Addressing and Rebutting the Astroturf Campaign Against Charlotte’s Comprehensive Plan
It’s the most important city council vote in years.
On Monday night, the Charlotte City Council will pick and choose the policies they want to see in the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan. One of the main issues — and by far the biggest vote — is on Policy 2.1 (p.103), which would end exclusionary zoning in Charlotte.
For Reference: Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan
Comprehensive Plan Executive Summary
Ending exclusionary zoning will increase diversity of housing options across the city without dramatically changing the character of existing neighborhoods. The policy is a cornerstone of the Comprehensive Plan, and the most likely result if the council decides to remove it is a delay in the adoption of the plan.
Because the Comprehensive Plan has become so contentious, there are tons of different talking points making their way around Charlotte. Many objections to the Comprehensive Plan reflect a lack of knowledge of the plan, are not supported by data, are made in bad faith, or are simply untrue. I’m going to address objections to the comprehensive plan from the real estate and development community below.
Full disclosure: I chair the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Committee, which has endorsed the most recent draft of the plan. I was also involved in the writing of Charlotte’s comprehensive plan, and I was a member of the 2020 Biden for President Campaign’s policy team. However, I’m one of the first chairs of the CMPC with no professional ties to the real estate or development community.
“Let’s Get It Right, Charlotte” — The Astroturf Campaign paid for by Charlotte’s Real Estate and Development Industry
In politics, an “astroturf campaign” is a campaign that is meant to look like it comes from the grassroots but, in reality, is funded by special interests with deep pockets. Enter “Let’s Get It Right, Charlotte,” paid for by The Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition (REBIC).
Note: while REBIC is one of the most visible representatives of the real estate and development community in Charlotte, they don’t speak for all real estate agents, nor all developers. It’s not hard to find real estate agents who support the 2040 Plan.
In an early tweet from the campaign, REBIC staked out their main claims:
That all seems pretty bad — it would help their case if any of it were true. First, the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan is a visionary document, not a regulatory document. Because there are no regulatory changes, the only cost to taxpayers is the hours of work and resources that have already gone into creating the plan. Ironically, the plan will only continue to cost taxpayers money if the current plan and its policies are voted down, and the Planning, Design, and Development Department has to go back to the drawing board.
Next is the dubious claim that housing will get more expensive under the proposed plan. This is the real estate’s language for opposing Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs), which happen to be their number one objection to the 2040 Plan. The problem they face are that CBAs are widely popular and are currently supported by most of the Charlotte City Council, as well as progressives and neighborhood advocates. REBIC’s logic here is that because developers would have to make deals to provide public goods under the CBAs, it will increase the cost of housing. That’s certainly a possibility; on the other hand, CBAs aren’t much different from what developers currently have to do when they have rezonings in Charlotte.
Additionally, contrary to the claim that housing will get more expensive is the fact that a primary goal of the plan is to increase housing stock. Here’s why increasing housing stock is so important:
The inventory of homes for sale in Charlotte plummeted 70% from the year before, the report released by the Canopy Realtor Association using MLS data showed. With it, prices have skyrocketed, with the average sales price rising nearly 18% year-over-year to $370,706.
The price of a single-family home in Charlotte went up 18% in one year largely because there isn’t enough supply in the housing market. Many policies in the Comprehensive Plan, including many of the policies on p. 103 (not just 2.1), are designed to increase the amount of housing stock in Charlotte and decrease prices. So it’s fair to say REBIC’s affordability claim is dubious at best.
REBIC’s contention is that “The last thing Charlotte needs are new regulations that will hurt small businesses and job creators. The current plan does just that- intending to bombard Charlotte with more rules and complicated regulations.” However, the Comprehensive Plan is a boon — not a burden — to Charlotte’s small businesses. Check out Goal 5 on p. 114 (the mobility policies), Goal 8 on p. 126 (economic opportunity) and Goal 10 on p. 134 (fiscally responsible policies) for starters. An improved mobility network creates infrastructure jobs and makes it easier for customers to reach retail centers. A focus on economic opportunity will provide more city resources to growing businesses, especially as the city grows regional activity centers in underserved neighborhoods. Fiscally responsible policies that deliver city services at a lower cost will keep the tax burden for small businesses low.
Perhaps the most important policy for Charlotte’s small businesses is on p. 98: 10-minute neighborhoods. 10-minute neighborhoods put more rooftops closer to retail, something small businesses desperately need after the pandemic. They reduce commute costs for the service workforce and small business owners. They reduce the cost of delivering city services while increasing the efficiency of the tax base, and that’s a good deal for everyone. Most of the new regulations are for developers, while all of the benefits are for small businesses regardless of sector.
Fourth comes the contention that the plan needs to be delayed. I do not believe the “delay” argument is being made in good faith; “delay” is code for “stopped.” That’s my opinion, not a fact, but as of right now it seems like the best way to stop this version of the plan would be to delay it.
One of the claims REBIC likes to make is that they — as the real estate and development industry — hasn’t had enough say in the process. That doesn’t comport with what they’re telling their members:
Now, the argument that “Charlotte citizens are highly unaware of this plan” is a better argument, but I also think it’s a red herring (also, not everyone who will be affected by the plan is a citizen, but that’s another blog post). The engagement across the Charlotte community about the Comprehensive Plan has been unprecedented. Thousands of Charlotteans have interacted with the plan and made their voice heard. There have been hundreds of comments made on the website to improve the plan and give public feedback. There’s been a public hearing, four town halls, and countless community meetings with thousands of participants and hundreds of questions.
The people of Charlotte have had more opportunities to engage on the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan than any other decision the city has made in my lifetime — and there’s still a month before the final vote!
In addition to the astroturf website, REBIC also participated in the comment process. You can find the 2040 Plan “Comments from the Real Estate and Development Community” here. While I agree with someof their points, and some of their constructive edits are in the next draft of the plan, there’s a couple things I take issue with:
REBIC doesn’t think equity and equality should be in the Comprehensive Plan, and on page 7 of their comments they present the idea that equity “is really equality.” They’re different concepts, in case you need a refresher. Equity is a huge part of the Comprehensive Plan, perhaps most so on p. 135 where it presents a big idea: “direct at least half of public infrastructure spending over the next 20 years to the most vulnerable communities.” West Charlotte, East Charlotte, and many traditionally overlooked communities stand to reap the benefits of this plan because of equity — not equality.
Finally, some members of council seem to be under the false impression that REBIC and the development community support policy 2.1. They seem to think developers are itching to build duplexes and triplexes and will make a ton of money off of it (more on that later).
However, in REBIC’s own comments on the plan, they object to policy 2.1 three different times.
It’s clear from the real estate and development industry’s own comments that they want to preserve exclusionary zoning, that they want to water down the idea of equity, and that they want to delay the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan until it dies a death from a thousand cuts.
Coming Soon:
Part 2 — Addressing and Rebutting Other Claims Against Charlotte’s Comprehensive Plan
Part 3 — The Top 10 Reasons to Pass the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan
