MUMPO’s territory expanding

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As population grows in the Charlotte region, the Mecklenburg Union Municipal Planning Organization, a multicounty transportation– planning group, is expanding its boundaries.

New maps show MUMPO’s influence will extend north to Statesville in Iredell County, southeast into Union County to include land in and around the town of Marvin and into South Carolina’s Lancaster County to the area around Fort Mill.

Last week, during a meeting of the Charlotte City Council‘s Transportation and Planning Committee, Bob Cook, transportation-planning manager for the city, said increasing population in the Charlotte area has resulted in the need for MUMPO to expand its jurisdiction.

According to the U.S. Census bureau, population in the Charlotte urbanized area, or UZA, increased from 758,927 in 2000 to 1.25 million in 2010, and its land area grew from 435 square miles to 741.

MUMPO coordinates transportation policy for cities and towns in the Charlotte UZA, which includes parts of Mecklenburg and Union counties that are expected to become urbanized in the next 20 years.

The organization is also expanding its boundaries west into Lincoln County to cover the western coast of Lake Norman.

Commissioners in Union, Lincoln and Iredell counties have already approved MUMPO’s new boundaries.

Charlotte City Council members are scheduled to discuss the boundaries at their Sept. 24 meeting. During that meeting, council members will likely talk about how the new boundaries will affect the city’s voting power within MUMPO.

But council members have no control over whether MUMPO expands; state law allows the organization to broaden its reach as the Charlotte UZA grows.

In March, MUMPO plans to ask the Charlotte City Council to vote on the updated boundaries and a new agreement between the organization and the city.

Last week, at the Transportation and Planning Committee meeting, council members reviewed the new MUMPO borders. Councilman David Howard said it wouldn’t be good for the city if an expanded MUMPO jurisdiction results in the loss of MUMPO’s weighted voting structure, in which the city’s votes have more power because of its large population.

“I’m sure none of us want to give up the weighted voting, and I’m sure that is going to come up during this expansion,” Howard said. “This is good news to see growth. But, just so we all know, in the vote to approve this expansion the weighted system will come up, so we should be prepared for that discussion.”

Also, in November, MUMPO is scheduled to work with local governments in the Charlotte area to choose which representatives from counties, cities and towns will sit on MUMPO’s committee.

BAUGHMAN can be reached at [email protected], (704) 247-2911 or on Twitter at @scottmecktimes.