Design and parking changes could be required in Dilworth area

CHARLOTTE – Reacting to concerns from people who live near Dilworth, the Charlotte planning staff has proposed amending the pedestrian overlay district zoning that governs development in that area to include improved design aesthetics and more required parking.

The Charlotte City Council this week held the public hearing for a possible change to zoning regulations regarding the pedestrian overlay district in the Midtown/Morehead/Cherry neighborhoods and along East Boulevard in Dilworth. Photo by Payton Guion

On Monday, during a City Council public hearing on the proposed changes, both neighbors and developers said they were content with amendment. The City Council will vote on the amendment at its next zoning meeting, at 6 p.m. June 16 at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, at 600 E. Fourth St. in Uptown.

The PED was first adopted in 1999. It has been mainly used in urban business districts and for mixed-use projects to provide more urban standards than the city’s traditional zoning classifications.

Laura Harmon of the city’s planning department said the purpose of the amendment to the PED was to promote compatible development to complement the character of the Midtown, Morehead, Cherry and Dilworth neighborhoods that it covers, addressing concerns neighbors had about the original PED and to clarify density as it applies to that district.

“We felt we needed to protect the character and fabric of our neighborhood, said John Friday of the Dilworth Community Development Association. “Dilworth experienced the small area plan first. We’ve learned from each of these changes” to the zoning ordinance.

What staff came up with was an amendment that would impact building character and parking regulations, in an effort to alleviate some of those concerns, Harmon said.

The amendment proposes rules on the design of long buildings, which Harmon said have become more common in Charlotte; ground-floor appearance; and a change to parking ratios.

City planning staff has been working for almost a year and a half on drafting changes to the Pedestrian Overlay District in the Dilworth area, conducting stakeholder meetings and interviews with residents and developers.

The proposed amendment includes requiring buildings longer than 250 feet to exhibit one or more modifications including 10-foot-square recesses, 25-foot-square recesses or architectural variations that would visually break the building up into separate sections.

“Our intent with this standard is getting that feel that it’s multiple buildings, but still allowing the design of one building,” Harmon said.

In addition to designing a building with one or more of those design standards, developers looking to build higher than five stories in Midtown/Morehead/Cherry or along East Boulevard would be required to have what the city calls “ground-floor delineation.”

This means that those buildings “shall be designed with an architectural base distinguishable from the remainder of the building to enhance the pedestrian environment.”

Examples of this are common in South End where many residential buildings have first-floor retail that is aesthetically distinct from the rest of the building.

The final requirement in the PED amendment is a change in parking ratio in those neighborhoods from one parking space per unit to 1.25 spaces per unit. Neighbors had voiced concerns about developers not providing enough parking in their developments, Harmon said.

Joe Padilla, executive public policy director of the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, spoke at the public hearing and said that these changes have been a long time in the making, but that he supports their passing.

“We feel what’s been presented tonight is something that developers are already doing and that they can do it in a way that’s economically feasible,” he said, but warned council against making changes to the zoning ordinance so frequently.

“We are concerned about how frequently this is being changed and to now have these changes coming through, we are creating an uncertainty in the market.”