Unified Development Ordinance

[Professor]

On 10/28/2022 at 10:50 AM, go_vertical said:

I think this statement can also apply to the current state of local politics. 

I agree, especially local politics. 

[RANYC]

Speaking of the UDO, was anyone involved in discussions around tree preservation in the ordinance?  Jacksonville, Florida’s tree preservation code requires protection or mitigation for trees 12” in diameter or greater.  We don’t appear to protect unless trees are greater than 24” in diameter.  We do require a tree-save area and have landscaping requirements.  Anyone know our thinking around setting protection at 24”?  That’s a huge freaking tree.

[RANYC]

According to a WAFE report this morning, the planning department is proposing a revision to both the UDO and to the 2040 Comprehensive plan that would go from allowing single-family homes should the market bear it and a developer desire it to requiring at least 30% of units be single family in new developments in supposed “suburban parts” of Charlotte.  Planning Dept is doing this at the behest of several cognitively dissonant councilmembers who on the one hand want equity, inclusivity, and housing access, but on the other hand can’t let go of some sort of suburban American ideal.  Call this the single family mandate.  By the way, I’m depressed that we’re likely stuck with most of these knuckleheads after the upcoming election.  

[kermit]

On 8/8/2023 at 9:22 AM, RANYC said:

According to a WAFE report this morning, the planning department is proposing a revision to both the UDO and to the 2040 Comprehensive plan that would go from allowing single-family homes should the market bear it and a developer desire it to requiring at least 30% of units be single family in new developments in supposed “suburban parts” of Charlotte.  Planning Dept is doing this at the behest of several cognitively dissonant councilmembers who on the one hand want equity, inclusivity, and housing access, but on the other hand can’t let go of some sort of suburban American ideal.  Call this the single family mandate.  By the way, I’m depressed that we’re likely stuck with most of these knuckleheads after the upcoming election.  

Meh, its fine. Its not like there is any evidence climate change is real. It also makes sense because businesses have been flocking to office space around low-density single family as well. This will also be GREAT for housing affordability. Glad we have a council that creates policy that ensures Charlotte follows best urban development practices.

Slightly more seriously, I don’t know details but I fail to see how this addressed ANY of the displacement concerns that were the focus of the previous pushback against the UDO. This appears to be climate arson for the sole benefit of NIMBY suburbanites. If we actually still had a competent local press they would ask these reps how they justify this choice in the face of overwhelming evidence. 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by kermit

[RANYC]

7 minutes ago, kermit said:

Meh, its fine. Its not like there is any evidence climate change is real anyway. It also makes sense because businesses have been flocking to office space around low-density single family as well. This will also be GREAT for housing affordability. Glad we have a council that creates policy that ensures Charlotte follows best urban development practices.

Slightly more seriously, I don’t know details but I fail to see how this addressed ANY of the displacement concerns that were the focus of the previous pushback against the UDO. This appears to be climate arson for the sole benefit of NIMBY suburbanites.

 

I’m also irritated that I can’t yet find any coverage on this.  Just a snippet soundbyte on NPR this morning.  The biggest offenders of development optionality due to their love affair with single family cul de sacs appear to be Renee Johnson & Victoria Watlington (who’s now running at large).  They also use a tone that appears to be much more about preserving their assertions and saving face than searching for and acknowledging the truth and then setting policy that aligns.  

[CLT Development]

9 minutes ago, RANYC said:

I’m also irritated that I can’t yet find any coverage on this.  Just a snippet soundbyte on NPR this morning.  The biggest offenders of development optionality due to their love affair with single family cul de sacs appear to be Renee Johnson & Victoria Watlington (who’s now running at large).  They also use a tone that appears to be much more about preserving their assertions and saving face than searching for and acknowledging the truth and then setting policy that aligns.  

Its Marjorie, Victoria, Renee, Smudgie and Lawanna, are all impediments here.  

[RANYC]

22 minutes ago, CLT Development said:

Its Marjorie, Victoria, Renee, Smudgie and Lawanna, are all impediments here.  

I do think planning might be playing the long game here.  By relegating this nonsense to the city “fringes” and not stopping triplexes and duplexes in already developed parts of the city, perhaps this is really a non-event and just a talking point to appease certain corners of complainers. 

[CLT Development]

6 hours ago, RANYC said:

I do think planning might be playing the long game here.  By relegating this nonsense to the city “fringes” and not stopping triplexes and duplexes in already developed parts of the city, perhaps this is really a non-event and just a talking point to appease certain corners of complainers. 

I just hope the city is able to successfully develop Pre-Approved plans. They are getting ready to release ADU plans in the coming months, something Raleigh successfully did a while back. From there they are shifting focus to single family and duplex. The issue is, once you go to Triplex, international building code is triggered and development gets a little more expensive.  That said I believe they want to do Triplex and Quad options, and you can also skirt IBC by building a duplex with a detached ADU.

Edited August 8, 2023 by CLT Development

[KJHburg]

20 minutes ago, CLT Development said:

I just hope the city is able to successfully develop Pre-Approved plans. They are getting ready to release ADU plans in the coming months, something Raleigh successfully did a while back. From there they are shifting focus to single family and duplex. The issue is, once you go to Triplex, international building code is triggered and development gets a little more expensive.  That said I believe they want to do Triplex and Quad options, and you can also skirt IBC by building a duplex with a detached ADU.

check out the Fast track gallery of ADUs Raleigh has 

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/db482b2fdbc34ebeb174438a091097d8    these plans are great! 

https://raleighnc.gov/permits/services/building-accessory-dwelling-unit-adu

[RANYC]

25 minutes ago, CLT Development said:

I just hope the city is able to successfully develop Pre-Approved plans. They are getting ready to release ADU plans in the coming months, something Raleigh successfully did a while back. From there they are shifting focus to single family and duplex. The issue is, once you go to Triplex, international building code is triggered and development gets a little more expensive.  That said I believe they want to do Triplex and Quad options, and you can also skirt IBC by building a duplex with a detached ADU.

Pre-approved plans would be amazing.  If not already done, please share that pre-approved specs potentially spur small-scale, emerging developers.  Such specs lower barriers to entry for new development players, including locally-owned and minority-owned builders.  This helps to enrich and round out our real estate economy, create new entities of wealth creation, diversify real estate product by diversifying product suppliers, and hopefully leads to building stock that better integrates into local environments because it’s likelier to come from developers with more of a local sensibility.  

Edited August 8, 2023 by RANYC

[jthomas]

38 minutes ago, CLT Development said:

I just hope the city is able to successfully develop Pre-Approved plans. They are getting ready to release ADU plans in the coming months, something Raleigh successfully did a while back. From there they are shifting focus to single family and duplex. The issue is, once you go to Triplex, international building code is triggered and development gets a little more expensive.  That said I believe they want to do Triplex and Quad options, and you can also skirt IBC by building a duplex with a detached ADU.

Memphis has made a change to allow the IRC to be used on up to six-unit residential buildings. Do NC cities have this kind of discretion in how to apply building codes?

[Nathan2]

On 8/8/2023 at 11:17 AM, RANYC said:

I do think planning might be playing the long game here.  By relegating this nonsense to the city “fringes” and not stopping triplexes and duplexes in already developed parts of the city, perhaps this is really a non-event and just a talking point to appease certain corners of complainers. 

Until you look at the 2040 Plan Map and realize that most of the city even in fairly urban areas is considered low-density suburban areas. 

https://charlotte.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4dc02a1a85974085af7b36c33474efe0

 

[RANYC]

5 hours ago, Nathan2 said:

Until you look at the 2040 Plan Map and realize that most of the city even in fairly urban areas is considered low-density suburban areas. 

https://charlotte.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4dc02a1a85974085af7b36c33474efe0

 

How do you figure?  Everything in yellow is zoning that allows private property owners to build triplexes and potentially quadplexes.  If those private owners organize private land into a subdivision with deed restrictions or if they buy into real estate contracts limiting their flexible usage, well that's at their private discretion, but it's not local government forcing them to do that.

Edited August 9, 2023 by RANYC

[kermit]

Initial reports from Minneapolis on their elimination of Single Family exclusionary zoning (they changed their zoning in 2019) suggested that relatively few new duplexes and triplexes were getting built in single family neighborhoods. More recently it appears that larger multifamily construction has significantly reduced housing price growth in the metro. Some info from a Bloomberg story on this today -- Minneapolis has the lowest inflation rate in the nation thanks to very low rent growth.

I think our Council should be asked about what their proposed changes to the UDO are likely to do to our supply of affordable housing and if they are OK with the likely reduction in affordable housing supply.

 

Quote

“I can’t tell you how many people were like, ‘Oh, look at all this supply, look at all these just brand new buildings,’ and kind of scoffing at it like this was going to lead to gentrification or rents skyrocketing,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a two-term Democrat, in an interview. “The exact opposite has happened.”

...

Rent growth in Minneapolis since 2017 is just 1%, compared with 31% in the US overall, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Its share of affordable rental units and ratio of rent to income are better than most comparable US metro areas.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-08-09/minneapolis-controls-us-inflation-with-affordable-housing-renting

Edited August 11, 2023 by kermit

[carolinaboy]

Dumb question. Is the newly adopted UDO the first UDO for Charlotte?

[kermit]

^ IMO this is just a semantics issue. The UDO is just a zoning / land use ordinance that wraps in a few other city-wide permitting issues like the tree ordinance. I really just view it as a revamp (and slight expansion) of the previous zoning ordinance. 

Hopefully others here can straighten me out on this.

[carolinaboy]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

^ IMO this is just a semantics issue. The UDO is just a zoning / land use ordinance that wraps in a few other city-wide permitting issues like the tree ordinance. I really just view it as a revamp (and slight expansion) of the previous zoning ordinance. 

Hopefully others here can straighten me out on this.

Right. I know a UDO is a combination of zoning ordinance/flood hazard development ordinance/subdivision ordinance, etc. into one "unified" document. Was just curious if this was the first time these had all been put together into one document for Charlotte. I know podunk places in NC that have had a UDO for nearly 30 years. Just curious.

[kermit]

^ The UDO was sold as a 'simplification' of development ordinances, so I took that to mean it was a change from past conditions with respect to 'unification'

Different subject:

Another reason for declining rents in Minneapolis -- fewer parking requirements. Its cheaper to build without parking and not everyone wants it.

 

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

^ The UDO was sold as a 'simplification' of development ordinances, so I took that to mean it was a change from past conditions with respect to 'unification'

Different subject:

Another reason for declining rents in Minneapolis -- fewer parking requirements. Its cheaper to build without parking and not everyone wants it.

 

It's also losing population though, isn't it? 

Edited August 11, 2023 by RANYC

[kermit]

26 minutes ago, RANYC said:

It's also losing population though, isn't it? 

Metro is growing up to 2020, Flat from 2020-2021 according to the BEA.

Hennepin County did decline 2020-2021. This certainly played some role in rent declines, good catch. 

Edited August 11, 2023 by kermit

[KJHburg]

this neighborhood in Concord (Afton Village)  has great examples of townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, stacked condos and SF homes all in one place.  All the above was originally offered for sale.  The Concord zoning for this was TND Traditional Neighborhood Development District.  

These duplexes were designed to look like large single family homes.   This all melds together great.   There is also condos above retail and a great mixture of styles and materials which makes it looks like a neighborhood of a much older city.   All built in the early to mid 2000s most of it. 

[RANYC]

OK, I must give credit to whom credit is due.  Apparently, Mayor Vi Lyles has endorsed a challenger to District 4's incumbent, Renee Johnson.  Renee is definitely part of the anti-development wing of Council, a UDO detractor and the Queen B of Queen City Nimbyism.  The Lyles endorsement is for Will Russell, someone who apparently was intimately involved in helping to craft the UDO and who is active in affordable housing construction.  Pleased to see it.  

[CLT Development]

23 hours ago, RANYC said:

OK, I must give credit to whom credit is due.  Apparently, Mayor Vi Lyles has endorsed a challenger to District 4's incumbent, Renee Johnson.  Renee is definitely part of the anti-development wing of Council, a UDO detractor and the Queen B of Queen City Nimbyism.  The Lyles endorsement is for Will Russell, someone who apparently was intimately involved in helping to craft the UDO and who is active in affordable housing construction.  Pleased to see it.  

I serve with him on Planning Commission, he is awesome. 

[KJHburg]

meanwhile in Raleigh they are building a missing middle or at least starting to do it.

https://philveasley.com/2023/08/25/taking-a-look-at-raleighs-missing-middle-pipeline/

[kermit]

The City of Durham passed a controversial zoning revision of Monday night which eliminated parking minimums citywide and (among other things) significantly liberalized ADU requirements (they can now be up to 1,200 sq ft, my first house in Charlotte was 950sqft).

I only discovered this because I was visiting my 100% auto-dependent, Faux News watching, mom there yesterday and she had just come from getting her hair done in her regular salon which had just moved to an ADU on the owner's property which she found to be charming. She asked me about what the parking minimum removal meant and when I framed it as a broad deregulation of housing and commercial activities she became somewhat supportive. The deregulation angle working for her was interesting since she is constantly complaining about the difficulty of parking in downtown Durham and she is a classic boomer in the sense she can’t grasp that people exist (with disposable income) who prefer not to drive.

FWIW, she has lived in Durham all her life and did not set foot downtown from 1975 (when the Belk closed) to 2010 (not counting peripheral 9th street and Morgan Imports, RIP) now that downtown has begun to heal from the devastation wrought by suburbanization she wants to go all the time. She has not put together that less parking = more interesting place.

Edited November 23, 2023 by kermit