Both the City of Greensboro and Guilford County government are trying to encourage the growth of housing in the city and the county, and, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Greensboro City Council took another concrete move to help make that happen.
The Council unanimously adopted a motion meant to make it easier for developers to build much-needed housing. City officials are calling the move a “significant development-friendly zoning change.”
During the City Council’s regular meeting on February 18, the Council voted to amend Greensboro’s zoning regulations designated for Planned Unit Development, which is a group of single-family homes, condos or townhouses where all the homeowners are members of a homeowners association.
According to city officials, this amendment “will assist housing developers with the approval process on projects that typically pose specific challenges.”
They added, “The zoning change will allow for adjustments to certain lots, determine the type of structures that can be constructed on those lots, and modify parking and street design restrictions.”
This is one part of a much larger plan to increase the available housing in the area: Last week, Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis introduced his plan called “Road to 10,000” in order to respond to the continued population growth in the region and what the city has deemed an “urgent” need for increased housing.
Davis’s plan has a goal of creating 10,000 new housing units in Greensboro by the end of the current decade.
That initiative is meant “to foster a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable community by ensuring access to diverse housing options that support all income levels, attracts new workforce talent, and strengthens neighborhoods.”
The February 18 vote by the City Council regarding Planned Unit Developments is meant to show a commitment to increasing housing in the city and to aid the new Road to 10,000 initiative.
Davis said this change will offer city planners and developers more flexibility.
“The City is willing to think outside of the box and live up to our priority of being the easiest place to do business,” the city manager said this week. “Amending the Planned Unit Development zoning regulations will give more creativity and flexibility for housing development. This will be especially helpful with challenging topographic sites.”
The Road to 10,000 plan is expected to have a workgroup assembled by mid-March, comprised of City staff and key stakeholders, to develop the details of that plan.
Also, on Valentine’s Day, the Greensboro Housing and Neighborhood Development Department requested proposals for eligible multi-family rental housing projects that have submitted preliminary applications to the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency for 2025 Low-Income Housing Tax Credits – or that have a project with a previous award but no current funding award through the City of Greensboro.
This request for proposals will lead to roughly $1.8 million in awards using the federal HOME Investment Partnership Program funds in addition to City Housing Bonds and available Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS funds.
The City of Greensboro and Guilford County are also working with Summerfield farmer and developer David Couch as he moves forward with his plans to build a large residential and mixed-use development on land that not long ago was in Summerfield but is now just outside of it.
I wouldn’t count on that federal money right now.
Family friendly zoning change? Why didn’t we have this before? Perhaps that govt loves to control our lives with REGULATIONS?
No problemo, senyor. Our rapacious govt downtown will just soak us to the benefit of the Faithful.
Greensboro eases its zoning restrictions although for years residents weren’t given the courtesy to have “granny units” when requested to allow older family members cared for nearby. Perhaps Greensboro should allow multiuse housing at the corner of Hobbs and W. Friendly instead of the retail space that Carroll plans if the need for it is so great. It would be a better fit for the community.
Guilford County is infamous among developers for the difficultly “of getting the approval system” then “Getting through it” then getting the individual inspection’s and “piling on” which drags the incentive of profit to “Go somewhere else” and has been so since we have been here in 1998.
The Coloumbia Association (.com) project of Villages was a flaming success story along with walkability and much more, still going strong. I have personally met 5 families here who grew up as kids in that concept and appreciated it much more in seeing how things are done here. Check out the website