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So they should step up and open some!
There's talk of that too. The desire & audience is there which is the first requirement I suppose. Unfortunately, like many here, they desire different options in Charlotte in avariety of areas that they aren't necessarily able to produce themselves. I do have an in-law that runs a small establishment that fits the bill. I hope to see more like that and better in the future. I'm sure it will happen.

Connectivity with surrounding areas is always a plus.
Gotcha. I have noticed that is quite difficult to walk from one community to the next.
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If today's pop is 609K, then Charlotte will hit 1M in 7 years with a 7.3% growth rate.

So it may not be all that long a wait.

Charlotte is not growing anywhere close to a 7.3% annual rate.

July 1, 2000 Population - 564,516

July 1, 2005 Population - 610,949

Growth (5 years) - 46,433

This is 8.22% over 5 years, or 1.64%/year.

At this rate its going to be closer to 30 years.

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Is that with annexations?

When I first saw this posted I looked through that whole feature, looking for Charlotte to be listed as one of the most dynamic cities in the world :P.

I do think the growth we are seeing now will be nothing like what the future will hold (if everything goes reasonably well on the national level), we only need to look to the city down 85 (to the West) to see what the future rate of growth in the region is. When did Atlanta's growth hit critical mass? At what metro population?

1982 @ 2M metro (we are about twenty years behind Atlanta in terms of growth) Our MSA is 1.6-1.7, However our CSA (which is about as large an area as Atlanta's metro iwas in the 80's) is around 2.3M. I think we look identical to ATL of 1982 now. Consequently, Atlanta got their 1st Ritz in 81, and isn't it funny that CLT is getting their first one now.

A2

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Charlotte is not growing anywhere close to a 7.3% annual rate.

July 1, 2000 Population - 564,516

July 1, 2005 Population - 610,949

Growth (5 years) - 46,433

This is 8.22% over 5 years, or 1.64%/year.

At this rate its going to be closer to 30 years.

Well if anexaxation continues then 1,000,000 is not improbable in 7-9 years. I believe Meck county will be north of 1M by 2010-2011 at current rates. That is only 4 little years away. I think that we will grow to 1M as a city by 2015, but that will encompass almost 85% of the county, which will be pushing 1.2M by that time.

A2

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I've been having this idea for quite some time as well---that Charlotte might eventually encompass 85% (or more?) of Mecklenberg County.

It seems inevitable. Just like Jacksonville finally annexed almost all of Duval County through consolidation. When a metro area like Jacksonville and Charlotte reach a certain size, the city eventually becomes the county de facto, anyway.

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Well, we got a Golden Krust now!!!! :D:thumbsup:

Im not sure if they are refering to resturants, I think they are reffering to music events, and or venues large enough to hold an annual Carnival Festival. Currently I only know of Tropical Heat on Monroe that host some small music events, and every now and again I will see a dancehall/roots/rock steady-ska act that dots some of the larger venues like Tremont, Amo's,and others.

There is a large Latino Carnival called Carolina Carnaval every year and this year they had it at the Metrolina Expo, I had to work a gig there and there where an estimated 60,000 people in attendence. It wasn't as big or extravagant as the Carnival I have witness in San Francisco(Latino & Caribean Island Celebration/Parade). But none the less it was great to see a large ethnic celebration like this going on, and shows me that Charlotte is growing. I have worked with and continue to see the Carribean, African, Latino,South American, Asian, European, and Indian populations grow. As well as Western and Northen transplants. And with the population growth brings more cultural celebrations of holidays and traditions.

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It seems inevitable. Just like Jacksonville finally annexed almost all of Duval County through consolidation. When a metro area like Jacksonville and Charlotte reach a certain size, the city eventually becomes the county de facto, anyway.

No, sphere of influence agreements limit Charlotte to about 340 sq miles of 526 sq mile Mecklenburg county. About 65% at best and a great deal of the land left to annex are in watersheds where development is going to be very limited. The rest of the county for future annexations are divided up amongst the 6 towns. The largest landwise is Huntersville at 65 sq miles.

Duval county and Jacksonville merged their governments. This was done in part to make Jacksonville look larger to put it in line for more federal funding for various projects. This simply won't happen in Mecklenburg. In fact there are calls for the towns of the North to leave the county and either form their own county or join up with Mecklenburg. (Meck Neck left Meck in 1999 to join Iredell)

This map shows who gets what. (note this shows 2001 city limits)

spheres01_smn2.gif

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that's still a sizeable amount of land that charlotte is alotted for annexation. if charlotte annexes all of that and continues growing in the manner it does, with infill as the primary form of growth, wouldn't our area be able to support 1 million people in say 10-20 years? it seems likely that that is the case.

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Hey Krazy can you give me an example of quality sprawl?

Baxter Village.

www.villageofbaxter.com

Homes are of high quality, neighborhoods are pedestrian friendly. Individual home lots are small but shared greenspace is plentiful, with many parks and walking trails. Most amenities are within walking distance, including eateries, dry cleaners, the YMCA, an inn, a public library, an urgent care center, and elementary school.

"The neighborhood itself has been recognized by the National Sierra Club as an excellent “Smart Growth” example, received a Development Stewardship Award from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and has received numerous local, regional and national awards for land use planning, architectural design and marketing."

...located about 15 miles south of Uptown Charlotte, off I-77 in South Carolina. So it's sprawl...but quality sprawl.

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that's still a sizeable amount of land that charlotte is alotted for annexation. if charlotte annexes all of that and continues growing in the manner it does, with infill as the primary form of growth, wouldn't our area be able to support 1 million people in say 10-20 years? it seems likely that that is the case.

Well not with 50% living in single family homes on 1/4 acre and larger lots. The current overall city density is 2520 people/sq mile. At that density it would take 396 sq miles of land developed, using current zonings, to support a 1,000,000 population in the city limits. This is more land than what Charlotte has available to annex and as I mentioned earlier, the land along the Catawba river and Mountain Island Lake in particular has a lot of restrictions on what can be put there.

The days of Charlotte being able to increase population by ever expanding annexations of greenfield development are coming to a close. It remains to be seen if the city has the political will to increase density within the current city limits to achive the densities needed to support a significantly larger population that it now has. Don't be so sure this will happen. For example as a comparison, Atlanta has been unable to annex for decades. As a result, its population has been pretty stagnant for the last 30 years and continues to be somewhere between 450,000 and 500,000 people.

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Baxter Village.

www.villageofbaxter.com

Homes are of high quality, neighborhoods are pedestrian friendly. Individual home lots are small but shared greenspace is plentiful, with many parks and walking trails. Most amenities are within walking distance, including eateries, dry cleaners, the YMCA, an inn, a public library, an urgent care center, and elementary school.

"The neighborhood itself has been recognized by the National Sierra Club as an excellent

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The days of Charlotte being able to increase population by ever expanding annexations of greenfield development are coming to a close. It remains to be seen if the city has the political will to increase density within the current city limits to achive the densities needed to support a significantly larger population that it now has. Don't be so sure this will happen. For example as a comparison, Atlanta has been unable to annex for decades. As a result, its population has been pretty stagnant for the last 30 years and continues to be somewhere between 450,000 and 500,000 people.

True, but the City of Atlanta had been plagued by "flight" and continual out-migration that has kept its population stagnant, more than an inability to annex. Atlanta forumers claim this trend is beginning to reverse and its density and population are rising....this remains to be seen. Charlotte has had a different dynamic, with very little flight. I think our density will steadily increase along with population, and who knows where the equilibruim will end up. Just look around...there's infill all over the place.

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Yes we shall see. Even if their wildest dreams come true, and they are able to get 35,000 more people living in the center city, this barely makes a dent in the difference between 610,000 and 1,000,000. Therefore the city is going to have to focus more on other parts of Charlotte and less on downtown if it want to achieve more density.

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Thanks for sharing the political map of Mecklenberg:)

When you compare the Mecklenberg/Charlotte map of today to the Duval/Jacksonville map of 1968 (the year of consolidation) you'll notice Charlotte's geographic presence today is much more pervasive than Jacksonville's during it's non-consolidated era.

Before seeing the nice map, I actually didn't realize Charlotte sprawled so far over Mecklenberg.

Even though I lived in the general area 24 years (Catawba County), I never even heard of Huntersville or some of those other towns.

The maps show otherwise of course, but Charlotte still seems de facto Mecklenberg County.

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Actually Huntersville has a lot of limits in place which prevent new sprawling neighborhoods. It's very tough now for a developer to get a subdivision approved in the city. I believe it has been said they want to limit Hunterville's final population to about 50K and most of that growth will occur around the North transit corridor.

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Davidson is really a lovely town. It would have been nice if the rest of the county had limited development as they have. It's the reason that houses there sell almost instantly at asking price. (when they do sell, its fairly rare)

I recommend a walking tour of some of their old neighborhoods near the school. It's quite a eclectic mix of homes in there and reminds me of Noda without the riffraff.

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As with the growth of Huntersville, having a standard set and a cap of 50k people severely limits the county. Huntersville is noticeably the largest of the meck towns yet only now has a population of 35k. I wish they were more supportive of denser residential areas in order to help with the county's growth. Because of its "sphere of influence" as portrayed on that map, Charlotte seems extremely limited in what it can now annex as stated before.

I believe that, if the northern towns decided to "quit" mecklenburg that huntersville might still stick around. However, Mecklenburg county's shape would perfectly compliment 485 if they were to leave as well though. I'm still hoping that it someday actually takes place.

Does anybody know if Jacksonville took over any other towns whenever it consolidated? I wonder if Pineville, Mint Hill, and Matthews would be so willing to fork over their namesakes and become neighborhoods or districts like Myers Park.

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As with the growth of Huntersville, having a standard set and a cap of 50k people severely limits the county. Huntersville is noticeably the largest of the meck towns yet only now has a population of 35k. I wish they were more supportive of denser residential areas in order to help with the county's growth. Because of its "sphere of influence" as portrayed on that map, Charlotte seems extremely limited in what it can now annex as stated before.

I believe that, if the northern towns decided to "quit" mecklenburg that huntersville might still stick around. However, Mecklenburg county's shape would perfectly compliment 485 if they were to leave as well though. I'm still hoping that it someday actually takes place.

Does anybody know if Jacksonville took over any other towns whenever it consolidated? I wonder if Pineville, Mint Hill, and Matthews would be so willing to fork over their namesakes and become neighborhoods or districts like Myers Park.

Charlotte could always annex into another county like Union, Cabbarus, Gaston, or maybe even a county in South Carolina but I doubt that would happen or let alone be allowed.

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I believe that would take an act of the General Assembly of both states. At any rate, I really don't see it happening. And I don't really see why Charlotte should annex into another county anyway; the city is already pretty big land area wise.

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Aside from city/county consolidations, Charlotte is already one of the largest cities (land area) in the country. I believe they only have 50 sq miles left to annex. Annexation is fine and dandy, as it increases the taxbase, but the city can't get lazy about smarter growth at the core simply because they can count on sprawl growth on the perimeter. That trick won't be in the bag much longer.

And I don't think Charlotte could ever 'take over' another municipality like Matthews or Pineville. Each municipality has claimed their 'sphere of influence', so the boundaries are set.

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