Posted on October 29, 2019

On October 21 Charlotte City Council voted to approve updates to the sign and tree ordinances. Most importantly, the updated tree ordinance allows for more flexibility for developers on urban sites in the City, which is less than 5% of Charlotte’s total developable land.

REBIC sent a letter to the Council urging their support, and we would like to thank those who voted in the affirmative: Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt, Councilman Braxton Winston, Councilman James Mitchell, Councilman Larken Egleston, Councilman Greg Phipps, Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield, Councilman Justin Harlow, Councilman Tariq Bokhari and Councilman Ed Driggs. We would also like to thank Mayor Vi Lyles for her leadership and ability to support council through contentious discussions in a judicious manner.

Thank you to our members who personally reached out to Council Members as well!

Posted on October 25, 2019

City of Charlotte Development Center Customer

The City of Charlotte Development Center is committed to continuous improvement in order to be the best partner with our customers to efficiently, effectively and collaboratively build a safe and thriving community.

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www.surveygizmo.com

The Cornerstone Sponsorship program offers professionals and organizations an opportunity to participate in, and get more out of, our chapter activities and services. The Cornerstone Sponsorship program is an excellent way to gain visibility while supporting the commercial real estate industry in Charlotte. 

Cornerstone Sponsors are allowed to customize your benefits based on the exposure you desire.

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Posted on October 22, 2019

Last night (10/21) Charlotte City Council voted to approve updates to the sign and tree ordinances. NAIOP Charlotte supported the proposed text amendments to the Tree Ordinance below:

On behalf of the hundreds of commercial real estate developers and industry service providers represented by NAIOP Charlotte, we request your support of the proposed amendment to the City’s Tree Ordinance Amendment at the City Council business meeting on Monday, October 21st.

Petition #2019‐104 seeks to codify flexibility, better integrate trees into urban sites, and will result in no net loss of ordinance required trees. It incentivizes urban development and redevelopment to plant trees on site, compared with the current practice of payment in lieu which pushes our canopy out of urban areas where benefits from sustainable practices can be leveraged. It places trees in areas where people want to congregate, socialize, and enjoy open space. Current requirements are restrictive of where trees can be located. 

Posted on October 8, 2019

We are proud to introduce our new association members! The following is a list of individuals who have joined NAIOP Charlotte since April 22, 2019:

• Blake Bickmore, Crescent Communities LLC
• Nathaniel Buhler, Cambridge Properties, Inc.
• John Core, Beacon Partners
• Dave Dabson, Beacon Partners
• Thomas Efthimiades, Childress Klein
• Chad Frye, Graycor Construction
• Madelyn Furr, ECS Southeast, LLP
• Andrew Geuss, Builtech Services, LLC
• Paxton Hollar, SunCap Property Group
• Greg Icenhour, Mid-Atlantic Associates, Inc.
• Robert Jeffway, The Fallon Company
• William Joslin, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture
• Corey Knuckles, LaBella Associates P.C.
• Dan Mainous, BB&T
• Derek Mathis, SunCap Property Group
• Christopher McCain, Entinu Communications LLC
• Chris Morgan, Walbridge
• Rob Nanfelt, REBIC
• Grant Oldenburg, UNC Charlotte Real Estate Club
• Ross Pope, KDC Real Estate Development & Investments
• Kenny Sommerkamp, Metrolina Builders
• Seth Spears, Batson-Cook Construction
• Madison Stewart, Builtech Services, LLC
• Evan Synstad, Gilbane Building Company
• Heidi Team, Batson-Cook Construction
• David Truesdale, Choate Construction Company
• Mike Tulini, Encompass Building Group
• Tony Wilk, Builtech Services, LLC
• Matt Williams, Metrolina Builders
• Edward Wolynec, Clarion Partners
• Kate Zawacki, Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, LLC

Posted on October 4, 2019

Friday, October 4th

1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

CMGC 8th Floor - Planning Innovation Center

REBIC held their annual BBQ & Candidate Meet & Greet on August 28. More than 22 candidates and 130 people were in attendance. NAIOP Charlotte sponsored this event.

Posted on August 13, 2019

Despite the ongoing stalemate over the state budget, legislation supported by the real estate and home building industry continues to make progress in Raleigh. Over the past few weeks, Governor Cooper has signed into law a variety of bills supported by the North Carolina Home Builders Association (NCHBA), the North Carolina Realtors®, NAIOP North Carolina, and other trade groups. Here’s a summary of some of the key laws that will benefit the residential and commercial real estate industries in the years ahead:

• HB 675 — 2019 Building Code Regulatory Reform, sponsored by Representatives Mark Brody (R-Union), Dennis Riddell (R-Alamance), Jon Hardister (R-Guilford), and Billy Richardson (D-Cumberland). This is the fifth successful bill over the past several sessions of major reforms to the state building code and inspections process Key provisions in this year’s act include:
  • Prohibits local governments from requiring developers/builders to bury existing power lines or bury relocated power lines that are located outside the subdivision.
  • Prohibits local governments from setting minimum square footage requirements for residential structures.
  • Requires the North Carolina Building Code Council to conduct a cost/benefit analysis for all proposed changes to the North Carolina Energy Conservation Code since January 1, 2018.
  • Requires the North Carolina Building Code Council to create an inspection form to be used by engineers and architects and clarifies that they can inspect foundations and underslabs.
  • Adds a new level of inspector, residential changeout inspector, to assist with minor inspections.
  • Requires that a local government chooses to have plan review that the initial review for residential building plans must be performed within fifteen (15) business days after submission.
  • Requires that a local government can issue a temporary certificate of occupancy if the requirements of the NC Building Code are met.
• HB 492 — Simplify Builder Inventory Exclusion, sponsored by Representatives Mark Brody (R-Union), Julia Howard (R-Davie), and Brian Turner (D-Buncombe), will eliminate the need for a builder to file annually in order to take advantage of an important property tax exclusion.The new law permits a builder to file a one-time application to claim an exemption from higher property taxes on land and houses held for sale by a builder to the extent that the tax increase is attributable to subdivision of the property or improvements made such as the installation of infrastructure or the construction of a single-family or duplex house on the property.
• HB 620 — Street Database/Manual/Public Record Exemption, requires the North Carolina Department of Transportation to create a “Public Street Information Database”, by 01/10/20 and update it regularly, for the purpose of conveying the status of roads within the State. This publicly-available database will indicate whether the road is (1) federally owned, (2) State-owned with State road number assigned, or (3) State-maintained with a State road number assigned.
• SB 355 — Land-Use Regulatory Changes, sponsored by Senators Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenburg), Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus) and Sam Searcy (D-Wake), helps level the playing field between landowners and local governments by integrating permit choice and vesting laws to ensure that the rules are not changed in the middle of a development project. In addition, the law:
  • Protects landowners against 3rd party rezoning efforts
  • Allows certain claims to bypass the Board of Adjustment and proceed to Superior Court.
  • Places limits on conditional zoning abuse, while preserving flexibility for developers.
• SB 523 — Revenue Laws Clarifying & Administrative Changes, requires Property Management companies to charge and remit RMI sales tax only in the following circumstances:
  1. They provide repair, maintenance, installation services for an additional charge above what is stated in the management contract.
  2. They arrange for a third party to provide the repair, maintenance, and installation services and impose an additional charge for arranging these services.
  3. More than twenty-five percent (25%) of the time spent managing an individual real property during a billing or invoice period is attributable to taxable repair, maintenance, and installation services. The property manager can voluntarily provide a written affidavit to attest that no more than 25% of their services on a given property constitute taxable RMI services, which would clear them of liability for taxation on any portion of the contract amount.

Source: NCHBA & NC Realtors®

Posted on August 9, 2019

Posted on August 2, 2019

REBIC’s annual BBQ & Candidate Meet & Greet is fast approaching on August 28, 2019! Make sure to get your tickets early! This annual bi-partisan Political Pig Pickin’ brings state and local candidates together with hundreds of members of the Charlotte real estate, homebuilders and development industries for an afternoon of food and fun!

WHEN: August 28, 11:30-1:30 p.m.

WHERE:  SMS Catering, 1764 Norland Rd., Charlotte, NC 28205 | View Map

Posted on July 31, 2019

Revised amendments to the Charlotte Sign Ordinance now permit the use of weekend directional signs for new home construction and real estate open houses, after REBIC raised objections to their elimination.

The proposed regulations for Temporary Off-Premises Signs now read as follows:

Posted on July 30, 2019

Governor Roy Cooper last week signed into law a bill supported by REBIC, the North Carolina Association of Realtors® (NCR), NAIOP Charlotte, BOMA Greater Charlotte, and other industry trade groups, clarifying that residential and commercial Property Management agreements are largely not subject to the state’s Repair, Maintenance & Installation (RMI) sales tax.

SB 523 — Revenue Laws Clarifying & Administrative Changes, passed the General Assembly earlier this month with an amendment that requires Property Management companies to charge and remit RMI sales tax only in the following circumstances:

1. They provide repair, maintenance, installation services for an additional charge above what is stated in the management contract.
2. They arrange for a third party to provide the repair, maintenance, and installation services and impose an additional charge for arranging these services.
3. More than twenty-five percent (25%) of the time spent managing an individual real property during a billing or invoice period is attributable to taxable repair, maintenance, and installation services. The property manager can voluntarily provide a written affidavit to attest that no more than 25% of their services on a given property constitute taxable RMI services, which would clear them of liability for taxation on any portion of the contract amount.

The legislation also provides specific exclusions to RMI services, which help ensure much of the work done by property management companies is not subject to taxation. They are:

Posted July 24, 2019

Proposed amendments to the Charlotte Sign Ordinance appear to ban weekend directional signs for new home construction and real estate open houses — a change with potentially devastating impacts for home builders and Realtors®, and one which REBIC will strongly oppose.

Weekend directional signs are one of the most effective tools buyers use to find homes for sale. Particularly in Charlotte, where most new home communities are in hard-to-find, infill locations (and often not yet identified on GPS), a ban on temporary directional signs would severely impact home sales, which are already falling due a lack of inventory.

The proposed Sign Ordinance amendments were presented at a community informational meeting last week, but no mention was made of the ban on temporary signs. The ban, however, is included on page 40 of the draft text, under ‘Prohibited Signs’:

Posted on July 23, 2019

The North Carolina General Assembly last week passed legislation supported by REBIC, the North Carolina Association of Realtors® (NCR), NAIOP Charlotte, and other industry trade groups that would clarify that residential and commercial Property Management agreements are largely not subject to the state’s Repair, Maintenance & Installation (RMI) sales tax.

SB 523 — Revenue Laws Clarifying & Administrative Changes, passed the Senate on Thursday with an amendment that requires Property Management companies to charge and remit RMI sales tax only in the following circumstances:

1. They provide repair, maintenance, installation services for an additional charge above what is stated in the management contract.
2. They arrange for a third party to provide the repair, maintenance, and installation services and impose an additional charge for arranging these services.
3. More than twenty-five percent (25%) of the time spent managing an individual real property during a billing or invoice period is attributable to taxable repair, maintenance, and installation services. The property manager can voluntarily provide a written affidavit to attest that no more than 25% of their services on a given property constitute taxable RMI services, which would clear them of liability for taxation on any portion of the contract amount.

The legislation also provides specific exclusions to RMI services, which help ensure much of the work done by property management companies is not subject to taxation. They are:

Posted on July 22, 2019

Business North Carolina and Manning Fulton are seeking nominations for the annual Building North Carolina awards, which will be featured in the November issue. Submit your suggestions on the most important commercial real-estate projects completed in the state between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 and the developer who has had the biggest impact on the industry.

Building North Carolina winners will be selected based on design, innovation and community impact in such categories as best public project, commercial project, renovation and overall design.

Nominations close July 31 2019.

Posted on July 17, 2019

On July 8, Charlotte City Council voted to approve construction of the first floor of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center for a collaborative, multidepartmental development permitting facility.

Known as the CLT Development Center, the space will provide developers and design teams access to city review staff in a single location for city development permitting services. This initiative brings together staff from all departments involved in permitting to create a more collaborative culture with new services to better meet customer needs.

“The CLT Development Center is the product of our efforts to have collaborative partnerships with the development community,” said City Manager Marcus D. Jones. “We are excited to bring new, innovative ways to work together to create great projects for Charlotte.”

You are invited to drop in (see hours below) to learn about the City of Charlotte’s plan to rezone land along the Blue Line light rail corridor, in order to align with the adopted recommended future land use and community vision. A presentation will be given at 15 minutes after the hour. City staff will be on hand to help with any questions.

Posted on July 16, 2019

At the Cabarrus County work session on July 1, Planning & Development Director Kelly Sifford discussed the Proposed Fee Increases on planning, zoning and building inspection fees.

During the presentation, Kelly did provide an overview of the several meetings held with REBIC, the Cabarrus Chapter of the Greater Charlotte HBA and the building community. REBIC proposed at those meetings that the Planning Department and building community continue these conversations quarterly, which they have agreed to. The first of these quarterly meetings will be announced shortly.

Posted on July 15, 2019

Beginning July 1, the Town of Huntersville is assuming review of all land development review and permitting, bringing in-house a variety of services previously provided by Mecklenburg County.

But because the Town failed to request delegated authority for Erosion & Sedimentation Control from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), all E&S review and inspections for projects in Huntersville will continue to be provided by Mecklenburg County LUESA until at least mid-August.

All development plans previously submitted to LUESA will continue to be reviewed by the County, which will also conduct inspections on those projects. Any new development projects submitting from today forward will go through the Town’s Engineering & Public Works Department. Huntersville last month adopted a new fee schedule that is similar to the 2018 LUESA fees for land development plan review, bond maintenance and other related services.