Goal #7 Land Acquisition Increase the County’s public open space in areas of need, growth, and environmental value. It is necessary to balance the need to restore streams, provide vital habitats, and manage invasive species, while meeting the needs of a growing population. Despite efforts to acquire land over the past decade for conservation and to create more equitable public access, growth pressures are driving up land value and making land acquisition for open space increasingly difficult. Mecklenburg County currently owns 21,000 acres of parkland. The 2015 Master Plan recommended acquiring an additional 1,300 acres for current population growth projections. Between 2014 and 2020, 1,802 acres have been purchased for open space,12 but land will need to be purchased to continue to meet the needs of a growing population and get ahead of development throughout the county.
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MeckPlaybook 2021 Master Plan
7.1 Advocate for incentives for public open space in new developments by coordinating with ongoing planning efforts and local development regulations. Mecklenburg County’s population continues to grow, and Mecklenburg Park & Rec has faced challenges to acquire land in the places that are growing fastest. Looking ahead, Mecklenburg County’s population is projected to increase by another 400,000 residents in the next eighteen years. To maintain existing levels of service (19.1 acres per thousand residents), the County will need an additional 8,000 acres of new park space over the next 20 years to support the same level of service for new residents as well as plan for important environmental protections. The service ratio will decrease to 13.6 acres by 2039 if new land is not acquired. This aim is echoed by the Environmental Leadership Action Plan, which lists the goal of acquiring 8,000 acres by 2025.13
Achieving goals like the “10- minute neighborhood” standard recommended by the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan will need land acquisition coupled with a targeted, location based strategy. This goal strives for all Charlotte households to have access to essential amenities and services within a safe 10-minute walk. Parks, plazas, and nature preserves are listed as some of these essential amenities. The County should stand by its desire to provide an exceptional level of service to ensure that it continues to meet environmental and recreational goals, while exploring policies that seek to capture value from new development and channel it into enhanced or new resources for the community. One way to capture this value is through partnerships with developers. In this process, private developers are active participants in the creation of public space. Local regulations could ensure that redevelopments, like the former Eastland Mall redevelopment, include publicly accessible open space that helps to close a
