Matthews Last Week Today

Last week’s events throughout Matthews included several significant topics: transportation, affordable housing, and local food. Here are a few snapshots from each.

Last week Alta Design, a consultant for the Town of Matthews, hosted several workshops and open work sessions to provide residents with the opportunity for input in transportation within the downtown Matthews footprint. If you couldn’t make it to one of the sessions, watch the Facebook Live video presented by Town of Matthews Transportation Planner Dana Stoogenke, AICP, and John Cock, Alta Design + Planning VP.

Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity held a home dedication for their most recently completed home. This home was part of the Sandy Marano Memorial Women Build. Matthews residents and Habitat supporters showed up en masse for the ribbon cutting and dedication.

Volunteers for the Matthews Volunteer Farmers’ Market gathered for their annual thank you lunch at Sante. Market Manager Paulette Wilkes and Assistant Manager Jessica Thomas shared words of gratitude for the volunteers before a casual, locally-sourced lunch prepared by Chef Adam Reed.

Morning Minute: Thursday, March 14, 2019

News About Town: During the NCDOT updates at the Monday Council meeting, some conversation centered on the John St. Widening. Even the Town has been formulating their own approach, NCDOT has continued moving forward with design from Matthews to Monroe. According to Mayor Bailey, NCDOT and the Town are on the same page to delay construction on the portion from I-485 to Trade. The part of John St from I-485 eastward will continue with design and ROW acquisition. Now the Town must present this preference to the CRTPO (the municipal governing body for Charlotte area transportation) to amend the official STIP (a scheduled list of funded transportation projects). It’s a bureaucratic process to change the NCDOT budget in order to delay the downtown Matthews section.

News Around Town: This Saturday (March 16) the Matthews Masonic Lodge, Post 235 will celebrate the 100th birthday of the American Legion (and 75th birthday of the Matthews post) by officially renaming the local chapter as the Hooks-Orr American Legion Post 235, Matthews NC. Pvt Grady Bost Hooks and Pvt Joseph Lee Orr, the namesakes, were two local soldiers killed in action in France in 1918. Join the Legion for cake and coffee after the ceremony. Saturday, March 16, 11 a.m.

One Good Thing: Navigating life as a teenager is tough. Our sponsor, PranaTeen, is a 10-week workshop developed to empower middle school-age girls so they can confidently navigate the those tough times using the tools of yoga, meditation, and deep discussion. Starting this evening at the Community Center, life coach and yoga instructor Elinor Miller will teach the girls to love, accept, and appreciate themselves in order to raise their self esteem and level of awareness of their inner and outer world. Not sure it’s right for your daughter? Drop in and try it out for $20, pay at the Community Center desk. Thursdays, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Matthews Community Center, 100 McDowell Street East Room 204.

Morning Minute: Wednesday, March 13, 2019

News About Town: According to the Town website, the Trade Street widening at the culvert (where Trade forks off to Weddington and Pleasant Plains) is supposed to be complete this spring. At Monday night’s Council meeting, NCDOT representative Stuart Basham provided updates and a revised completion date. Currently, the contractor, Blythe Construction, has increased the size of the crew but is incurring liquidated damages of $1,000 per day. According to Stuart, the project is expected to be completed by Labor Day.

News Around Town:  In January of this year, the Affordable Housing Committee presented the Board and the Town of Matthews a glimpse into the need for affordable housing in Matthews. According to the report, a resident’s income should be above $76,007  where $22,802.10 is dedicated to housing and housing-related expenses in order to not be housing burdened. A cursory glimpse at 2-bedroom apartments in Matthews apartments shows a range of rent from $968 (Colonial Village) to $2,440 (Colonial Grand).  According to real estate data site RealPage, Matthews apartment dwellers will likely see a 5.10%increase in rent in the coming year.

One Good Thing: Carolina Crush Lacrosse is hosting a free team evaluation day and open house on March 31 at the Matthews Sportsplex on Field 5. The event is a way to meet the coaches and players and learn more about Crush. For those interested in playing, Crush leaders will help evaluate whether a summer rec program or travel program will best suit their needs. Athletes should be graduating between 2020 and 2024 to join the league. Evaluations for female athletes will run from 1-2 p.m. and for males from 2-3 p.m.

What’s in a New Street Name?

This year, the Town of Matthews (in partnership with Mecklenburg County) built one new street – Sports Parkway between Tank Town and Matthews-Mint Hill Roads.

The number of new streets created in previous years are:  2017 – 3; 2016 – 2; 2015 – 2; 2014 – 0. These include Lake Harmony Drive off of Mount Harmony Church Road, Downton Court in the Eden Hall development on Fullwood Lane, and Margaret Ridge Drive in the Stevens Grove subdivision off of Highway 51. The most recently created streets are Talbot Court, Hamlet Court, and Kings Manor Court.

Photo by Renee Garner

To create a street and name, developers must propose the names; the Town has code requirements to ensure that new street names are appropriate and not duplicated. Mecklenburg County ultimately approves the name and assigns the individual street addresses.

The Planning Department reviews street names when new subdivisions/developments are in plan review. The Zoning Administrator, Mary Jo Gollnitz, considers the proposed street names for the Town, as do Matthews Planning Department, Public Works, Police Department, and Fire & EMS Department before the name is submitted to Mecklenburg County for final approval. 

According to code, proper street names must consist of one to three words, plus a street type suffix. The name must not duplicate or too closely approximate phonetically the name of any other street within the Town or county. Street names cannot include a business name, punctuation, possibly offensive words, or directional suffixes. 

The first word of a street name can only be used in two other locations within the county. The only exception to this is the use of a generic label naming a topographic feature or a color.

According to the National League of Cities, the five top street names in the country are Second, Third, First, Fourth, and Park.

According to the US Census Bureau’s US Tiger/Shapefiles, 2014, the most common street name in North Carolina is Dogwood. The top 10 street names in this state are: Dogwood (328), Park (304), Oak (261), Pine (245), Ridge (234), Cedar (225), Maple (225), Sunset (220), Church (204), and 2nd/Second (193).

The naming of streets reflects the era in which it was created – 18th- and 19th-century streets often reflected English (UK) roots or defined the purpose of that road. Later 19th-century developers named streets after trees and flowers; 20th- and 21st-century streets often mirror developers’ family names. Most recently, following the rise in technology and modernization, roads are again reflecting the generic definition of the business located on that street.

Morning Minute: Tuesday, December 4, 2018

News About Town: The sixth meeting of the John Street Working Group will be held on Wednesday, December 5 at 6:15 p.m. at Matthews Town Hall. The group will review the results of the survey, which included questions about the original plan, a desired plan, and the consensus design. The working group will also discuss possible next steps.

News Around Town: Way2GoClt, a project founded by Sustain Charlotte and now operating in partnership with Charlotte Area Transit System, rewards you for taking alternate modes of transportation to work. Rather than commuting, take the bus and sign onto Way2GoClt, log your mode of transportation and get points. Each time you log on and record your mode of travel (other than single-driver commuting) you earn points to trade in for rewards.

Why participate? Matthews residents consider traffic a problem and what’s better than a fun solution to a problem? In the 2017 Citizen Satisfaction Survey for Matthews, 62.1% of participants selected “Traffic” as one of the biggest issues in the future; down from 73.9% in 2015.

One Good Thing: If you’re looking for a way to give back to the community this year, area nonprofits and town agencies have you covered. Donate an unwrapped toy or gift suitable for kids up to age 18 to the Matthews Gives Back for the Holidays drive. Drop-off locations include: Matthews HELP Center, Matthews United Methodist Church Matthews Town Hall, Matthews Community Center Matthews Fire Department, and Matthews Police Department.