The Honest Truth About Lake Norman (Charlotte, Raleigh: house, buyer, good schools)

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by Carolina_native

I understand California has a much higher population. But its built to handle it. I guarantee you the population from 2000 in Union county NC has well passed that point. Who wants to live in such a crowded place like OC? Unless you are a millionare Im guessing you want to leave. But the problem is everyone is moving to a particular area in a particualr state, that being NC. I cannot tell you how much it seems this area is built on every month. The roads are not being added at all!! The only thing builders will do is build a turn lane after they costruct a new strip mall or neighborhood, thats it. I dont want to see NC become another California, but its headed that way.

is it the builder or the county/city/township that issues the building permits? Aren't they supposed to control this stuff? Lots of people are moving down but the local officials are stilling issuing building permits. Although I remember hearing something about certain areas of Mcek where no more building will be allowed for a certain period of time- I heard that from a realtor so I don't know if it's true or if simply a point was being made.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by nascarnancy

2000 City Data Info

Updated stats as of 2003 (and watch mm34b find an even more current chart )
removed

Union in 2000: 123,677
Union in 2003: 145,986
That's an 18% growth spike.

Also, not a NASCAR wanna be.

Uh, I think everyone knows that

RANT:I'm definitely not. Loathe the sport *yecch* Each year when the season starts, I yap "dangit, there go the radio stations. nothing good to listen to when those frickin' races are being broadcast " We have THREE country stations available in my area, with enough broadcast power to reach most of the state. WHY OH WHY do they ALLLLL have to broadcast the races? And if they're not broadcasting the race, they're talking about the last race. If they're not talking about the previous race, they're speculating on future races: who's ahead in the points, who might get into a garage fight with whom In self defense, I subscribed to Sirius radio, so I can listen to some music.

[Carolina_native]

Originally Posted by silverwing

Updated stats as of 2003 (and watch mm34b find an even more current chart )
removed]

Union in 2000: 123,677
Union in 2003: 145,986
That's an 18% growth spike.



Uh, I think everyone knows that

RANT:I'm definitely not. Loathe the sport *yecch* Each year when the season starts, I yap "dangit, there go the radio stations. nothing good to listen to when those frickin' races are being broadcast " We have THREE country stations available in my area, with enough broadcast power to reach most of the state. WHY OH WHY do they ALLLLL have to broadcast the races? And if they're not broadcasting the race, they're talking about the last race. If they're not talking about the previous race, they're speculating on future races: who's ahead in the points, who might get into a garage fight with whom In self defense, I subscribed to Sirius radio, so I can listen to some music.

Oh, I forgot to add Im a former NASCAR fan. Gave up the sport about 10 years ago. (Im sounding like a former alcoholic )

I know it sounds cliche, but I didnt leave the sport, it left me.

[Carolina_native]

Originally Posted by Miker2069

is it the builder or the county/city/township that issues the building permits? Aren't they supposed to control this stuff? Lots of people are moving down but the local officials are stilling issuing building permits. Although I remember hearing something about certain areas of Mcek where no more building will be allowed for a certain period of time- I heard that from a realtor so I don't know if it's true or if simply a point was being made.

Now I heard something like that was being done in Union County, but the developers started so much ruckus about it stunting growth that I think the proposal is dead in the water for now.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by Miker2069

is it the builder or the county/city/township that issues the building permits? Aren't they supposed to control this stuff?

:::wry chuckle::: heh heh heh

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com...oid=oid%3A5751
The article is too long to post in its entire length. I've snipped some of the relevant parts. I'd advise looking at the entire thing. It's ... interesting

The last name Levine carries a lot of weight in this city. That's Levine, as in Daniel Levine, son and business partner of Alvin Levine, co-founder of Pic n' Pay Shoes. That's Levine as in Levine Museum of the New South, Levine as in Levine Properties.

So when Daniel Levine decided he wanted to build a road that could dump more than 6,000 extra cars a day from his business park into the Stonehaven neighborhood, residents of the middle-class Southeast Charlotte subdivision figured their biggest battle would be overcoming Levine's name and family connections.

As it turned out, they were wrong. What they've been fighting for months now is a far greater force, a bumbling and contradictory one whose power isn't derived from money or influence, but from chaos and confusion. That force is the bureaucracy at City Hall and the well-meaning City Council members who take its advice.
<snippage>
The residents of Stonehaven have learned a lot as they've battled Levine's road plans, but what they've discovered about how city government works has shocked them.

As they pored over ordinances and asked question after question which city bureaucrats either couldn't or wouldn't answer, the Stonehaven residents came to a startling realization: Most City Council members had not read their own policies and didn't understand what was in them. Worse yet, changes to policies had been quietly written by city staff and powerful developers who stripped out parts of ordinances that would have protected neighborhoods like Stonehaven from the kind of traffic Levine wants to run through the neighborhood. The clincher is that City Council members have been rubber-stamping these policy changes without reading them, and without realizing it.
<snippage>
But there's a lot Burgess didn't know that Stonehaven leaders did. Like every other City Council member Creative Loafing interviewed for this story, Burgess had never heard of something called the Turn Around Committee.

The committee, Burgess was surprised to learn, is a subgroup of something called the Subdivision Steering Committee. Neither committee is appointed by City Council. Instead, Planning Commission staff simply invites powerful developers to "informal meetings" that aren't posted for the public to attend, because, well, they're informal. Then, at some of these meetings, these developers quietly helped staff rewrite city policy.
<snippage>
Because of the way the system is set up, the final decision on whether Levine can open a driveway to his business park in the middle of the Stonehaven neighborhood will ultimately be made by one person -- a person who, because the Planning Commission and the city have almost no formal rules on the matter, has virtually no rules to guide her.
<snippage>
So far, however, it looks like the city's policies are working in Levine's favor. According to the planning staff's analysis, none of the traffic that winds up on Thermal Road can be considered "cut-through traffic." That's because a few years back, planners and the city's traffic department got together and picked out a smattering of roads across the city and designated them as "major collectors" and the City Council approved the map. According to the subdivision ordinance, traffic on major collector roads is never considered cut-through traffic.
<snippage>
Charlotte Department of Transportation Manager of the Planning and Design Division Norman Steinman says the major collector designation is part of a classification system that's been around since the 1960s. Steinman says he is currently working with the city's Transportation Committee to come up with new designations for roads that will take into account the number of cars a street can carry. Eventually, Steinman hopes the committee will be able to use this information to craft a formal connectivity policy. But given that the city has been "studying" connectivity since 1998, and paying consultants for studies on connectivity whose findings it has subsequently ignored, there's no telling how long it will take the city to actually come up with a policy.

Residents of Stonehaven are hoping it won't be too late for their neighborhood -- and for the rest of the neighborhoods to which the city applies its supposed "policy."

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by silverwing

:::wry chuckle::: heh heh heh

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com...oid=oid%3A5751
The article is too long to post in its entire length. I've snipped some of the relevant parts. I'd advise looking at the entire thing. It's ... interesting

well if that ain't the truth!

Case of the tail wagging the dog.

I do applaud the stongate community for *trying*. Hopefully they can carry it through to the logical end and help to elect officials that will properly represent the interests of the community.

[nascarnancy]

Originally Posted by silverwing

Updated stats as of 2003 (and watch mm34b find an even more current chart )


Union in 2000: 123,677
Union in 2003: 145,986
That's an 18% growth spike.



Uh, I think everyone knows that

RANT:I'm definitely not. Loathe the sport *yecch* Each year when the season starts, I yap "dangit, there go the radio stations. nothing good to listen to when those frickin' races are being broadcast " We have THREE country stations available in my area, with enough broadcast power to reach most of the state. WHY OH WHY do they ALLLLL have to broadcast the races? And if they're not broadcasting the race, they're talking about the last race. If they're not talking about the previous race, they're speculating on future races: who's ahead in the points, who might get into a garage fight with whom In self defense, I subscribed to Sirius radio, so I can listen to some music.

Uh, I think everyone knows that
LOL, don't get me started! I can't bellieve they are allowing Toyota in and Dale Jarrett driving for Mikey's Toyota Team! Oops, I started.

OC is up to 3,044,800 pop for '04, it's late and a margarita later I believe approx 6% Growth, now don't forget to add in our "illegal" population, huge #'s.
The Calif freeways are definatley not built for the population, huge ongoing problem out here. But sounds like they are doing the same in NC, continuing to build homes and not the roads. What do you do.

We are far from millionairs, just a nice middle class couple. A nice starter home in OC in a nice area will start at $650,00 and that will most likely be a fixer upper and get you approx 1200 sq ft. A new home, see millionair.

I do see that NC has joined the Powerball lotto, I can hardly wait to play. We would have to go to AZ for tickets. I'm changing my dog's name to Lucky!

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by silverwing

Updated stats as of 2003 (and watch mm34b find an even more current chart )


Union in 2000: 123,677
Union in 2003: 145,986
That's an 18% growth spike.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Union County's population grew by 31.6% between April 1, 2000 and July 1, 2005. At that point, they estimate the population at 162,929. Nothing official until the 2010 census is completed.

[nascarnancy]

The city I live in is 21 sq miles with a pop of 64,055.

Silverwing called it, way to go MM34B!

[CAKD]

If Californias roads were built to handle the population then how come it took me 43 minutes to go 7 miles today when I left the mall at 3pm? Ummm nope I don't think the roads out here are any better but there sure are a bunch more people!