When researching rezoning and development in Matthews, the first place to go is the Planning Department section on the town website. If you’re unfamiliar with the website, it can feel buried. This is a quick tutorial to find Rezoning and Development Cases currently under consideration.

Go to the Town of Matthews website: matthewsnc.gov

Click on “Departments” in the top, horizontal menu bar. A drop down menu will give you further options. Click “Pending Zoning & Development Cases.”

On the Pending & Zoning Developent page, notice the first two columns: “Application” and “Location.” The most recently submitted application is on the top row of the table. In the application column you’ll find the number the Town has given the case as well as the project name. Under the location column you’ll find the physical address to be rezoned/developed.

The next two columns show “Current Zoning” code and “Proposed Zoning” code. The codes specify the type of use (residential, commercial, etc.) and the allowable density. There are a lot of codes to remember, so we have an infographic here, created from the county’s Polaris chart.

Next there’s the “Status” column. This answers where the application is in the three-part process:

• Public Hearing

• Planning Board Recommendation

• Town Board Approval

Links in the far right column are important documents to better understand the pending case. You may find a few other documents, but most commonly you’ll find:

• The application originally submitted.

• Site plans that give further details about how the land will be developed. This will sometimes have “superceded” beside them, which means there’s a more current version. Find the version labeled “current.”

• Elevations are a close approximate of how the finished building will look.

• The developer must notify adjacent land owners and host a meeting open to the public in order to explain the project. The Public Input document is documentation from that meeting.

• Town Staff examines the proposal and analyzes the information to create a Staff Report. This report compiles the site plan, elevations, comments the staff has given the developer, as well as the impact on traffic, and comments from other town departments (usually Public Works, Police, and Fire). Sometimes school impact is provided as well. The Staff Report is presented to Town Council during regularly scheduled council meetings.

If you’re interested in keeping up with Board of Commissioner meetings, we’ve created a tutorial for finding those as well.