General News

I saw it coming. I knew the tree was going to die, sooner rather than later, but I didn’t do anything to save it. Every time I saw the cable wrapped around that oak, I’d throw up my hands and think, “Too late now!” (A phrase made famous in our family by my husband’s father, […]

Recently released U.S. Census figures show continuing growth in almost all the towns and cities in the Charlotte region, and one factor driving growth appears to be proximity to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The Census numbers show Charlotte continues to be one of the nation’s fastest-growing large cities. The Census population estimate for 2017, released […]

The day’s events could be called Storage Wars, The Local Version. From Shelby, Michelle Francis showed up nearly 50 miles away at Cherry Road Self Storage in Rock Hill on a recent Monday morning to shop for her thrift store. She’s usually out scouring self-storage units somewhere in the Charlotte area a couple times a […]

It isn’t just luxury condos and apartments rushing to claim space in booming uptown Charlotte. Self-storage facilities featuring sleek, multistory designs, special lighting and retail shops are trying to get a spot too. Beyond the city center, self-storage companies are rushing to catch up with the Charlotte region’s fast-growing population. They are building or have […]

We were less than a week into spring. The weather was cold and gray, but the landscape in my Charlotte neighborhood was Technicolor – emerald lawns, sunny daffodils, pastel phlox, Yoshino cherries and redbuds. Oddly, my eye was drawn to the drab trunk of a single willow oak, one of many lining the streets. About […]

Most city plans get input from residents, but if you’ve attended many city planning public meetings, you might notice the crowds tend to be a bit on the not-young side. It’s conventional wisdom that people are more likely to become interested in civic engagement when they buy property or have kids – not things many […]

Charlotte’s planning director, on the job since January, is recommending the zoning rewrite process underway pause for what he calls a “reset.” During that time, he says, the city should spend 15 to 18 months to engage in a wide-ranging community effort to produce a new vision plan for the city. “It took me a […]

[highlight] THE 2018 CHARLOTTE CITY WALKS HAVE CONCLUDED FOR THE YEAR. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE PLANCHARLOTTE.ORG NEWSLETTER (SEE SIGN-UP AT RIGHT ON THIS PAGE) TO BE NOTIFIED ABOUT 2019 CHARLOTTE CITY WALKS[/highlight] [highlight]SEE THE LIST OF 2018 CITY WALKS [/highlight] Charlotte neighborhoods have stories to tell – stories many residents have never heard. Explore […]

While Charlotte’s light rail line runs through the city’s glittering uptown – a tunnel of office towers and parking decks – at the farther reaches, the landscape tells different stories. Along the route of the Blue Line, from the edge of Pineville on the south to the UNC Charlotte campus at the north, you find […]

If you pay attention to Charlotte growth topics, you may have heard some unfamiliar words recently: Place Types. UDO. If you’re not a planner or a developer, or even if you are, those terms may baffle you. We hope what follows can help you sort out what it all means. Why now? The City of […]