Charlotte’s biggest obstacle to progress might be its own leaders | Opinion
The job of an elected official is not to make everybody happy. It’s to do the right thing — the best thing — whether it’s popular or not. But Charlotte leaders seem to have reached an inflection point of sorts, one in which they find themselves torn between progress and politics.
Take the Charlotte City Council. Last year, council members adopted the Unified Development Ordinance, a nearly 700-page document intended to guide the city’s development for decades to come. Particularly controversial was a provision that allows denser housing to be built in traditionally single-family neighborhoods, effectively ending single-family zoning throughout the city.
The UDO, while imperfect, was a major step forward for Charlotte, making it a more progressive city. With its passage, Charlotte became one of the largest cities in the country to end the practice of single-family exclusionary zoning altogether.
But council members appear to be rethinking their decision.
In May, the council voted to revisit that controversial provision, approving a motion that asks staff to recommend “alternative options, including a schedule, for potential changes to the UDO for allowing duplexes and triplexes and larger projects developing by-right in residential subdivisions.” The motion was hotly debated among council members, some of whom objected to backtracking on a policy that had already passed.
“I just hope that we’re not revisiting three years’ worth of work and confusing residents, neighborhood associations, the development community, the public and the council,” council member Malcolm Graham said at the meeting.
As Graham pointed out, it’s not as if the UDO was rushed in its passage. Its adoption was the product of extensive discussions, hearings and public debate, which began with the passage of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan the year prior. As expected, there were people who avidly supported the zoning provisions within the UDO as well as people who did not.
The UDO went into effect on June 1, and those who objected to the zoning provisions within it have revived their concerns. They include homeowners who don’t want denser housing ruining the “character” of single-family neighborhoods as well as others who are worried about displacement. And while these concerns are not new, Charlotte leaders seem to be getting cold feet.
Meanwhile, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education is tangled in a quandary of its own. The district has to redraw boundaries in south Charlotte to relieve overcrowding and make way for a new high school.
Discussions began in 2022, and CMS has put forth multiple proposals that have ignited fierce public debate. Every version of the plan mollified some while angering others. At a recent school board meeting, around 100 people signed up to speak on the plan during public comment, which alone lasted more than three hours.
It’s a difficult task, one that will inevitably upset more than a few families who don’t want to send their children to a different school. But every time the district tries to appease one set of concerns, new ones arise.
No matter how hard CMS tries to make every concern disappear, it can’t. And that’s not its job. The district’s job is to relieve overcrowding and populate two new schools, while minimizing harm and disruption as much as possible. Has it done that? It depends on who you ask. But at some point, the board has to stand its ground and do what it thinks is right, or it will be trapped in the same cycle forever.
But such is the cycle of Charlotte politics. Leaders move forward with a big proposal, proposal receives pushback, proposal falls apart. And as a result, Charlotte sometimes remains stuck with one foot in the future and the other still in the past — or, in the case of CMS, it finds itself stuck at a standstill.
We’ve seen it before. Council members have repeatedly approved new drive-thrus despite their supposed goal to make Charlotte a more walkable and less car-dependent city. We’ve seen them struggle to even begin following through on their own plans to radically expand public transit.
In times like these, when strong leadership is needed most, Charlotte leaders can’t afford to waver instead of meeting the moment. They must have the courage of their convictions. It’s important for elected officials to be responsive to their constituents, but at some point, that responsiveness can become an obstacle to progress.
