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A large urban park in Charlotte?


dubone

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I have a friend that lives in a house off Monroe Rd. near the rail line there. Trains routinely roll through there and when they do, you pretty much have to stop conversations if you are on the phone and everything shakes. This house is much better built than what they throw up today. I can imagine there won't be a lot of demand for $250K condos next to the same thing over where this intermodal facility is today. This is a very busy corridor.
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I think there are some rail yards in South San Francisco, some of the most expensive land anywhere. They are tough to move, if they are still being used... and tough to redevelop, because of how dirty the land is.

Improving connectivity through the area would be a good short term goal, though. It feels as if Matheson bridge and 36th street are the only ways to get through.

Hey! Happy Burg day to me! :thumbsup:

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It's just my opinion, but I feel this area of town is too close in proximity to the Urban Core of Charlotte to leave as this depressed, crime ridden neighborhood as everyone sees it. Yes, the industrial has to stay, I'm in agreement there. I know the rail lines won't be moved, never expected them to be moved, and I'm not suggesting that they move. But, with LRT stops planned per the LYNX System Map at 16th, 27th, and 36th streets, The infrastructure of the surrounding areas will be redesigned to support the stations, otherwise why have the stops at all and just bypass this industrial area?

Rather than sticking my head in the sand and stating it is what it is, might it not be worth taking a look at the area as a whole and see if there aren't some positive changes that could be made given the amount of money being poured into the construction of these transit lines? I'm not expecting to turn this area into Central Park or even just a Phillips Place.

I think it's an interesting study (conversation anyways) to find ways of allowing industrial to coexist and harmoize better with it's surrounding area.

I guess I just don't understand the dismissive responses that it's "the way it is, and everyone else does it, so we should follow in line." I wouldn't want to live in a city that isn't forward thinking and learning from other cities to find better or different solutions to problems. It's one of the reasons I moved here and chose to work here.

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Haha....that a big step for me to make from Boston :( I'd like to spearhead a campaign for the city to make the most progressive planning decision since LRT, but its not really feasible.

I think it's in the 80% certain range that the multi-modal yards will be moved.

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I worked on an industrial land use study for Mecklenburg back a couple of years ago. Although we are losing industrial land at a fairly quick pace (the new runway at CLT is taking an incredible amount of remaining vacant I-1 & I-2 zoned land out of the mix) to other types of uses (business, MUDD), the parcels lining North Davidson don't amount to a lot. Today's users of industrially zoned property are looking for mega sites with a distinct shape. And in Char-Meck, the users are primarily distribution facilities who need easy access to Interstates (such as Rooms to Go on I-85).

The creation of the inter-modal site at CLT will open up a large amount of land off North Davidson, but to keep it zoned industrial would be, IMO, a mistake. As stated above, the shape of a site is very is important to large users, not just acreage. The area would be better served as parkland and mixed uses, rather than just small industry. Perhaps a new zoning category that mixes light industrial with housing and commerical is something that could be looked at. Other American cities are using design districts instead of zoning. There is no reason that couldn't happen here.

Further still, our economy is moving ever so quickly away from manufacturing. In cities such as Charlotte, the loss of industrial acreage is simply a matter of our economic reality. Any significant job producers in heavy industry are ultimately going to be in suburban counties for the sheer reason that users can find large enough parcels that are unencumbered by topography, utilities (or lack thereof), and water quality/environmental issues as well as their need for access to major highways.

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City Council is set to approve the contract on Monday to do the North Tryon Redevelopment Study that will include the land we have been discussing in this thread for the park.

As part of the study they will be holding public meetings so anyone that is interested in making this park a reality will have a chance to pitch their ideas.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Something seems strange... as far as I know, the intermodal yard between N Brevard / N Tryon is owned and run by Norfolk Southern, not CSX! And, the parcel to which Norfolk Southern is proposing to relocate their yard is on CLT airport property, squarely within the state of NC.

For that matter, does CSX even move intermodal freight through Charlotte at all?

Hmm...

edit: dubone, thx for the clarification. Yes CSX runs intermodals through Charlotte, but does not operate the yard on N Tryon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Are there any people that would like to start an area-study group to continue the dialog of design possibilities in the Optimist Park area? There is a 2002 plan, but that is just a starting point. There is lots of energy stirring in the area, and if anyone is interested in collaborating on some design/proposal submittals, please e-mail [email protected]

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Glad to be directed to this thread. The Park site is well suited, and has the potential to be realized. There is talk in the 2010 Plan about capping the freeways with parks, particularly near the new Wachovia campus. Another one could be located between North Davidson and Caldwell, possibly spanning over the E-W rail where the homelss live and feeding into a mixed-use core on Hunter land. There appears to be several of these situations where the land wants to bridge over the noises below.

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How does the intermodal facility, CSX facility and NS Lines function?

Is the intermodal facility where the cargo containers are temporarily stored?

Are the containers for import/export on the adjacent tracks?

What lines feed into each network, and from what primary direction?

Is there a train "roundabout" located behind Urban Ministries?

What is in the news regarding these areas?

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It is where containers are moved between container trucks and freight trains. Basically all Norfolk-Southern freight destined or originating in Charlotte is on a truck through Optimist Park (someone correct me if I'm wrong here).

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There was a law passed recently that allows cities and/or states to make the railroad crossings "quiet zones". It is basically adding more of the masts to make it harder for a car to drive around them when they are down. These sealed corridors no longer require trains to blare their horn. As long as the train is going less than 15 mph...which appears to be the case along this particular section of tracks

If they were to "seal" the Davidson and Central Ave crossings, then that would cut out a lot of the noise on this side of town.

More info on quiet zones here:

http://www.bytrain.org/safety/hornrule.html

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There are also crossings at 16th Street, Brevard Street, Church Street, 11th Street (that will almost certainly be closed with the new Seaboard St extension), and 9th Street. Those should probably all be officially sealed in order to create a quiet zone all around downtown and the immediately surrounding neighborhoods. There are so many trains coming through, there are so many crossings, and now there are so many residents that the train horn noise is quite common. You really do tune it out after a while, but it is bad when your guests have trouble sleeping.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Richard Rogers has stolen dubone's idea and taken it to Paris:

A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners

Architecture

A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners

By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF

Published: March 17, 2009

Ten proposals for a new master plan for Paris, all aiming to transform it into the first sustainable city, may just be the kind of brazen idealism the world needs

The architect Richard Rogers proposes burying the main train tracks underground, with a vast system of public parks draped over them, connecting to poor and middle-class neighborhoods.

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