Charlotte's Light Rail, the Dough and Discussion...

Monday, July 14, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo, Charlotte, NC
Senate earmarks $18M for Charlotte light rail extension
The U.S. Senate’s proposed transportation budget for 2009 contains $18 million for expanding Charlotte’s light-rail system. That’s $8 million more than the Charlotte Area Transit System requested. The proposed 11-mile rail line extension would run from Ninth Street in uptown Charlotte to Interstate 485 on the northeast side of town. The federal money would be used for preliminary engineering and assessing the environmental impact of construction and operation of the transit line.
This is great news for the Lynx Blue Line extension and residents of the Charlotte region as we continue to provide them with more transportation choices, says Keith Parker, chief executive of CATS. While we do not expect the transportation appropriations legislation to be enacted until after the presidential election in November, and there is no guarantee that the funding level will hold, this is a step in the right direction.
If the $18 million is approved, CATS will have received capital funding commitments of $40 million since March for bus, rail and rapid-transit projects. The funding has come from a range of sources, including the N.C. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Transit Administration.
The light rail extension would be a continuation of the 9-mile track that parallels South Boulevard from I-485 near Pineville to uptown Charlotte.

But Wait, Wait…Monday, July 14, 2008
Transit's threat to NoDa
This excerpt from Mary Newsome, Charlotte Observer
How to route the to-be-built northeast light rail line? CATS officials are pondering that question. I was hoping CATS would route the northeast corridor up North Tryon Street instead of the railroad corridor that parallels North Davidson Street. Apparently that's not to be, at least between uptown and NoDa. CATS is still considering whether to put a section of the line along North Tryon between Sugar Creek Road and Eastway Drive. North of Eastway, the route follows North Tryon Street.I'm very worried about the NoDa business district being beset by the same forces that are hitting South End and threatening the Dilworth historic district and its bungalows. Except the NoDa retail area is closer to the rail line than much of Dilworth, and NoDa's business district has a better preserved Main Street-type feel to it than anything that was in Dilworth. That's all at huge risk, because the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zoning that applies to transit station areas allows high-rise buildings of up to 120 feet -- or higher if your developer asks for an exemption.

And it will happen. We don't yet know how to curb the developer's voracious appetites.

Still…the growth and discussion is with us. It’s a good thing.

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo, Charlotte, NC