Carolina Regional Realtor Association eyes stakeholder groups residential design authority.

In the winter of 2006, the City of Charlotte NC formed a stakeholders group tasked with examining the overall aesthetics and design standards for Charlotte Homes housing throughout Charlotte. This group, which is open to anyone who wishes to participate, is named the Residential Design Guidelines Stakeholders Committee. CRRA has been watching its progress. After initial discussions almost 2 years ago, the committee did not meet until June of 2007 in Charlotte NC. The committee comprises Realtors, Homebuilders, Developers of Neighborhoods and Advocates. The topics covered by the committee included materials used and new-home construction, size, scale and massing of housing in infill development; positioning of houses on corner lots, driveways, and garage door locations, and landscaping. The committee concluded that the city should not dictate matters of personal style and pace. However, City of Charlotte staff narrowed the discussion for the planning concept titled "Neighborhood Conservation Districts" or NCD’s. NCD’s are designed to define a certain neighborhood or geographic area and restricted development or redevelopment of properties to meet specific predetermined requirements for Mecklenburg County NC Real Estate. Other jurisdictions in North Carolina have adopted NCD’s that vary widely in scope and regulation. Because the proposed NCD’s are usually implemented in neighborhoods and predate local subdivision regulations, neighbors would have to choose to implement further restrictions on themselves. The number of households or properties to decide on the scope of the church has not been determined. Similar to historic districts, NCD’s would add a high per capita level of assurance for nonresidents and on any future development. CRA has some concerns about the NCD’s. First NCD would have private property restrictions. Depending on its implementation. NCD could limit materials used on housing projects, height of structure, and types of landscaping and, restrictions placed on derivatives could eventually be determined by a small group of neighbors. These districts usually are imposed after the neighborhood is established, the regulations regarding the number of neighbors who would be imposing these higher rejections of Charlotte Home neighborhoods have yet to be defined. Third, with more restrictions often comes less affordability. Requiring specific design standards limit the choices of homeowners. Because the group is open to the community, it is vital that real terms remain involved in this committee to represent homeowners rights and housing affordability. For the latest developments on issues like this and other proposals before the city and government contact CRA Government affairs Department at 704-9403 170.