General News

Grand stone gates give way to woodlands. Fire hydrants stand amid overgrown fields. Roads and sidewalks, some with weeds poking through the pavement, wind past expanses of empty lots. Wildflowers bloom inside brick foundations within sight of finished houses. In the wake of the recession, many real estate developments appear frozen in various stages of […]

Charlotte city officials are pushing two groups with competing visions for the future of the Carolina Theatre to work together to help save the history-rich venue that’s been vacant, on a prominent uptown corner, for more than 30 years. The two groups on Thursday pitched differing proposals for the city-owned facility to a Charlotte City […]

It was a hot night in a hot city the day after the hottest month ever recorded in the United States. By 7 the temperature had slid from the 90s to the high 80s, as I pulled up in front of a 1960s split-level on a half-acre lot in a vast subdivision of 2,450 single-family […]

It’s no secret that I love to be outside. Woods, farms, fields, trails, creeks, streams, rivers – if it’s outdoors, you name it and I’m there. Some of my favorite places to explore are the most pristine ones – dark, emerald green forests where rays of sunlight glint through towering spruce, where there’s a distinct […]

Along a 3-mile stretch of Rea Road in some of south Charlotte’s fanciest high-income neighborhoods, there’s no shortage of places to grab a latte or buy specialty cheeses and meat. A Starbucks shop across from the entrance to a greenway features an outdoor patio with umbrella-covered tables. Only 1½ miles down the road two Starbucks […]

The city of Charlotte voted July 23 to buy 80 acres of the old Eastland Mall site for $13.2 million. It’s a big investment, and some say it’s a risky one as well. Eastland, opened in 1975 as one of Charlotte’s most popular shopping spots, with a popular indoor ice rink, fell on hard times. […]

The Handy Sanitary District offered its plan to bring wastewater treatment service to the Badin Lake area more than a decade ago. Given concerns about leaking septic tanks, few disputed the need, but when people learned the proposal included a discharge into the Uwharrie River, the community rallied to oppose it. Scores attended community meetings, […]

Although some folks find snakes incredibly fascinating, and others shriek in terror and run from them, most people are somewhere in the middle – either casually interested or coolly indifferent. If I see a snake in the woods, I’ll likely get close enough to take a picture and identify it, and then carry on my […]

Salisbury is one of the first 17 recipients of the new HUD “Choice Neighborhoods” Planning Grants. The program is part of a new approach by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that is replacing its HOPE VI projects. In addition, Salisbury has been chosen for a case study by the International City/County Management […]

In response to the news that the City of Charlotte is considering buying Eastland Mall in an effort to make the site attractive to an outside developer, possibly for use as TV and movie studios, PlanCharlotte.org sought opinions from civic and business leaders about the idea. They were asked: 1. Should the city buy Eastland […]