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South End’s New Zoning Overlay Will Ensure Urban
Character
Concerned that South End continue developing as an urban area and be
pedestrian friendly, especially near transit stops, South End has become
only the second area in Charlotte to take advantage of a new zoning
category called a Pedestrian Overlay District, or "PED"
District. The first was East Boulevard, which already has a final plan
in place. One is now in process for South End.
"This will allow urban-style development to happen ‘by
right," meaning you don’t have to get a time-consuming rezoning
to do it, and it will stop things like the Eckerd as ‘by right’
development," says John Cock, principal planner with the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission. "Right now, you could
build that Eckerd all day long if you had the zoning. There would be no
legal way to stop it."
The Eckerd drug store, located at East and South boulevards, has a
wide collar of parking around it, rather than the store being close to
the street as in urban development.
South End PED zoning is in the early in the approval process. The
planning commission has released preliminary recommendations, which are
now being refined with input from the community.
The final recommendations will go to the Charlotte City Council,
which will adopt the zoning as an "overlay" to previous zoning
in the area. That means that the old zoning will continue to dictate the
type of use for a property, while the PED overlay will address parking
requirements, building orientation and entrances, signage, sidewalks,
trees, building setbacks, planting strips, bicycle lanes and medians. In
most cases, the private sector will provide for new sidewalks and
planting strips, while the city would do the bicycle lanes, medians,
road widening, crosswalks.
"The PED zoning will primarily affect new construction and rehab
improvements," Cock says. "Anything already on the ground is
grandfathered in and will stay like it is until somebody knocks it down
or does something different to it."
Thanks to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association's magazine:
Realtor Reflections for permission to reprint this article. |
