General News
Sustainable home prepares for cross-country journey
It took them two years to design and build it, but over the next two weeks, a team of UNC Charlotte architecture, business and engineering students will tear down their solar-powered home, Urban Eden. But that’s only because the home must be deconstructed, loaded on a flatbed trailer and shipped to Orange County, Calif., where […]
Charlotte’s old buildings to get new study
The City of Charlotte will take stock of its historic buildings and neighborhoods over the next few years, thanks to a federal Historic Preservation Fund grant. The $20,000 grant will help the city’s planning department hire a consultant for a comprehensive historic resources survey. The city will pay $30,000 in matching funds. The survey, the […]
Two-century-old mill site may be landmarked
Four properties proposed for historic landmarking will go before the Charlotte City Council on Monday – from the ruins of a Colonial-era grist mill site to a 1960s Modernist home. At its Monday night zoning meeting, the council will decide whether to designate the Long Creek Mill Ruin near Beatties Ford Road and Huntersville-Mount Holly […]
Two-century-old mill site may be landmarked
Four properties proposed for historic landmarking will go before the Charlotte City Council on Monday – from the ruins of a Colonial-era grist mill site to a 1960s Modernist home. At its Monday night zoning meeting, the council will decide whether to designate the Long Creek Mill Ruin near Beatties Ford Road and Huntersville-Mount Holly […]
Connect your neighborhood with a digital makeover
Does your neighborhood need help creating a website, using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, learning how to send text message alerts or any other digital communications? If so, you might want to take a look at the digital communications workshop Queens University is offering, in partnership with the City of Charlotte. The […]
Your chance to help clean Mecklenburg creeks
Residents can help improve area water quality by picking up trash from local streams on Saturday during Mecklenburg County’s annual creek clean-up, Big Sweep. To register, click here. The Big Sweep will take place at six sites, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers can walk alongside or, if they’re adventurous, wade into local streams […]
Summer recess brings on the ‘summer slide’
As summer vacation winds to an end, many families anxiously await the first day of school – the end of their struggle to provide babysitters, activities and camps to curb bored kids’ mischief. But from educators’ perspective, beginning a new school year can mean a daunting task of overcoming the “summer slide.” Educators and researchers […]
Where the wild things are
What kinds of wild animals are in the woods, and what are they up to? The Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have set up cameras to find out. Scroll below for a photo gallery of animal images captured as part of the eMammal project. This summer, as part of my […]
Worried about area’s growth? Here’s how to have your say
Charlotte area planning and sustainability enthusiasts can have their say about the future of the region in coming weeks by taking part in two long-range regional planning efforts. In Mecklenburg County, volunteers are being sought to help draft the Mecklenburg Livable Communities Plan. Mecklenburg County residents can apply to participate in a work group through […]
A tropical garden in the temperate Piedmont
The right combination of protective hedges, sun-absorbing walls and a southern exposure can turn a corner of your yard into a tropical microclimate – especially in a rain-soaked year like this one. Last summer’s record heat and drought gave us a taste of weather in desert regions. This year, the abundant rainfall has been more […]