The 2015 Cary Town Council and Staff Retreat was held in
Charlotte this past weekend and I have to say, this was probably one of the
best – if not the best - retreats I have ever participated in.
The focus of this year’s retreat was redevelopment and
in-fill development – a topic we find ourselves struggling with more and more
each year; especially in regards to our downtown. But unlike past retreats
where the majority of our information and discussion sessions took place in a
hotel conference room, this year we spent most of our time touring the city and
seeing things for ourselves.
The council chose to visit Charlotte for our retreat because
they have experienced significant redevelopment in and around their downtown. We wanted to see first-hand and hear from
stakeholders involved in and impacted by Charlotte’s redevelopment efforts.
Yes, we know Charlotte is a very different city than Cary -
and I think we all like it that way. We don’t want to be Charlotte and we aren’t
trying to be Charlotte. But we can learn from their successes and failures in regards
to development and redevelopment, and maybe apply some of that knowledge here
in Cary.
All retreat participants traveled to Charlotte by train - and
I have to say that if you are going to Charlotte, Amtrak is the way to go. The
trip took approximately three hours – about the same as if you were to travel
by car. The train was clean, comfortable and on time.
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| Cary Council on the train heading to Charlotte - Copyright Bush Photography ;-) |
The Cary Train Depot is a beautiful facility. Unfortunately
that is not the case in Charlotte. I was surprised that with all their efforts
regarding transit – especially light rail – that they would have invested in
the Charlotte Amtrak station and somehow tied that into their transit network.
Getting to the train station is a breeze – getting from there to where you
actually want to go? Not so much.
A bus picked us up at the station and took us to the
Metropolitan – a fairly new mixed-use development just outside the city center.
We toured the development and spoke with the developer. The project was a public-private
partnership between the developer, the city and the county. The city and county
assisted with infrastructure and zoning/permitting. One interesting thing about
this project was a big box store on top of another big box store – a Target store
is on top of what used to be a Home Depot (a BJ’s will be moving into the Home
Depot Space soon).
Afterwards the council went to dinner at The King’s Kitchen –
a non-profit restaurant who donates all of their profits to feed the poor in
the Charlotte area. They also work to train and employ the poor and disabled. The
food and service was outstanding and I highly recommend the sweet potato
fritters. Seriously – get the fritters. Yum…
Friday morning we met with the Charlotte City Center Partners
and city planners to discuss and learn more about their approach to land planning,
partnerships and funding.
While partially funded via a special tax district, the
Charlotte City Center Partners is a private organization that facilitates and
promotes the economic, cultural and residential development in Charlotte’s urban
core. They work very closely with the city and community to leverage public and
private investment that supports walkable and pedestrian friendly development and
ensures a diverse mix of business and residential opportunities.
One funding mechanism that Charlotte uses for qualifying
projects is Tax Increment Financing (TIF). Charlotte’s TIF program focuses on infrastructure
improvements such as water/sewer, roads, parking and greenways. The developer
is required to construct and pay for the needed improvements, and is then
reimbursed a percentage of the cost of the improvements after the project is
completed and property taxes are paid at the post-development assessment.
TIF financing is and has been a controversial funding
mechanism with some risk. Charlotte’s program however does not cover any up-front
costs, and should the developer go bankrupt or the project fail, the city still
gets the infrastructure the private entity constructed. Charlotte’s financial
participation allows reservation of right to influence the type and form of a
specific project, and the project(s) must provide for a public benefit.
We also learned about Charlotte’s land use plan – Centers,
Corridors and Wedges Framework. Basically there are no limits in the city
center (downtown Charlotte), high density along the road and transit corridors
and lower density single family wedged in between.
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| Charlotte Land Use Plan |
We spent quite a bit of time in South End – an area outside
the city center that has experienced a tremendous amount of growth over the
last seven years since the construction of the light rail – mostly apartments
(thousands of units) along with some commercial and office.
Some of the apartment complexes were impressive while some
were, well, not so much. You could easily tell which developers took pride in
their projects and wanted to bring something of value to the community and
which ones didn’t. Charlotte doesn’t have design guidelines like we have here
in Cary so they are limited in what they can require in regards to building
materials and architecture. They did state that this was something they were
looking at, but like us are worried about State House Bill 150 that would limit
what local governments can mandate in regards to development standards. They
don’t want to rock the boat too much.
What was most impressive in South End to me was the re-use
of old warehouse and factory buildings into restaurant, retail and residential
uses. Any developer can build a new apartment complex – but I don’t care how
much money you spend, you cannot recreate the look and feel of old buildings. I
wish we had that here in Cary. We heard from the Developer of the Ice House, a
bar and grill that used to be a mill (if I remember correctly). It is next to
the old Charlotte trolley car station that is now a farmer’s market.
We also visited Seaboard Street and the NC Music Factory. If
you want to see an impressive example of the redevelopment of historic property
you really need to go here. Much of the property used to be a cotton mill and
then an asbestos textiles factory. It cost over $5 million to remove all of the
asbestos from the buildings before its redevelopment. It is now an
entertainment venue with outdoor and indoor concerts, comedy club, bars and
food services. The place was awesome.
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| NC Music Factory |
The redevelopment of many of these properties could not have
been possible without historic preservation tax credits – which our state
legislature eliminated, but is now reconsidering. While I can appreciate the concerns
of abuse and cost with the program, those concerns can be resolved.
It is imperative for historic preservation and re-use that we put this program
back in place. If you agree, please contact your state legislators and tell
them to restore the historic preservation tax credit program.
Everywhere we went we either took the light rail or a bus.
From there we walked… a lot. The light rail was impressive and I can see how such
a transit system works in an urban city with the population and density of
Charlotte. Wake County is probably 20-30 years behind. While I do not believe
we should be building a light rail system any time soon, I do believe we should
be working towards right-of-way acquisition and planning so that when the time
comes we are better prepared.
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| Lots of walking - Copyright Robinson Photography ;-) |
Charlotte will be constructing a new nine mile second leg of
the Blue Line soon at a projected cost of $1 Billion. That’s billion with a B.
I got five bucks that by the time its all said and done, it ends up being
closer to $1.5 - $2 billion. It will run from the city to UNC Charlotte.
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| Charlotte's Light Rail |
The construction of the light rail has triggered a tremendous
amount of new development – mostly high density housing apartments.
We rode the light rail over a dozen times. Not once did
anyone check or ask to see our tickets. You could just get on, go where you
needed to go and get off. This was shocking to me. It also made me wonder how
they can accurately keep track of ridership data; and not to mention aren’t
ticket/pass sales supposed to help pay for it? There were not turnstiles to go
through or anything to stop someone without a ticket from getting on. Sometimes
there was hardly anyone on the train – and sometimes it was standing room only.
On the train ride back to Cary we spent much of the time
debriefing and discussing what we learned – another advantage of taking the
train. But man was it good to get back home.
Like I said at the beginning, this was one of the best
retreats ever – less presentation and more seeing it for ourselves. I believe
we learned a lot that we can apply here in Cary.
Special thanks to Lana Hygh, Ted Boyd and others for all
their efforts to put this together. It was no easy task I am sure. I hope
future retreats follow a similar format.
I also want to give a shout out to Lori Bush. She was sick
the entire time but toughed it out and somehow managed to participate. She’s a
trooper.
That’s about it I think. There was so much we saw and did
that I’m sure I probably forgot something. Maybe Harold or Lori’s blog will
offer even more insight to our retreat. No pressure guys! ;-)
Take care and as always, thanks for reading!
