Charlotte calls for ‘community benefits’ in exchange for taller uptown buildings

CHARLOTTE — Uptown Charlotte’s skyline is known for being aesthetically pleasing and constantly changing. How it develops in the future will be guided by the 2040 plan that city leaders have been debating all year.

“Uptown should be as tall and as dense as it wants to be,” Councilman Larken Egleston said.

Egleston raised concerns on language in the 2040 plan about how tall buildings can be. The original plan stated that “buildings may be as tall as 20 stories in uptown or when developed with community benefits such as public space and amenities or affordable housing.”

Egleston’s motion last week to strip that language from the plan failed. The plan, instead, was edited to say buildings taller than 30 stories, or 500 feet, should include community benefits. Outside of uptown -- 20 stories.

“Buildings that exceed 20 stories should be developed with community benefits. In the uptown Regional Activity Center. Buildings that exceed 30 stories (500 feet) should be developed with community benefits (e.g., affordable housing, public space, etc.),” the revised plan read.

“I’m glad that the change was made that lifted that height to a higher number,” Egleston said. “But again, I still think that it should be eliminated. I didn’t have the support on council.”

Fewer than 10 buildings in uptown exceed 500 feet. They include the new Bank of America Tower and the luxury apartment development, The Vue.

The development community has expressed concern that the rules could hinder growth. Other city leaders have wondered what exactly community benefits mean. The assistant city manager attempted to clarify that last week in a media-availability meeting.

“There could be housing. There could be public space. There could be some contribution to historic properties,” said Taiwo Jaiyeoba, assistant city manager. “Whatever it is that that community or town, or wherever, believes is a priority will be what the developer will be working with.”

The legality of community benefits agreements is murky. City attorney Patrick Baker wrote a memo to the council last month stating CBAs are legal in some circumstances, but the city’s role to mandate them is unclear.

“CBAs are legal when they are privately negotiated between a developer and a neighborhood group,” Baker wrote. “However, the role a local government may play in either encouraging or mandating such agreements is less clear.”

[Charlotte City Council tweaks language, keeps changes to single-family zoning]

Baker told council members in the memo that he recommends seeking approval from the General Assembly.

“Any ask of the developer from the government must be connected to and proportional with the specific government approval being requested, or else, there is a strong risk of legal challenges,” Baker wrote. “Therefore, the City Attorney’s Office recommends that the city seek special legislative authority from the general assembly before using CBAs as a regulatory tool in land use decision making.”

In less than a month, Charlotte City Council members will vote on the 2040 comprehensive plan. Weeks of debate and discussion have not moved the needle closer to unanimous adoption. A slim majority support the plan as it is, but leaders hope to get more support.

[2040 vision plan in flux as city leaders question single-family zoning changes]

This will be the city’s first comprehensive plan since 1975, and some city leaders said doing nothing is not an option.

“We cannot accept the status quo,” Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera said. “We have to change the way we operate as a city.”

(WATCH: Charlotte inches closer to 2040 comprehensive plan)