Sustain Charlotte is a community-based nonprofit organization advocating for smart growth solutions to Charlotte’s sustainability challenges. We inspire choices that lead to a healthy, equitable and vibrant community for generations to come. LEARN MORE
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City proposes 2040 goal of 50% sustainable trips!
During City Council's Transportation & Planning Committee meeting on May 9th, Charlotte DOT staff informed the Committee members that the soon-to-be-released Strategic Mobility Plan will incorporate an ambitious mode share goal. By 2040, 50% of trips in our city should be completed in a way other than by single-occupancy car.Continue reading -
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Sustain Charlotte Voices Support for City's FY 2023 Budget
Good evening City Council, Mayor, and Staff, My name is Elina Shepard. I am the program manager at Sustain Charlotte. We’re a nonprofit organization that advocates for sustainable land use and transportation choices. We’ve been following the development of the FY 2023 budget and tonight, I want to voice our strong support for the record-high amount of proposed funding for bike and pedestrian infrastructure improvements. Given Charlotte’s rapid population growth, and the need for all people to safely travel regardless of the mode they use, we think it’s critical that the budget includes funding for sustainable transportation modes.Continue reading -
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Candidates responses are in!
Heading to the polls soon? We've got you covered! Check our survey results to learn more about what candidates think about key sustainability issues. -
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2022 Recycling Excellence Award
Award crafted with reclaimed wood by Carolina Urban Lumber. Each year on Earth Day Sustain Charlotte hosts an awards ceremony to celebrate the work that is being done in the community to advance smart growth and sustainability. For the first time in two years the celebration was held in person and 250 sustainability enthusiasts gathered at the Extravaganza Depot. Sustain Charlotte’s Gold Partner, Mecklenburg County Solid Waste, sponsored a special Recycling Excellence Award to recognize outstanding waste reduction and recycling efforts that resulted in significant landfill waste diversion. The projects submitted were impressive and the judges had to tally the points carefully to determine the winner.Continue reading -
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Uptown CycleLink debuts after years in the making
The protected bike lane spanning all of downtown Charlotte that Sustain Charlotte and supportive residents first petitioned the City to build in 2016 is officially open! It began as a campaign designed to build public support for a protected bike lane through Uptown Charlotte. More than 4,000 people signed the letter asking Charlotte City Council to approve this small, but significant step in unlocking a larger network of protected bike lanes that are convenient safe, inexpensive, healthy and fun for people of all ages.Continue reading -
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Our final UDO series post: Help Charlotte's neighborhoods grow sustainably
Welcome back to our UDO series! If you’ve missed our previous blogs, no worries, we got you! To catch up, you can start with our introductory blog where we talk about what UDO is and what it has to do with the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan that many of you might have been involved with. Without going into too much detail, the Comprehensive Plan is a multifaceted vision of the future, like a sketch drawing by a designer meant to convey the idea of the project. In contrast, the UDO is like the blueprints used to build the project.Continue reading -
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We're asking NC to invest infrastructure funds equitably & sustainably
Sustain Charlotte recently signed on to a letter with 18 local, statewide, and regional organizations to Governor Cooper calling for NCDOT to follow USDOT guidance to invest funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill in equitable and sustainable transportation, including public transit, sidewalks, and safe bicycling facilities. Here is the letter:Continue reading -
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How Charlotte's new development rules will support sustainable transportation
Welcome back to our blog post series about the UDO, Charlotte’s first and only Unified Development Ordinance that will define our city’s development for the next several decades! If you missed our first blog post about the environmental issues in the UDO, you can find it here.Continue reading -
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Key details on the new development rules and how they will impact the environment
Welcome to our series of UDO series! If you’re not familiar with the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), no worries! Earlier we published an introductory post discussing the UDO, the difference between the Comprehensive Plan and the UDO, and why everyone in Charlotte is talking about it today. Each post in our series will be dedicated to a unique way that the UDO is designed to improve life here in Charlotte.Continue reading -
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We're sharing key details of the rules that will guide Charlotte's growth
Welcome to our series of blog posts about the Unified Development Ordinance (abbreviated as UDO)! Perhaps you have heard that in October of 2021, the city released the first Unified Development Ordinance document (and yes, we have been just as dazed with 608 pages of it as probably were you!) that, when finalized, will determine the way Charlotte will develop for the coming decades.Continue reading