Jun. 04, 2008
Residents fight ‘McMansion' wave
Tear-downs draw ire of some


By Clay Barbour

Local neighborhoods could soon join forces to fight the spread of “McMansions,” newly built, giant homes that some people say damage the look and feel of older communities.

Residents from several neighborhoods, including Dilworth, Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood, are meeting tonight at the Midwood Baptist Church Fellowship Hall to discuss methods for stemming certain kinds of infill development.

Leaders are expected to focus much of the discussion on new city districts that would protect the established aesthetics of neighborhoods.

Tear-downs have become increasingly popular in the area. Developers buy small homes and replace them with large ones – with equally large price tags.

Last year in Mecklenburg County, 794 single-family houses were demolished. That's up from 697 in 2006.

“The problem is, if you don't live in a historic district, you have no protection,” said Tom Egan, of the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association. “What we want to see are reasonable but important restrictions on what is built in our neighborhoods.”

Charlotte has nine existing overlay districts. They range from the historic districts, which protect the look of buildings in certain communities, to the transit districts, which spur growth around commuter areas.

Egan said a conservation overlay district would be similar to a historic district. It would detail the kind of home that can be built.

He said restrictions would focus more on size of home and less on style. The districts also would be specific to neighborhoods, which city officials said could be done.

But developers say such a measure would slow an already complicated process and result in higher prices.

“There are some cities that have done this kind of thing and done it well,” said Ray “Rip” Farris, president of the local builder Tuscan Development. “But it's not easy and it tends to make it harder to build things, and that adds to the cost.”

In Charlotte, tear-downs are mostly happening in neighborhoods like Myers Park, Foxcroft, Cotswold, Dilworth and Plaza Midwood, where property values keep going up. Though many of these neighborhoods are old, often only portions of them are considered historic and protected.

“People are drawn to our neighborhood for certain things,” said Leslie Shinn, Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association president. “They like how comforting and welcoming it is. They don't want to be dwarfed by the scale of some new house.”

But developers say homeowners have rights, too. Development boosts the community's property values. Also, in a sprawling city, infill development is important to limit traffic.

“Charlotte has some beautiful neighborhoods and no one wants to damage them,” Farris said. “But there has to be some give and take.”

Charlotte City Councilwoman Nancy Carter, a Democrat, said she thinks the city will be open to discussing the issue.

“But we have to consider both sides of this,” she said. “We need to protect our neighborhoods' quality of life, but we also have to encourage dense development closer to uptown.”

Republican Councilman Andy Dulin said there are two sides to the story.

“For everyone who doesn't like this kind of development, there are others who say, ‘Gosh, that's pretty neat,'” he said.

Any such measure would take a lot of time and effort to craft. Overlays are examined by city staff and committees and voted on by the council, a process that can take well over a year.

Geoff Owen, president of the Dilworth Community Development Association, said it's time for city leaders to address the issue. He also said it was time for neighborhoods to join forces.

“We tend to look at each of our neighborhoods as individuals, but we need to start speaking with a unified voice,” he said.