Ballantyne Scoop » Warren Cooksey

Tax Reval – How Will New Tax Values Be Assessed?

Caroline Adams — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:31:53 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – Ballantyne Hotel was the site of a flurry of activity. An over flow crowd was in attendance for the January 27th property revaluation meeting. Ballantyne Breakfast Club was the host for the discussion and drew the largest attendance thus far for this series of public sessions taking place county wide. District 7 City Council Member Warren Cooksey helped organize the meeting for Ballantyne residents. Mecklenburg County Vice-Chair Jim Pendergraft apologized on behalf of District 6 Board Member Bill James who was under the weather and unable to attend. Mr. Pendergraft went on to explain that the county website for the property revaluation is up and running at http://reval.charmeck.org and all of the meeting information is available there. The county expects to mail the private property revaluations by February 7th and hopes the county will remain revenue neutral, however this does not mean taxes will not increase. The county will decide the new tax rate sometime in June.

Mecklenburg County Tax Assessor Garrett Alexander was present to talk about the appeals process. The state statute gives each property owner 30 days from the date the property revaluation is received in the mail.There are approximately 319,000 privately owned properties in this county. The county hopes to mail the commercial revaluations on March 1st, 2011.The county is still analyzing the 2010 fourth quarter tax data and expects to be done analyzing all of the data shortly.

The lead appraiser For The ReValuation Team is Chuck Hicks. Mr. Hicks did a power point presentation explaining the process (available on the website).The last time the property revaluation was done in this county was 2003. The 2003 process was partly based on 2002 property values. Two major factors influence the current process. One is market value. This is defined as the most probable price in an open market in a typical sale in the absence of undo stimulus. The second factor is equity. This is defined as the reflection of the current value applied fairly. Every county in North Carolina is bound by the state appraisal standards when doing revaluations.

In the past, foreclosures were not included in the revaluations. This years revaluation will include foreclosures. Appraisers can use a cost approval approach or a sales approach. The state has mandated that all counties do a property revaluation a maximum of every eight years.

Between the years of 2002 – 2006, the federal government lowered the interest rates several times. This temporarily increased property sales and prices. Some time after this there was a ‘market correction’. The ‘top’ of the housing bubble was in 2007. In 2009, the county was scheduled to do a revaluation but the commissioners decided they wanted to postpone this revaluation.

The ratio used by the county is the assessed value divided by the actual sale price which equals the assessment/sales ratio. If your property has increased in value since the 2003 revaluation, your ratio is below 100% (meaning your taxes will likely increase). If the price of your home has fallen, then your ratio is above 100%. If the value of your house is approximately the same as it was in 2003, then your ratio will be at or near 100%. The county board of commissioners will decide the new tax rate in June.

All property owners should receive a new property revaluation form. This is a perforated piece of paper and all appeals should be filled out on the lower portion of this same form. After filing an appeal, the owner should receive a post card from the county. Owners have 30 days from the date they receive the new property revaluation form to appeal the value. An example of a reason to appeal: if you have several unsold properties in your neighborhood and you feel the county has not taken this into account. Another example of a reason to appeal would be if there are a large number of rental units in the neighborhood that you feel the county did not take into account. A third example of appeal would be if the county has the square footage wrong or if it has changed since 2002. This would be time to fill out the lower portion of the form and mail it to the county with the number of unsold properties in your neighborhood. Please included a reason of why the county’s value is not the actual value.

The ‘Board of Equalization’ will be handling the appeals (click here for appeals info). This board is required by law to handle these appeals starting the first Monday in April and be finished by the first Monday in May. Each owner will need evidence to show why the value should be changed. Right now this board has nine members. This board member size was decided in 1981. The current board of county commissioners would like to control the size of the ‘Board of Equalization’. The county commissioners would like to increase the size to 15 members in a revaluation year. This is due to the number of appeals that are expected. There is a bill in Raleigh right now to allow the Mecklenburg County Commission to establish an ordinance to control the membership size of the ‘board of equalization’ locally. The other idea is to have two concurrent or successive panels in order to speed up the appeals process. All of the appeals forms will be scanned and put into a ‘queue.’ Property owners have 15 days after receiving a decision from the ‘Board of Equalization’ to file a second appeal. The reason for this board is a system of ‘checks and balances’.

The county now has seven appraisers on the revaluation team and seventeen appraisers who handle new construction.The county appraisers are using the median and not the mean. Here the reason the mean was not chosen. For example, if a neighborhood has an average sales price of $400,000 but one house sells for $1 million. This $1 million dollar sale would skew the mean for that particular neighborhood. The median takes this kind of anomaly into consideration. Using the median, all the rest of the neighborhood would not have unusually high property values due to one house that sold for $1 million. This will help the county arrive at the fair market value for properties.

A question was asked about why the county is choosing ‘30 days’ for appeals rather than giving property owners until May 15th. Mr. Alexander stated that there are statutes and case law to support the idea of a ‘30 day window of time’ to appeal. Another question was asked about lack of data. What happens if there are no sales of properties in a neighborhood for 2009 or 2010? Mr. Hicks explained that trend sales from 2007 and line of best fit are used to best estimate the fair market value. The appraisers use the best data available to arrive at the fair market value.

The county suggests that property owners go to the revaluation web site before the revaluation form arrives. Type in the address of your property and check to see what value is listed.The county is using a median analysis system of doing the revaluation. The date on the revaluation is January 1, 2011. The county expects to mail the private property revaluations by February 7th.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

Follow Susan on Twitter @susanjspaulding

Ballantyne Breakfast Club Special Meeting on Property Reval Issue

Caroline Adams — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:12:46 +0000

Ballantyne, NC - The Ballantyne Breakfast Club is holding a special meeting on Thursday, January 27th. This is the next property revaluation meeting. It will be held at the Ballantyne Hotel in the Fairway Ball Room at 7:00 pm. Councilman Warren Cooksey will have a presentation to explain and clarify the revaluation process. County representatives will be present. On February 12th, The Ballantyne Breakfast Club will meet in the Ballantyne Hotel. This is the ‘Priorities 2011 Meeting’. ‘On hand’ will be elected officials from the state, county, city, CMPD, CMS, the district attorney’s office and the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. All will speak about their top three priorities for their respective areas. All are encouraged to attend both meetings.

City Council Update – Greenway, Rezoning Request

Caroline Adams — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:37:12 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – Will local governments consolidate? The Martin Luther King Holiday is January 17th so the city council meeting has been altered. This week’s council meeting will be on Tuesday, January 18th. Zoning will be one topic on the January 18th agenda.

The new parking lot with the ‘Four-Mile Green Way’ off of Rea Road is a topic for discussion. This parking lot is near the corner of Rea Road and Bevington Place. Currently there are a few spaces on the street. Others park in the ‘Trader Joe’s Shopping Center’. Those in the ‘Trader Joe’s’ Parking Lot will most likely get towed. The location of this parking lot is also a problem. It is difficult to get right in and get right out. Also there is no u-turn allowed here. Larry Huelsman(C.R.V.A.) has serious doubts that the new parking lot is the answer. The Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Authority(C.R.V.A.) anticipates around 150 U-turns on Bevington Place per day. A new wall is needed for this lot. The cost for the wall is approximately $150,000 – $200,000. Moms with strollers parked on the street are a safety issue. This might not be the sustainable solution.

The master plan for this green way is not finished. This plan will emphasize automobile traffic. 20% of the people at the green way are ‘coming up’ from South Carolina. Some believe that spreading the traffic out is a better solution. If the traffic is spread out, this could be cost prohibitive. Spreading traffic out might not be the right fix. The new parking lot will need trees and lights. Approximately 30 cars will be the maximum in this lot. Councilman Cooksey asked about parking at The South County Regional Library or at Calvary Church. Worries over vehicles safety might keep some from parking at either of these locations. Can the public be convinced with new signs to park at either of these locations?

The city council retreat will be starting on January 31st. This year it will be held at J.C. Smith University in Charlotte. Council member Nancy Carter is in charge of this years retreat. She has already announced that no ‘communications devices’ will be allowed in the meetings at the retreat. She also has asked other council members to pledge to keep everything at the retreat confidential. Council member Carter is asking for a pledge of confidentiality at public meetings. Public meetings can NOT be confidential. This is a mystery. This next council meeting the retreat committee will be meeting to talk about this mystery and other retreat issues.

The York Development Group will be working at the corner of Providence West and new 521. A rezoning request has been applied for only minor changes. The proposed site plans and changes can be seen here. The issue will be addressed at the March 21, 2011 Council meeting.

Consolidation is once again is a hot topic. C.M.S. District 6 Representative Tim Morgan stated that the majority of the local legislative delegation is unlikely to support consolidation. Councilman Warren Cooksey reminded all that ‘big’ steps toward consolidation have not been taken at this time. There would need to be a consolidation commission appointed in order to be closer to consolidation. This commission would need to also hold a referendum and allow all voters to vote on the consolidation. Then the charter would go to the North Carolina General Assembly. None of these steps have happened. Fifteen years ago in Charlotte, consolidation was talked about and a commission was appointed. After the commission was appointed, it was decided that there were too many ‘whites’ on the commission. Later, several African-Americans were appointed to this commission. Lynn Wheeler and Don Reid were part of this commission process at this time. Don Reid stated that the first to speak about wanting consolidation are the very people who want to be the first ’Metro-Mayor’. Now, both Mayor Foxx and County Chairperson Roberts claim to have firm priorities.

District 6 C.M.S. Representative Tim Morgan explained that the best consolidation would be with the county and the school board because the county funds a significant portion of the C.M.S. budget. District 6 Representative Morgan does not think it would be wise to consolidate the city and the county governments. Overall, Mr. Morgan does not support consolidation.

On January 17th, The N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame will participate in the Martin Luther King Breakfast. N.A.S.C.A.R. is one of the a sponsors of the M.L.K. Breakfast which will be held at the Westin Hotel at 7:00 am. January 26th is the National Media Tour Stop at the Hall of Fame.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

Who Is Getting The Six Digit Salaries?

Caroline Adams — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:18:13 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – Who is getting the large salaries in Charlotte? This Monday night is ‘dinner meeting night’ for the city council. A few of the topics are: Gang Of One, Hall Of Fame and a closed session on economic development. The breakfast meeting on December 10th opened with items being discussed by the city council. This month the city will contemplate closing an alley near Mint Street. A hot topic is the new federal legislative agenda. How will the new Republican run House of Representatives handle earmarks? The firm of ‘Holland and Knight’ handle lobbying for the city. Charlotte would like money for extending the light rail ‘blue line’ and the Briar Creek Relief Sewer Line. Another topic is the extension of the federal service transportation program. The federal government has a proposed bill called the ‘Safe Water Drinking Act’. American cities would like to keep local control of drinking water.

Another proposed bill in the U.S. Congress is bargaining tools for public safety employees. This measure has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Senator Kay Hagan has not been clear on how she will vote on this measure. Senator Harry Reid has said that he will vote ‘yes’. Mayor Foxx commented recently that he is not sure this ‘bargaining tool’ bill will pass at all. The unions are not happy that Charlotte is not a union town. Mayor Foxx would like to see the Democratic National Committee Convention be held here in Charlotte. Is this a move by the Mayor to help increase our chances of having this convention? If Charlotte shows that it is not opposed to unions, will the convention be in Charlotte?

Councilman Michael Barnes made a motion to the restructuring government committee. He is asking why we pay large salaries to several groups. These four groups are: The Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Authority(C.R.V.A.), Center City Partners, The Charlotte Regional Partnership and The Arts and Science Council. Mr. Bryant is in charge of The Charlotte Regional Partnership. Center City Partners would like to begin helping with The Plaza/Midwood Areas and The South End. The job of Center City Partners is to ensure a ‘higher level of service’ for the center city of Charlotte. This includes having the streets cleaned everyday. Property taxes in the center city are also higher. And the revenue from the uptown is great. There is another group similar to Center City Partners, the University City Partners. Mary Harper is in charge of University City Partners. The property taxes in four districts of Charlotte pay for all four of these organizations. Other types of taxes and taxes from other districts in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County do not help pay for these groups. This is an ‘on or off’ switch and the city council can not ‘tinker’ with the details of these groups. Is this a fishing expedition? Councilman Barnes is ‘casting out a big net’. What is Councilman Barnes hoping to find?

Mayor Foxx stated that he is interested in changing the way the city council governs. He recently ‘opened a can of worms’. In the past, the city manager and the mayor only could put new items on the agenda. Other city council members could put new items on the agenda only with a unanimous vote. The new way that Mayor Foxx is now doing the governing involves just the opposite. Any city council member can put anything on the agenda at anytime. This may result in the city discussing some interesting subjects. Councilman Warren Cooksey suggested that this idea be deferred until the next city council meeting.

Another new item on the city agenda is a grant for delinquency prevention. This is a juvenile justice grant. This grant is for approximately $300,000. This money would fund a facilities manager and a few other positions to run this program. Councilman Warren Cooksey will be voting ‘no’ on this in the next council meeting.

Reventure will be building a ‘brown field’ north of the whitewater center soon. This solid waste will be converted to electricity. Some of the electric from this plant will go to the new northern waste water treatment plant. The ten year plan for solid waste in Mecklenburg County will need to be amended so that this new ‘brown field’ plant can be built by Reventure. This will help make Charlotte more ‘green’.

The Charlotte-Douglas Airport is receiving $135,000 in federal stimulus money. This money will help with the new ‘in-line’ baggage system. The department of urban development in the past five years has received 236 complaints. These are complaints about community housing. There is a new 84-page report that will be given to the city council this coming Monday regarding the department of urban development. The city will review this new report.

Does the new recycling company get overtime for late pickup? No, the city pays the company a set amount of money for the city’s recycling. If there are late pickups, the recycling company does not get anymore money from the city.

The Charlotte light rail blue line was originally scheduled to receive $40 million in federal dollars. Later this was changed to $30 million. The latest sad news is that the light rail blue line will be receiving $3.5 million from the federal government. Councilman Cooksey has voted six times against the street car. The city has already paid for one study that costs $5.5 million dollars for this short street car line. The shelf life of this study is five to seven years. Will the street car be finished in this time?

In the past the city paid for 40% of the cost to have C.M.P.D. Officers at C.M.S. Schools. This cost includes training and equipment needed. Another 40% of the costs were paid by C.M.S. Now the city has decided that over the next four years it will not help pay the 40%. This will be a gradual move to 0%. The school resource officers (S.R.O.’s) at the schools are critical at this time when schools are encountering more violence. Do S.R.O’s have any authority? Is the city choosing fluff over substance?

The federal stimulus money also paid for new C.M.P.D. Officers in Charlotte. The stimulus paid for 50 new officers and the city paid for 75 in the beginning. The city has a public safety pay plan. This was at one point 8% and later 3%. This year the city is not even giving a market adjustment to public safety employees. The new pay plan is for half the workforce. This might change the 2012 budget. The city has solid financial policies.

Recently Chief Jon Hannan of the Charlotte Fire Department talked about how the moral of his officers is down. Here is a partial list of fire department salaries: Fire Fighter: $ 47,813 and Fire Captain: $73,148. The city is spending $295 million on the fire department. This includes the new 5% pay increases. If fire fighters of all ranks are ‘good performers’ they will be paid accordingly. The city gives these performers salary that is within 5% of the pay of fire fighters in comparable U.S. Cities. The city fire department has it’s own pension plan separate from the main city pension plan. The fire fighters in Charlotte do not have collective bargaining. A fire fighter trains for one year before getting a paycheck. The police train for 22 weeks. The C.M.P.D. Officers make the following: Officer: $ 54,000 and Sergeant: $ 75,000. The pay for officer is equal to 97.8% of the national average. The pay for sergeant is equal to 106.2% of the national average. The total cost for the city of fire, police and debt services is $365 million dollars. The city employees get a pension and a 401k. The pension is figured on 80% of the three highest salary years. The city pays 2% of the pay into each employees 401k. The city is in the top three with regards to public pension plans of cities in the nation. Soon the city will need to have a ‘breakpoint’ in their plan for pension plans. The city can not sustain this level of pension plan for all former and current city employees. One suggestion was to change the level or eligibility for all employees hired after a certain date. Another was to restrict which employees are eligible for the 401k plan. The State of Illinois recently was in a similar situation and was forced to borrow $1 billion dollars.

The efficient review task force met recently. They suggest the city make the corporate technology line item more like other line items from the city. Right now the city has MANY software programs to manage all the ‘parts’ of the city government. The task force suggests one database for the city to simplify training and costs. The city could have this new database done in conjunction with the opening of the new 911 call center.

Mayor Foxx gave his State of the City speech this past Tuesday. His main topics were children, consolidation and collaboration. Next week Councilman Cooksey will cover more on this speech by the mayor.

In the news is The N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame. Out on news stands now is the Special N.A.S.C.A.R. Edition of Sports Illustrated. The Hall of Fame is featured on 25 pages of this edition. Thursday, December 16th the Hall of Fame will have W.K.K.T. Toys for Tots Event: details to be announced. Saturday, December 18th the Hall of Fame will have ‘HALLidays in the Hall’ with W.L.N.K.: A radio promo with Sherry and Santa. Also there will be a W.L.N.K. Movie Matinee: $5 for a holiday movie in the theater and story time with Sherry. Former C.M.P.D. Officer Marcus Jackson was recently sentenced to two years jail time including time served. Reverend and Mrs. Jinwright are facing eight years and six years of jail time respectively. Some noted the discrepancy between the jail times of Mr. Jackson versus The Jinwrights.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

Affordable Housing and Grameen Bank on City Council Agenda

Caroline Adams — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:35:16 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – Where will affordable housing be built? The November 19th breakfast meeting opened with talk of the upcoming city ‘dinner’ meeting agenda. Larry Huelsman, Tim Newman and others from the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority(C.R.V.A.) will be presenting to the city council this coming Monday night. The city is expecting a 45 minute presentation on results from The Hall of Fame and N.A.S.C.A.R. support of the hall, among other items. Most city council members are happy to have the C.R.V.A. present but are still saying “Do NOT ask for money”. The Plaza-Midwood Area has it’s own ‘street scape’ plan on Central Avenue. The old plans in Charlotte require 400 feet between businesses and any residential areas. The new plans call for 225 feet between businesses and residential buildings. The Housing Locational Plan does not govern but gives guidelines.

Charlotte is excited to welcome a new kind of bank to our city. Grameen Bank is originally from Bangladesh and gives micro-loans to the underprivileged. The maximum loan given is $1500 per person. Grameen is a non-profit business. There are seven other Grameen Banks in the U.S.A. New York City is one and Omaha, Nebraska is another location. Warren Buffet is involved with the Grameen Bank in Omaha. In the 2009-2010, the Omaha branch gave out $1.16 million in micro-loans. An example of the types of small businesses started by Grameen Bank micro-loans are: Selling clothing, catering, selling ice cream and day-care services. Grameen is asking the city for an initial grant of $230,000. The city might give this money as a grant, after Grameen raises the initial loan pool of $2.3 million. This money might come from the Business Corridor Fund belonging to the city. The Charlotte Business Privilege Tax is specifically how this bank is helping each business. Each new business in Charlotte pays a business privilege tax. The $1500 will pay this tax and still give each new business a little after the tax.

Grameen Bank also has a great ‘group’ problem solving seminar that is all part of the ‘package’ of getting a micro-loan from them. For example, a ‘group’ of five people would all train and be in a group management team. One at a time, ‘group’ members would get their micro-loan from Grameen. This ‘group’ also gets financial literacy training for at least one year. John Lassiter is one of the primary people to initiate interest in bringing Grameen to Charlotte.

The city council travel fund is an agenda topic as well. There are no individual city council member limits on this fund. The city manager has authority to give a maximum of $100,000. The fiscal year of 2010 has a travel limit of $25,000. The ‘old’ travel limit was $40,000. In the space of one year, Councilman Warren Turner used $10,000 in travel money. The mayor’s travel is figured differently. He has higher compensation for travel. When Pat McCrory was mayor, he became gifted at ‘hitching’ a ride on corporate jets to save tax payer money. The council is slated to vote on the ‘Gang of One’ project this coming Monday. This is a $852,000 federal stimulus project. Councilman Warren Cooksey will be voting ‘no’ on this project. A big part of the $852,000 is spent on hiring people and paying salaries. For example, this money pays for: a team of counselors, tattoo removal, cell phones. This money will ‘go away’ soon along with other federal stimulus ‘ear marks’.

Several are concerned about the new towing ordinance. This is being dealt with by the Community Safety Committee. This committee will be meeting at least one more time before a serious vote will happen on the new towing ordinance. The city has a new contract with Autobell Car Wash Company. The police department normally washes a minimum of 1,000 vehicles per week and the fire department 120 vehicles per week. This contract allows the city vehicles to stay clean but at a better price. A new contract from the city will be award to Bullseye General Contracting Company. It is a Certified ‘Small Business Enterprise’(S.B.E.) as is two subcontracting companies that will be working with Bullseye on this bid to repair the current storm water system in Charlotte. The city is excited to work with these three S.B.E.’s on this project.

The Quality of Life Chart of Charlotte works with the Locational Housing Policy. New, subsidized, mixed income housing is being dispersed based on the Quality of Life Chart. All neighborhoods in Charlotte fall into one of four categories: 1. Stable; 2. Transitioning; 3. Challenged; 4. Non-residential. Unfortunately, this entire process is slightly flawed. This idea guarantees that at least 32% of the areas in Charlotte are challenged. The Quality of Life Chart and the study associated with this chart used fourteen data points to decide how to categorize each area. The city is encouraging the building of new, multifamily, low-income, subsidized housing in ‘stable’ areas. These ‘stable’ areas must have less than 5% of the population living in subsidized housing currently in order to qualify for the construction of new subsidized housing.

The city would like to disperse this type of housing.. Recently, Councilman Warren Cooksey suggested more subsidized housing in Lincoln Heights based on the number of people out of work already in this subdivision. One of the regulations says there must be at least one half a mile between subsidized housing developments. However, in a ‘stable’ area that does not already have over 5% subsidized housing in place, the new subsidized buildings can be closer than one half mile. Neighborhood Statistical Area(N.S.A.) #187 had 2,700 people back in 2007. Now there are 11,000 people in that same area. Councilman David Howard predicts that the long term effects of the Locational Housing Policy is more apartments for ‘seniors’ in the Charlotte area. C.M.S. District 6 Board Member Tim Morgan asked if transitional neighborhoods with less than 5% subsidized housing could house people closer to their jobs. Most likely, the far north and far south of Mecklenburg County will end up with most of this new subsidized construction. The city also has a ‘permissible’ map that shows where subsidized housing is ‘permissible’. What about a mandate to keep the subsidized housing within a half a mile of a C.A.T.S. Bus Stop or near light rail? The Charlotte City Council will vote on this policy this December.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

CMS and Zoning Updates for South Charlotte

Caroline Adams — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:07:17 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – The November 12th breakfast meeting opened with talk of the upcoming dinner zoning meeting for the city council. This zoning meeting is a short meeting. Childress/ Klein constructed a building in the South Park Mall Area in 1953. This building is now being remodeled by the city. Piedmont Town Center is opposing this remodel. Councilman Andy Dulin is one of the prime city council members helping with this project. There is a zoning change on Holt Street and another on Monroe Road that the city is considering. Another project is the ‘Allen Tate Office’ Building at the corner of state road 51 and Johnston Road. It is projected to soon be a Walgreens but rezoning is needed in order to make it a drug store.

After a few years of design changes, the Greater Galilee Baptist Church now has new plans for a sanctuary and office that seem to meet city standards. In the past there have also been concerns by the neighborhoods near the church as well. The city will also consider a new bicycle parking amendment. The big zoning change is the ‘Urban Street Design Guide’. This guide was started in 2007. This is a set of new subdivision ordinances. Block links are limited. The discussion right now is around how the approval process for this design guide will be structured. How does a developer get approval? There are three choices: Door 1: Strict adherence to the ‘urban street design guide’; Door 2: Staff leads the way on how to adhere to this new street design guide; Door 3: Put in place a new development review board with experts in architecture and public health. Then the developers can appeal to the board if they feel their blueprints are done in the ‘spirit’ of the ordinance.

Which door will the city choose? Susan Burgess used to be on the Transportation Committee for the city. After Council Member Burgess’s death, Nancy Carter is now on the Transportation Committee. Council Member Carter would like to have a neighborhood representative on the Transportation Committee. The rest of the committee did not agree and this will not happen. The upgrade at ‘Quail Corners’ is being deferred until December. In the recent election, the street bonds did pass. One of the projects is an upgrade to the intersection of Ballantyne Commons Parkway and Elm Lane. The city does not have a schedule for this upgrade but will have one. Many are excited to see this project start soon.

Center City Partners is working on a new project at the ‘Reid’s Fine Foods’ location on 7th Street in the uptown. The ‘Food Desert Activists’ were on hand recently when the city discussed this new project. This project is the ‘Center City Green Market’. The ‘Food Desert Activists’ are sure that this project is in the wrong place. They would like to see this project moved to the west side. This is where the majority of the food deserts are located in Charlotte. Mike Smith works with Center City Partners and recently called Councilman Andy Dulin. Councilman Dulin was there when Mr. Smith presented his idea to the city council. The projected cost of the ‘Center City Green Market’ is $1 million. The recent vendor meeting on this project there were only three farmers interested. Many are also skeptical of this idea due to the cost of the project.

The N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame report is scheduled to be given to the city on November 22nd. Larry Huelsman, a member of the C.R.V.A. board, helped with the news from the C.R.V.A. Councilman Michael Barnes recently sent a letter the the city manager concerning the facilities managed by the Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Authority (C.R.V.A.). Councilman Barnes would like a report on the attendance, cash contributions, performance and management structure of each part of the C.R.V.A. Councilman Barnes is most concerned about inappropriate personal conduct of
members of the C.R.V.A. Tim Newman works for the C.R.V.A. There is another member
of the staff working in Washington D.C. As a result of this inappropriate behavior, the female staff member in Washington D.C., will be soon not work for the C.R.V.A. Tim Newman was also cited in this according to his inappropriate conduct.

The City of Charlotte did invest capitol in the C.R.V.A. Councilman Barnes is mistaken to think the city invested $1 million. The city invested around $200,000 in the C.R.V.A. New to marketing with the C.R.V.A. is Lori Wilkes. The city can not manage the C.R.V.A. The State of North Carolina passed a law to create the C.R.V.A. The city’s only jurisdiction in this is to appoint the board for the C.R.V.A. The State of North Carolina wanted a board with no ‘political meddling’ to handle venues like the Bojangles Coliseum. This is why the C.R.V.A. was originally created by the state.

How will students be affected by school closings? Ken Gjertsen, former C.M.S. Board Member and Tim Morgan, current District 6 C.M.S. Representative, were both present to sort through the big changes for the schools. The changes include: closing ten schools in 2011 and one in 2012; consolidating students and programs at five schools; relocating two programs; expanding eight schools to pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and one to K-12; expanding one school to grades six through 12; adjusting boundaries for 13 schools; providing targeted assistance to nearly 30 schools and creating two new home schools and two new magnet programs.

The C.M.S. Board voted to move Villa Heights to the Irwin Avenue I.B. Elementary Building. Lincoln Heights Elementary will close and these students will be reassigned to Bruns and Ashley Park Elementary Schools; The Board also voted to move the math and science magnet program at Harding High to Phillip O. Berry, creating a new home area for Harding. Smith Academy is moving to Waddell High. Waddell High School Students will be merging into other schools. Community House Boundaries are different now.

Will there be new charter schools in Charlotte soon? Some would like to see more charter schools in Charlotte. Many are not happy with C.M.S. Board Member Trent Merchant. Some are opposing K-8 schools. Kaye McGarry’s children went to a K-12 schools. A member of the county board of commissioners, Vilma Leake spoke at the regular C.M.S. Board meeting this past Tuesday night, November 9th. County board member Leake’s point was that some in Charlotte have already had their libraries closed and their parks closed therefore they should not have anything else closed. County Board Member Leake must not remember that it is the board she sits on that made these closing decisions just a few months ago.

While Ken Gjertsen was on the school board the motto was ‘bus for space not race’. As a result, there were board members who did not want to build schools in the suburbs of Charlotte. Instead, the board bused these students into the center of Charlotte. At that time, the school board spent $500 million on schools in the center of Charlotte. Those schools were not needed but schools were needed in the suburbs. Later, the school board spent much money to build ‘huge’ schools in the suburbs of the far north and far south of the county. The original idea was to later build more of these ‘huge’ schools in the rest of Charlotte. This last part may never happen with the major budget crisis that all are currently dealing with in this country. There were 117 public speakers at the November 9th school board meeting. Two of these 117 were ‘positive’ speakers and were willing to admit that the school board did not lightly make these changes.

The current budget crisis is much like the 1930’s budget crisis. There is a lack of money due in part to less tax money. The school board is facing a $100 million dollar budget crisis. The $3.5 million saved is not much when compared to the $100 million that must soon be saved. Raleigh will not be funding as much of the school budget. The state will be cutting as much as 15% from the school budget. The county will be cutting money from the school budget as well. In the future, there might not be any transportation provided for magnet school students. Also more schools might have to be closed to save $100 million dollars. Soon several of the montessori schools may have to merge to save money.

Charlotte’s Mayor Anthony Foxx would like to see the city and county governments consolidate soon. The mayor would also like to give taxing authority to the school board soon. Councilman Warren Cooksey does not like this idea. He does not believe any one government authority should only have a single purpose for taxation. There needs to be checks and balances. Right now there are checks and balances in the school board budget. The federal government gives a larger percentage of the budget now than it did in the past. The school board now receives money from the county, state and federal governments.

2011 will be an important election year for C.M.S. because all of the at-large members of the school board are ‘up for election’. One at-large member, ‘Coach’ Joe White, has already announced that he will not run again for school board. He has voted for staff recommendations for the past several years. Current At-Large Board Members Kaye McGarry and Trent Merchant are both up for election in 2011. Rocky River High School is a new school in the ‘middle of nowhere’. It serves students from the Hickory Grove Area and the areas all the way to Rocky River. The other new high school is Hough High School and it is very much needed in that area as well. Due to an interesting boundary configuration, the building of Rocky River is in District 6 but none of the students live in District 6.

Every 10 years the school boundaries are redrawn. How should these boundaries change? Right now, District 6 School Board Member Tim Morgan represents as many people as the combined districts of District 3 representative Dr. Joyce Waddell and District 2 representative Richard McElrath. Current District 6 Representative Tim Morgan is in favor of new two year not four year terms for all school board members. The school board is currently using the county boundaries but can draw their own boundaries in the future. The school board has until 2013 to finish drawing new boundaries.

C.M.S. is a ‘non-partisan’ board, however, here is the breakdown from the voting last Tuesday. Those who voted for the staff recommendations are: three republicans, one democrat and one unaffiliated board members. For the election in 2011, as many as thirty might run for the three at-large seats. The schools that are closed can be sold. District 6 representative Morgan is not interested in selling these properties now, while land is selling for so little. He would prefer the board sell the properties later for more money. The far north and far south will have more growth in population later. Perhaps affordable and mixed income housing can use some of the closed school properties. By law, the schools must be offered for use to the county first. There needs to be checks done on the possibility of ‘reverter clauses’ attached to one or more of these school properties. Some of these schools were built by the original ‘Charlotte School System’ and might revert back to someone other than the county. Currently Myers Park High has around 2,700 students, some of these students are in old trailers. Councilman Dulin’s son is one of these students. The school board can fix these trailers if there is a safety issue. Myers Park also is still using an old gymnasium. C.M.S. is NOT issuing bonds at this time.

Now that the decision has been made to close schools, what is the next step? Teachers who are currently at the schools that will be closed can apply for the teaching positions needed to fully staff the new Pre-K-8 and K-12 schools. Operations and transportation will increased at these Pre-K-8 and K-12 schools as well. The teachers at Davidson I.B. who are certified will mostly likely transfer to the I.B. program Alexander Middle School starting in the Fall of 2011. The majority of students currently at Smith Language Academy will be at Waddell High starting in the Fall of 2011.

Four schools are slated to be torn down: Part of Smith, Davidson I.B., Wilson and Pawtuckett. The town of Davidson might opt to use the Davidson I.B. Building. Possibly four of the ten schools to be closed will be ‘moth-balled’ until they are needed again. C.M.S. will work with the community to insure that vagrants do not break into the schools. C.M.S. will provide limited maintenance and security at these school properties.

In Ballantyne, Community House Boundaries will be changing. The new boundary for Community House is 485. Those north of 485 will start to go to South Charlotte and South Meck in the Fall of 2011. Those south of 485 will feed into Ardrey Kell High School. The $3.5 million saved by the school closings is not much compared to the $100 million that must be soon cut from the budget. In the scope of the $100 million dollar budget shortfall for the next school year, this really has only been a beginning step.

N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame Events Upcoming: Sunday, November 21st: Panthers Home Game: $2.00 off Saturday/Sunday with game ticket; $5.00 parking on Sunday. Friday, November 26th: Black Friday: Radio remote with W.R.F.X.; Free simulator rides when racing the D.J., prizes.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
www.BallantyneScoop.com

2010 Election Re-Cap

Caroline Adams — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:57:18 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – What surprises occurred in this weeks election? The election was the subject of the November 5th breakfast meeting. Councilman Warren Cooksey was happy to help with Representative Bill Brawley’s campaign on election day. One polling judge was upset with the layout of the ‘Meck G.O.P’ voter guide. Michael Dickerson is the head of the Mecklenburg Board of Elections. Things were finally resolved in the discussion over the voter guide. One of the surprises is how well Chairperson Jennifer Roberts did on Tuesday. There is much to be said for name recognition. Jennifer Roberts was also the only woman on the ballot for the ‘at-large’ seats.

There were some irregularities at Precinct 11. Approximately 129 people voted in person at Precinct 11 by about 6:30 pm. Somehow Precinct 11 had a total of 1,600 people voting. Early voting could have played a role in this irregularity. Old Providence and Precinct 11 were late in reporting their numbers to the Mecklenburg Board of Elections. The pattern for Charlotte elections shows the Republicans leading early but in the end the Democrats showed well and won.

Newly elected North Carolina Representative Bill Brawley was present at this breakfast meeting. Representative Brawley is tired of the corruption in Raleigh that has gone on for too many years. He is not happy with the phrase of many in the state house saying: ‘The end justifies the means’. Representative Brawley’s main focus is jobs and the economy. Other priorities are: temporary taxes expiring, revamping the tax code, remaining revenue neutral, a budget reduction, fair district boundaries and photo I.D.’s for voting. The ‘alleged’ reason some do not want photo I.D.’s for voting is voter intimidation. The real reason is that it is more difficult to ‘steal’ an election. Other surprises include the loss by Feingold and the loss by Angle. The Republicans now have 64 more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for a total of 243 seats. McConnell would like to now replace The President. The Tea Party did much to help the Republicans win this election.

Representative Brawley is now reading a good book by Jonah Goldberg called ‘Liberal Fascism’. One way to ‘get rid’ of the new healthcare bill is to not fund this bill. Rush Limbaugh has been criticized for stating that he wanted President Obama to fail. This is just the way that parliamentary politics work. The opposition party to the president always wants the presidents policies to fail. Representative Brawley and Larry Huelsman both worked in 2004 on a Park Bond Committee. The committee recommended a $55 million dollar park bond. After this same bond had gone to the manager’s office the bond then was costing $69 million. At that point, Ramirez and Puckett decided not to vote for this bond. This bond was designed to fund a park in the uptown of Charlotte. There was a stipulation in the bill that these funds not be used to build a professional baseball stadium. Right after this, Jennifer Roberts was elected chairperson of the board of commissioners of the county. One of her first ideas was to use this same bond money for the building of a professional baseball stadium. The idea was to move the education center and the tax payers would pay $38 million dollars to support a business not paying any taxes. There is a culture of corruption in Charlotte and other places in North Carolina.

Governor Perdue is under investigation for misuse of campaign dollars. The former speaker of the North Carolina House was just convicted for stealing $500,000. In the U.K., they have a European Parliamentary vote of a vote of confidence and the loss of confidence. When John Major became the Prime Minister of the U.K he was picked by the majority party and was not voted into office. What changes will be seen by the newly elected Tea Party and Republicans now in office?

Gary Spellman was able to attend the latest public meeting to discuss the Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities Department (C.M.U.D.). Twenty-two were in attendance with eleven presenting. There were a few lawyers present among the twenty-two. Each member of the public was allowed to speak for three minutes. There are five new proposals. C.M.U.D. is still having a few unique problems with billing. A few in the northern and southern parts of Mecklenburg County have had ‘spiked’ readings. Not all of the causes have been located at this time. Several housing communities sent their H.O.A. Representatives. The calls to 311 are also part of this unique problem. C.M.U.D. usually handles 700 water bill complaints per month. Lately they have had about 1300 per month. This constitutes less than 1% of the people served by City Water. Unfortunately, under Doug Bean, C.M.U.D. customer service had ‘slipped’. Mr. Smith is now in customer service and was present at this meeting. An average of 31 of 32 times that there is a ‘spike’ in the water usage there is a leak on the customer’s side of the property. At this time, the C.M.U.D. meeting held earlier in the south part of the county has been the best attended of these public meetings. C.M.U.D. will have a new Continuous Improvement Officer. Larry Huelsman had a broken water meter and it took 6 months for C.M.U.D. to fix the meter and another few months to fix the bill. Most of the water meters in Charlotte are now computer read not ‘hand’ read. All of the ‘hand ‘reading of the meters is now done in regions. The ‘old’ way of ‘hand’ reading the meters was organized by location. Unfortunately, it can still take about six weeks to fix a small leak. Councilman Warren Cooksey reminded all that the city is in the middle of restructuring the way the city government works.

Larry Huelsman brought information on the Charlotte Region Visitor’s Authority (C.R.V.A.). Here is a partial schedule of the events at the N.A.S.C.A.R. Museum/Hall of Fame: Monday November 8th – Sunday, November 14th is Military Appreciation Week: Half off for retired or active military PLUS a free 60 minute international calling card from ‘Cell Phones For Soldiers’. Also Thursday, November 11th is Educator’s Day: Educators get in FREE when they pre-register and listen to a field trip sales presentation. The C.R.V.A. would like to encourage all to visit the N.A.S.C.A.R. Museum/Hall of Fame soon.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
Ballantyne Scoop

Ballantyne Voting District Information and Election News

Caroline Adams — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:00:11 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – The first Monday of the month is traditionally the ‘workshop’ mode for the city council. The breakfast meeting on October 29th opened with talk of the Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee meeting this next Monday. ‘Workshop’ meetings are a ‘preview’ of the topics soon coming to the board. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte(U.N.C.C.) has just completed a study for the city on ‘affordable housing’. ‘Low income’ families are defined by the federal government as those who pay more than 30% of their gross income on rent/mortgage and utilities. This study has concluded that Charlotte has 24,179 people who fall into this ‘low income’ group. In addition, Charlotte also has 5, 066 who are living in affordable housing that are ‘non-burdened’. The ‘non-burdened’ can afford to spend less than 30% of their gross income on rent/mortgage and utilities. In addition, the council will have a briefing on how ‘trust fund’ dollars are used for ‘affordable housing’. The city requires 24 – 100 units be at each site. 24 units is the minimum needed for onsite management. The city would like the city regulations to line up with the state and federal governments regulations on ‘affordable housing’. The federal government requires 60% Area Median Income(A.M.I.).

Are the regulations the same? ‘Subsidized housing’ goals want the housing to be: dispersed, diverse, school development alongside, avoid undue concentration and have a transit corridor policy. Exemptions to the ‘locational policy’ are the elderly and the physically disabled. ‘New’ construction can only be in ‘stable’ areas. The city has to deem the area ‘stable’. The city has been divided into neighborhood statistical areas (N.S.A.’s). There can not be in any one area with more than 5% ‘affordable housing’. This type of housing raises the costs of building and reinforces a stigma. Can this goal be accomplished with city funds only? If the developer applies for state and federal funding does this policy still apply? Actually, there is an ‘informal loophole’ in the city policy. The city formerly had a ‘housing trust fund committee’ to help run these ‘affordable housing’ ideas. The housing bonds fund this type of housing. The new board replacing the ‘housing trust fund committee’ is the ‘community housing board’. The ‘housing trust fund’ had real-estate lawyers and real-estate experts. This new board is made up of people from ‘non-profit’ service backgrounds. How will this alter the committee? Developers can apply for a ‘waiver’ from these policies. Can these three government entities work together for these ‘affordable housing’ groups? Can city policies cause good change in ‘affordable housing’? This coming Monday, November 1st, the council will hear the full report of this study done by U.N.C.C.

Charlotte needs new transit corridors. Where are the bus lines on state highway 51 from Matthews to Carolina Place Mall? The Metropolitan Transit Committee does not like advertising on public transportation. Bus shelters are built at bus stops with more than 25 riders at that stop. If fewer than 25 riders use that bus stop than there is no shelter. Carolyn Flowers is the Head of the Metropolitan Transit Committee. Is Adams Outdoor Advertising interested in building bus shelters? Is it possible to make build ‘affordable housing’ to coordinate with the current transit corridors?

Ken Gjertsen, former school board member, was present to talk about the new board policies. The board has new ‘guiding principal’s’ policy and ‘home’ schools are the priority ‘type’ of school. Waddell High School is in an industrial park. Does Dr. Waddell want to delay the November 9th vote? Waddell High is now off the ‘closing’ list and now Harding High is on the list. There is a backlash at Harding as a result. Thursday of this week, most of the students at Harding did not go to class. They chose to stand in the yard at the school protesting. When Mr. Gjertsen was on the school board, the board had policy training. Mr. Gjertsen thinks the present board should create a policy with specifics on how the board closes schools. Mr. Gjertsen believes this would alleviate some of the daily changes in the ‘closing’ list. The only question would be one such as: ‘Did the superintendent follow the policy?’

Essentially what some board members are doing now is ‘demographic gerrymandering’ of the schools on the ‘closing’ list. Some current board members like not having a ‘policy’ that dictates board decisions. In 1999 or 2000, Larry Gauvreau, also a former board member, passed a measure to make it illegal to bus children in Charlotte due to race. At that time the board spent $500 million on new schools with 11,000 empty seats. F.U.M.E. is an organization the current board member, Rhonda Lennon, helped to start. F.U.M.E. does not want the children on the north side of Charlotte to be bused anywhere ‘too far’ to school. Families United for North Mecklenburg Education (F.U.M.E.) as an organization that wants new schools on the north side of the county. Dr. Gorman and the current board can not make up their minds about which schools to put on the ‘closing’ list. A few years ago, School Board Chairman Eric Davis was on a bond oversight committee. Currently the school system is poised to loose a grant due to these possible school closings. Is this Good or Bad?

The election in Charlotte is next Tuesday, November 2nd. There is no line for early voting in Ballantyne. Early voting is in the Hays Building on North Community House Road. At the South County Library there are LONG lines. We now have polling available on how well early voting is going. Early predictions are that 27-28 seats will go Republican in the North Carolina State House. In District 40 Malcolm Graham is the incumbent. The Charlotte Observer is backing Mr. Graham versus John Annarella. Vilma Leake, Board of Commissioners of the County, did not know until this week that she had any opposition. Ms. Leake did not mount a campaign. The Charlotte Observer is not endorsing Corey Thompson, or Jennifer Roberts but is endorsing Mulvaney, Cogdell and Pendergraft.

Michael Barnes has a new T.V. commercial ad for his campaign. The Observer cited several reasons for not endorsing Chairperson Jennifer Roberts. These reasons are: the county’s failures like an employee embezzling money from the ‘Giving Tree’, the ‘Open Door’ program had illegal credit card use and the fact the Ms. Roberts is not taking problems seriously. Jeff Taylor from ‘Meck Deck’ was wondering about Dan Murray’s ad. Mr. Murray states in the ad ‘ I’m fighting for you’. Who is Dan Murray fighting?

More predictions, Republicans will the majority of both Chambers of the North Carolina and districts will be redrawn. Will citizens be required to show a photo ID in order to vote? Will Governor Beverly Purdue veto this bill? Joe Hackney and Thom Tillis are both Republicans running for office. How will they vote? Bob Rucho is upset about the $700 million dollars in funding ‘wild, unknown’ projects. Can the state budget be looked at by each line item? Will the republicans cut C.M.S. spending? Will the school employees unionize? Will this excessive spending stop? Will the republicans become the ‘new majority’?

Here is a list of the offices for the Ballantyne area:
CONG DIST 9
STATE SENATE DISTRICT 39
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 105
JUDICIAL DISTRICT 26
JUDICIAL DISTRICT 26C
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS DISTRICT 6
SCHOOL BOARD DIST 6
CHARLOTTE
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 7

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
Ballantyne Scoop

City Council Updates

Caroline Adams — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 08:44:59 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – Can The Charlotte Chamber Help The City Grow? The public policy breakfast meeting on October 22nd, 2010 was opened by talk of the most recent chamber planning retreat. The Charlotte City Council is scheduled to be at the League of Municipalities Conference in Winston-Salem, October 23rd – October 26th. Therefore, the city council will not be meeting on Monday, October 25th. However, there are several city council committee’s that will be meeting the week of the 24th. First is the Community Safety Committee. This committee is changing both the noise ordinance and the towing ordinance. Also, the Economic Development Committee is welcoming Grameen Bank back to Charlotte. Grameen Bank specializes in business loans to the less fortunate. This committee is also working with small businesses in the area. Some on the Economic Committee were upset that council member Nancy Carter ‘hijacked’ their last meeting. Although Ms. Carter is on the city council, she is not on the Economic Development Committee.

The Charlotte Chamber Planning Retreat was held recently to plan how the chamber can best help the City of Charlotte. One of the topics discussed at this retreat was: ‘How Best to Improve the Competitiveness of Charlotte, Nationally and Globally’? Ken Gjertsen recommended promoting energy conservation. Charlotte clearly needs more infrastructure. There was some discussion as how best to get more infrastructure for Charlotte. Does Charlotte need more roads? How does Charlotte best grow financial capitol? How does it grow human capitol? How does it grow social capitol?

Taxing Issues were also discussed at the retreat. When Royal Insurance was considering moving to Charlotte, their were several types of public officials who met with Royal and an interchange was added to Interstate 77. Most of the final details were ‘hammered’ out in a weekend. Johnson and Wales University’s decision to move was made in a similar fashion. Most businesses do not have this type of attention from city officials. Private companies need to know there are incentives, transportation and infrastructure for their company and employees. Businesses are looking for a positive business environment. Our public schools are a perceived downfall from the perspective of some locals. Ken Gjertsen would also like to see the Charlotte Chamber streamlined for small businesses.

C.M.S has a fabulous image nationally but has a negative image locally. The slow pace of change for C.M.S has been a frustration to many locally. Providence and Ardrey Kell High Schools are ranked number two and number three in the State of North Carolina. Right now there is plenty of conflict over possible school closings and this is causing local issues. During a break-out session at the conference, these four items were discussed at length:

The cost of doing business: public policy and taxes.
Flexibility: the chamber should facilitate flexibility.

Support the Charlotte-Douglas Airport.
Charlotte Business Issues: The chamber should help candidates understand these issues.

Charlotte also requires that the chamber help with new transportation and transit needs. Some would like to see a holistic approach to public transportation. Currently Charlotte only has mediocre transportation on weekdays but not on weekends. It would be nice to have more public transportation options on weekends. Most would like Charlotte to finish the light rail and other new transit ideas. Some would like Charlotte’s light rail to be modeled after Washington D.C.’s metro line. Charlotte needs more H.O.V. Lanes, greenways, bike lanes and roads. Right now in the City of Charlotte, there is a list of identified transportation needs costing $5 billion. 485 was started more than 30 years ago and is obviously seriously over budget. In the end, the light rail did cost much more than originally was planned. The blue line was originally estimated to cost $250 million. The final costs of this line were just under $500 billion.

The Transit/Transportation Committee held a retreat a few days ago. Charlotte needs more open and more green space. The city also needs an inclusive business committee. The minority growth is increasing along with businesses owned by minorities. Here are the committee’s three recommendations:

Regional Restructuring of The N.C. Transportation Funding.
2030 Plan: Support the priorities of this plan.
Flexibility: Funding is needed for transit; special flexibility for design/build.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
Ballantyne Scoop

Community House Middle Boundry Change?

Caroline Adams — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:36:38 +0000

Ballantyne, NC – This week has been a study in tragedies of police families. Demeatrius Montgomery was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder this week. Also this week was the capture and arrest of Michael Harvey. He was with Valerie Hamilton just before her death. Valerie Hamilton is the daughter of the Concord City Police Chief.

The October 1st breakfast meeting opened with local news and talk of the city council workshop schedule this coming Monday. The economic development committee will also be in a closed door meeting this Monday. The city utilities office has a new person in charge named Mr. Gullett. He has vowed to help make customer service more of a priority than in the past. Right now there is a 2% error in utility rate bills but this does add up in a large city like Charlotte. The city is paying for a rate study in the utility department. This group is studying the business side of utility rates. The rate increases are caused by debit in the capitol program payments.

The city is again talking about Eastland Mall and the best way to handle this project. Boxer purchased part of Eastland Mall in June but did not purchase any of the vacant department stores. Boxer might be purchasing more of Eastland. Boxer also might ask the city to help with this purchase. The city originally offered to buy Eastland for $22 million and later offered $7.4 million. Will Boxer want to do a facade improvement to Eastland? If Boxer does want to do more than a 10% facade improvement, the city’s new tree ordinance will dictate much of how this improvement is handled. Any facade improvement of 10% or more on an area facing a street will ‘trigger’ the city’s new tree ordinance. A facade improvement will most likely equal a parking retrofit and this will cost more money. The new ordinance requires that all parking spaces are located forty feet from a tree. Parking decks are far more money than plain parking lots. City staff will be make a presentation on Boxer and Eastland Mall to about the 31 acres of parking lot on the property. City councilman Andy Dulin has said that it will cost money to leave trees alone but it will cost money to cut down trees. The city’s new tree ordinance can be expensive. The payment ‘in lieu’ is according to the average tax value of a property. Councilman Edwin Peacock recently commented that he wants Councilman Warren Cooksey to ‘just go along’ with the will of the rest of the city council. Councilman Peacock does not see the value of the council voting. Is a ‘green’ roof a better choice than saving trees?

Tim Morgan, C.M.S. District 6, had a reminder for everyone: when more schools are built in the future, this new tree ordinance will equal greater costs to all taxpayers. The American Forest Group has stated that cities east of the Mississippi should have a 40% tree canopy. The City of Charlotte has a 44% tree canopy. After the city started looking at tree canopy numbers, the American Forest Group modified this number. This group has now stated that this percentage should be 50% for Charlotte. Councilmen Andy Dulin and Warren Cooksey along with one democrat, Councilman Warren Turner did vote to exempt affordable housing from the new tree ordinance. Many others on the city council did say that it was important to exempt affordable housing but did not vote for this exemption. Councilman Patrick Cannon did bring ‘up’ the vote but later withdrew this. This technique raises the cost of development in the ‘wedges’. It is a micromanaging technique at the property level. The new tree ordinance is a development control technique and controls where development should occur.

The District 6 C.M.S. Representative, Tim Morgan was present again to answer school related questions. C.M.S. Officials anticipate that District 6 Schools Mint Hill Middle and Ballantyne Elementary will be removed from the ‘list of school changes’. Mint Hill Middle will see some administrative moves along with Title 1 changes. Officials are looking to change 150 Title 1 children. Right now there are 100 Title 1 children from Albemarle Road being sent to Mint Hill Middle. There are also another 50 children in the Title 1 program being sent to Mint Hill Middle. These children soon might not be sent to Mint Hill Middle and this will help relieve some of the overcrowding at this school. Ballantyne Elementary most likely will see more mobile classrooms to help alleviate overcrowding there.

Community House Middle is the most overcrowded school in Charlotte. C.M.S. Officials anticipate moving children from Community House to South Charlotte Middle School and J.M. Robinson Middle to alleviate some of the overcrowding. C.M.S. is seriously looking at seven middle schools and elementary schools that will be part of a new ‘K through 8’ or ‘Pre-K through 8’ program. Seven new elementary/middle school campus sites will be part of this program. School officials look forward to smaller classes and more time to have the children at one campus. School officials are also looking forward to one K-12 ‘Upper/Lower’ Campus with more separation of the different age children.

If C.M.S. closes schools this will ‘trigger’ some ‘reverter clauses’ to be in effect. Some of these closed schools might be used for ‘Parks and Recreation’ or affordable housing. Officials anticipate closing up to twelve schools and this will save money on administrative costs. Some are under the mistaken idea that once a school is opened that it can never be closed. C.M.S. is not shutting programs but might shut some schools. Right now the cost per student at Davison I.B is $8,500. This program might be expanded to Alexander. The cost per student at Community House is only $4,300 per student. This will save money to move this program.

The city is looking to ‘get out’ of the S.R.O./Crossing Guard Programs. There also was some worry about changes to magnet school transportation. Actually, there are more students at magnet schools at this time. John Grooms, from ‘Creative Loafing’, is upset with school officials over the reinstatement of Butler High School Football Player Sombo. Following C.M.S.Policy, Osvaldo Sombo was removed from Butler until all of the rape charges against him were cleared. The father of the teenaged girl involved in this ‘incident’ is also upset that Sombo is again playing football for Butler. C.M.S is facing some difficult decisions with all of these changes. School officials anticipate a final vote for November 9th on changes to the ‘student assignment policy’.

Today, October 1st, C.M.P.D. is opening a new police substation on Wendover Road in the Providence Division. This substation is near the ‘Cotswold’ area of Charlotte. Councilman Dulin is happy to attend this opening.

Saturday October 9th will be a day for two local events. The first event is the Ballantyne Breakfast Club Chili Cookoff. This will be on October 9th at the corner of Ballantyne Commons Parkway and North Community House Road. Candidates running for office from the Charlotte Area will be in attendance. Also representatives from: the S.W.A.T. Team, the ‘K9’ Unit, the Y.M.C.A., police, sheriff and fire fighters will be present. There will be face painting and a multitude of fun games for children. This event will be from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. The second is a free event at South Park Mall to shed ‘sensitive’ documents. This will be from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon. You can call Council Member Andy Dulin at 704-968-8776 or you can also contact Kim Pearson-Brown with any questions at 704-336-2180 or kpearson@charlottenc.gov

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
Ballantyne Scoop