Zoning Committee Work Session - Regular Meeting

HAB-Jacques Juilland- I could work in the road through the budget as well.

HAB-Jacques Juilland- Yeah, I got I submitted for 22 of them back in the ETJ nice HAB-Jacques Juilland- And of course, there's one set of HAB-Jacques Juilland- One fail.

HAB-Terry Palmos- One little neighborhood.

Don't worry, somebody will move it by the time we get home. It won't be, what?

So it's actually halfway in the street.

Welcome everyone to the July 21st, 2026 Planning Committee meeting. We are in room 280 in Government Center. We're first going to start with introductions and I'll begin all the way to my left with Michael.

Clayton Seeley, Planning Commission.

Erin Shaw, Planning Commission.

Evan Kettler, Planning Commission. Terry Lansdell, Planning Commission.

In staff.

Xenia Duhaney, Planning Staff.

Kathy Cornett, Planning Staff. Catherine Mahoney, Planning Staff. Maria Florin, Planning Staff.

Sorry.

Monica Holmes, planning director. And I came because I wanted to introduce y'all to our new deputy director, David Hiddle. So we, apologies, you guys are very prompt on time. So I'll let David introduce himself or do you want to, can we go ahead and do that? Okay. Okay.

Hi, I'm David Hiddle and I'm new here. This is my second day, first day in the department. fourth day in the city. So super new. I come from most recently from Bloomington, Indiana, where I was the director of planning and transportation. And prior to that, Indiana's other big 10 city, which is Lafayette. And then prior to that, I worked for the city of Indianapolis for a good long time in their planning department. And I'm just really excited to join Monica and this department and this city and glad to be here.

Welcome. Welcome. We're the fun committee. Anyways, what else do I have to say? Is that it? Sorry, first meeting.

One more.

We are broadcasting on the Planning Department YouTube page. On YouTube. Feel free to watch this later if you aren't already. I know we probably have thousands watching. So we are going to, I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes from our June 16th meeting.

Let's do a motion to approve.

Shaw second.

Motion by Lansdale, seconded by Shaw. All those in favor?

Aye.

All those opposed? All those abstaining?

Motion carries.

So we are, since this is the first meeting of... kind of the first, this committee, we are going to go over the mandatory referrals so that we kind of get a sense of what we're looking at a little bit. And Catherine is going to do us the pleasure of doing that. And then we will, at the end, we will then decide if any of us want to pull one of these to discuss further. And then we can discuss If we want to pull, we can then vote on the other ones that we don't pull. And then, um, as a whole, and then have a discussion on the ones that we did pull, or we can vote all of them at once after we go over them. I will pass it over to Catherine.

Okay. Well, thank you. Good evening. Um, can I just check in and make sure this works for everybody, uh, in terms of time constraints and where else you might need to be Monica? Okay.

All right.

Thank you. I will interrupt as needed.

Yeah. Okay. All right. So just quick reminder, the mandatory referral process is required by state law and it ensures that City and county agencies are coordinating when properties are being purchased, and it just ensures that that coordination is happening and we're sharing information, but it in no way prohibits or limits action or requires a change in direction with projects. So the first mandatory referral, 2026-26, is a proposed purchase by Mecklenburg County Stormwater, about 0.35 acres off of Mounting Rock Road, which is off South Tryon in the southwest part of the city. It is in the Southwest Middle Community Area Plan, which if you go to the next slide, Maria recommends neighborhood one, and they are proposing the purchase of this property for flood mitigation reasons. So that's kind of the level of detail I was planning to go into for each of these. Is that sufficient? Okay.

Is that good for folks?

Good for me. Yeah. Okay. While this, I'll just add, you know, while this site and the other ones are recommended for neighborhood one, preserving property to reduce flood impacts is seen as compatible with goals and values in the area plans. And so the planning department is supportive of this purchase.

May I ask a question? Of course. Do you use market rates when you're purchasing these properties for flood mitigation?

That's a good question for real estate. Or, sorry.

Superficient being made by stonework, methamarcatic stonework.

And is that fair market value based on the fact that it's a flood-prone property or fair market value based on the next-door neighbor?

That is considered as part of the appraisal process, yes. It's an independent third-party appraisal that does these for us. There is a reduction in value based on where it's located in the floodplain, but it's not significant to the value.

Thank you. I'm new. I'm just learning.

And real quick, Maria, if you toggle back to the – you can see they've been acquiring – properties in this area for a while. The year dates back to 2020. So a similar property, the next one, mandatory referral 2627. This is located, again, Mecklenburg County Stormwater is proposing to purchase two acres located along Beagle Club Road. This is in the city's ETJ area near the Catawba River, and it falls within the West Outer Community Area Plan. which also recommends this site for Neighborhood 1. But because they're proposing to purchase it for flood mitigation, that's seen as compatible, and the planning department has no objections or concerns.

additional comments Catherine one other one question sorry Commissioner Shaw um can you just remind me I know for others it's different but for in terms of stormwater like what what budget I mean is this money that's budgeted for the year for this purpose or does it come out of some fund I it's been a minute since I've been on planning so yeah Jonathan do you mind answering for

We budget for these purchases every year through our CIP money, which is funded through stormwater utility fees.

Okay, great. Thank you. And so, yeah, again, you can see how they've been acquiring sites in this area for a while. Okay. So mandatory referral 2628 is different. This is an acquisition by Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation. They're acquiring 0.5 acres located. It's off Avalon Avenue near Tuckasegee Road. So this falls within the West Inner Community Area Plan. And they're proposing to purchase this for the purpose of a neighborhood park. The property is recommended for neighborhood one, but it is, next slide, within close proximity to neighborhood two, which is shown in the orange, and neighborhood center, which is shown in the pink. So this would increase open space access for more residents and users in the vicinity. Any questions there? Unfortunately, our park and rec representative wasn't able to join us tonight. So, okay. Next up would be mandatory referral 2629. This is a, sorry, I'm lost.

I'm constantly lost over.

Well, I might have missed a page. All right, spring, sorry. Sorry. Here it is. Again, Park and Rec purchasing a property located off of Little Sugar Creek Greenway. This is kind of near the intersection of Tybola and Park, and it falls within the South Middle Community Area Plan. It's also recommended for Neighborhood 1, but again, they've been acquiring properties in this area for the expansion of the Greenway system. I believe it's also a partnership with... stormwater for stream restoration is that correct or. Okay, we might need to amend this report then.

Should I also make a note of that for noting.

I don't think that note is required. If it's not reflective of your comments, it's something that we can correct on our side.

We can reflect it in the minutes too.

And then the last referral, again, the Park and Rec Department is proposing to purchase five acres. This property is located off Shopton Road. It would allow for the expansion of the McDowell Nature Preserve. So we are now in the southwest outer portion of the city, which falls in the southwest outer community area plan. And the property is recommended for neighborhood one. So that is all that we have. There are not any more questions or comments. I think as a next step, Jason would be happy to share a broader overview of the mandatory referral process at a future meeting.

Perfect. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions, comments, or want to pull any of the mandatory referrals? Okay, I will entertain a motion since no one has any additional comments or wants to pull one.

Shaw, motion to approve the planning committee reviewed mandatory referral reports number 26-26, 26-27, 26-28, 26-29, and 26-30 on July 21st, 2026 and have no additional comments for the submitting agency.

We have a motion and it's been seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? It passes. On to the next and last item on our agenda. Yesterday during our executive committee meeting, we did go ahead and approve the dates for this committee. Those will be shared with y'all. And we started talking about... planning commission topics to talk about kind of like as a whole. But I wanted to add to the agenda getting input on potential speakers for this committee and just kind of we'll limit it to just like a few minutes. But if there's anything that's kind of coming up for y'all, I'm going to be taking notes during this so we can start getting speakers in on these topics.

Rebecca, I don't, it's been a year or two since I've been here. So forgive me if you just did this, but I think when we get, when we have the opportunity to have presentations from Parks and Rec or Stormwater explaining their strategies around the mandatory referrals or just their general kind of strategy for the year, that's always helpful feedback because then I feel like when you come into these, you have a better idea. And maybe same for tree save right because that's technically different department, I think. That comes from a different department. So those are, that's three, but that's all I got.

Commissioner Caprillo, I'd like to get somebody in here to talk about bonds. Because especially on the ETJ, we have several projects out there that were abandoned. And private communities have had to take over. But I was told there are some bonds on some of those projects and the city's holding the money.

Okay.

Namely gross. Okay.

Madam Chair, this is Terry Lansdell. I think my topics are going to be more timely throughout the year. I think I would love to have someone talk about the legislative agenda. for the city and county as it's being developed, and that usually happens in that November-December timeframe. I'd also like to talk and make sure we have someone on the CIP talking about the capital improvement budgets and the scope of the assets and allocations we have around capital improvement projects. And again, I'm going to talk a little bit more. I can always deal with transportation, every single committee, but I think that... Moving forward, we really need to, I think we need to have more information and understanding about our scope of work based upon the legislative agendas and bills that have been passed this year and how it affects our work here at the local planning policymaking group.

Awesome. Yes. And a note for that, I believe we're going to have someone come speak to Planning Commission in October, November. We talked about it yesterday. I forget which time. So we can make sure that they talk about 2027 as well. So thank you for that note, especially on legislative agenda.

Thanks. One more follow-up, if I may, before I pass it off. I think that having the MPTA's long-range planning group, when they are established, come talk to us would be an important part of our ability to manage future growth of transportation projects in the city. Thank you.

Awesome.

This is the first time I'm saying this. This is Commissioner Kattler. That's for my kids, I've got to You'll have to correct me if I'm sort of out of scope because I'm the new person at the table. There are two things that were of interest to me. One is obviously very timely, which is understanding a little bit more about the impact of of I'm gonna use the term data centers, but from a factual basis as opposed to from an emotional basis. I'd like this group and perhaps it's the full planning commission to have a better grasp of the facts behind things and what's really been going on over the years that we don't even know about that hasn't upset us perhaps. The second thing might be a little softer, but I've been thinking a lot about the weather climate and how a city like Charlotte can make adaptations to be cooler when it's too hot, to use less water when there's less water to use, to be more energy efficient as a city, if you will. And that could be anything from, you know, we have You know, if you look at the heat map, we know that we have parts of the city that are just too darn hot. We have places that are all, you know, impermeable ground cover. We have all of these issues. I'd like to know more and I'd like to do a better job around those things.

That is really helpful. And maybe we can get some folks from the sustainability down here to talk about like weather adaptations, climate, and maybe even like weatherization too. All right. Awesome. Any others? I'm just making a big old list.

Madam Chair, one more to kind of go along with Commissioner Kettler's suggestion. I think some of the work that I worked with staff last year around impervious surface, we might be able to loop staff in about that data collection process and what it means for tree save, what it means for water mitigation, what it means for tax valuation and impact, just to give a path through previous work.

That is helpful. Okay. I think we are good unless anyone else has anything. Okay. I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Shaw mission. Bye, everyone. I don't think you do to adjourn. If you do, Clayton will do it.

Second.