in mud. These sections have been covered almost continuously this entire summer.

It's amazingly ironic how the city council will go on and on about equity and affordability while forcing land use patterns that cause people, especially low-income people, to spend a high percentage of their income on transportation just to drive down the street to the grocery store. It's amazing how car companies have tricked everyone, including the government to make cars the default. I mean the government is literally betting on beating climate change by just producing more cars (electric).