Welcome back to Flashpoint.
Local nonprofits applauding
the Unified Development Ordinane
as a great path to help manage
Charlotte's explosive growth.
The city, nearly doubling its
size since the law last rules
went to effect back in the 1990.
Joining us now is Meg Finsel.
She serves as the director of Engagement
and Impact at Sustained Charlot.
It's a nonprofit focusing on
sustainability and growth.
Meg, welcome back to Flashpoint.
Thanks for having me.
City Council, as you know has sd
a bit of the second guessing wht
comes to the duplexes and tripls
and look to maybe revisit that.
Does that concern you?
Since this is a big part of the plan,
the duplexes and triplexes are
very important part of the UDO.
Having said that,
the UDO is a living document.
And there is an opportunity to modify
it with with text amendments if there
are any unintended consequences.
We think overall that this allog
more duplexes and triplex tripls
will provide more housing opportunities.
What we're seeing now is that many people
with moderate incomes can't affd
housing in many parts of Charlo.
So many of them are living in
homes that were really designed
for people with lower incomes, .
The hope is that this will incre
housing supply across the city
and relieve some of the pressure
on on the housing that is needed
for our lowest income residents.
You you mentioned it's a living,
breathing document.
What else would you like to be?
What else would you like
to see done in the future?
Well, I think the most important
thing is to make sure that the O
is actually fairly implemented.
A lot of time went into it,
not only from the staff perspec,
but also thousands of residentse
their input on the creation of e
Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan,
which is the big picture vision.
For Charlotte's growth as well s
the Unified development ordinan.
So any policy or plan or a set of rules is
is only as strong as its implementation.
So the next few months really wl
be critical as as we watch how
that the UDO is implemented acrs
the city and it's important that
residents are are informed about what
the UDO is and and what it isn'.
There's been a lot of misinformn
about it as well
what do you. What do you think t
concerns when it comes to gentrification?
Is there what's the middle groud
here in terms of addressing some
of the concerns of densifying
Charlotte neighborhoods but also
protecting against gentrificati,
keeping the identity?
I'm sure you see this is a
holistic approach of of trying
to address all those things.
Yes, I would say we should
consider that living in a city
that is is growing means that.
Neighborhoods will change natur.
A look at any any healthy city.
And neighborhoods do change over time.
So the question really is
how do we preserve the best
characteristics of our neighborhoods?
How do we really welcome new neighbors?
It's difficult to welcome new neighbors
if there's nowhere for them to ,
and so by having those setback
requirements for the duplexes ad
triplexes and having the sidewall heights.
That will naturally make sure tt
that the duplexes and triplex fit the
character of the existing neighborhoods.
It's also really important thatt
Charlotte does everything that it can to
preserve our existing affordable housing,
often called naturally occurring
affordable housing or no upper short.
And this is some of the most
costeffective housing within our
neighborhoods and it's often overlooked.
Often often the emphasis is on
building new affordable housing,
but we also want to make sure
that the people of different.
Ability levels,
income levels and ages can
live within our neighborhoods.
So it's it's not just a matter
of of building new housing,
but also preserving the good
housing that that we already ha.
And this will also allow organizations
like Habitat for Humanity and or
affordable housing developers to
make more efficient use of the
existing land without having to
go for a rezoning if they want
to build a duplex or a triplex.
And I also want to point out ths
is the way that neighborhoods
used to be built in Charlotte
and throughout the country.
So if you walk around Myers Parr
Dilworth or the historic West E,
there are a lot of duplexes and
triplexes and quadplexes and mof
them fit in so well with the existing
surrounding single family homest
we don't even notice that they're not
a single family home until we lk
closer and see that there are me
than one front door on that hom.
Yeah, absolutely. And don't stop there.
And and Dilworth and Elizabeth and Cherry,
I mean they're they're all the
historic neighborhoods have
the duplexes and triplexes.
Alright, Meg, listen,
thanks for coming on Flashpoint.
We appreciate it.
Thank you so much for having me.
More Flashpoint after this.