2023 Winter Issue - 97

The planned Silver Line alignment stretches through three counties and five jurisdictions. The panel
notes that this offers a 29-mile (47 km) opportunity to integrate equity in the greater region, amid
major job and residential growth expected in this Southeast Corridor over the next 30 years.
rail, streetcar, vanpool, and special transportation
services.
LYNX Silver Line's Future
In partnership with the Charlotte Planning,
Design, and Development Department,
CATS in 2022 asked a ULI Advisory Services
panel to advise on how plans for Silver
Line light-rail service in the next stage of
LYNX transit development could help the
city thrive and continue to grow sustainably-specifically,
to analyze the proposed
Uptown alignment and evaluate potential
opportunities in the surrounding Center
City-based study area. The study area centered
on 1.7 square miles (4.4 sq km) of
Uptown within an approximate quarter-mile
(0.4 km) radius from the planned station
location at 11th Street.
Marilee Utter, president, Citiventure in
Denver, chaired the panel. Panelists were
David Abraham, assistant director, strategic
planning, at the Harris County Toll
Road Authority and planning, policy, and
transportation professor at Rice University
in Houston; Guillermo Aguilar, principal
at Aguilar Architects in Dana Point, California;
Christopher Forinash, principal at
Nelson/Nygaard in Washington, D.C.; Lucia
E. Garsys, senior adviser for community
partnerships for the Hillsborough County
government in Tampa; Jim Hecht, transit
engineering business class director at HDR
in San Diego; Darryl Jones, senior vice president
at Coventry Development Corporation
in Lone Tree, Colorado; and Jack Wierzenski,
director, economic development and
planning, at Dallas Area Rapid Transit in
Dallas.
Transit-Oriented Development
The panel's assignment was to explore the
potential for economic and station area
development along the 11th Street route.
Key questions from the panel sponsor
included the following:
Would an alternatove Silver Line rail
alignment provide better economic development
opportunities and equity in mobility
and transportation access?
How could transit expansion efforts optimize
equitable access and the connection
between the Blue Line and Silver Line?
Would an additional Silver Line station
along the 11th Street route in the First
Ward expand opportunities for station-area
development?
How can the city bring key landholders
and partners to the table to support these
transit connections?
Maximizing Regional Equity,
Mobility
The planned Silver Line alignment stretches
through three counties and five jurisdictions.
The panel noted that this offers a
29-mile (47 km) opportunity to integrate
equity in the greater region, amid major
job and residential growth expected in this
Southeast Corridor over the next 30 years.
Panelists urged an emphasis on transit
investments to incubate and support
places that enable people to live without
depending on driving.
The panel recommended linking all
LYNX stations to other transit modes to
achieve sustainable growth patterns and
maximize the city's infrastructure. Another
panel recommendation encouraged locating
transit stops along the proposed Silver
Line to serve communities equitably in
proportion to the racial and ethnic distributions
in the city and county.
Boosting Housing Options,
Dodging Displacement
The panel urged Charlotte to promote more
transit-oriented development (TOD), particularly
higher-density residential development
in Center City areas to support more
sustainable development.
" We found that there are only 12,550
people living in the Uptown area. This is
a very low number for a major growing
downtown in this state. There are more
parking spots than people in the downtown-70,000
parking spots versus 12,550
people, " observed panelist Abraham.
WINTER 2023
URBAN LAND
95
2023 Winter Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2023 Winter Issue
