Claire Fallon appointed to Planning Commission

7.14.2009

A Charlotte community leader from University City has been appointed to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission. Claire Green Fallon began her three-year term as a Mecklenburg County Board appointment in late June.
Fallon serves on several citywide advisory groups and is president of the Northeast Coalition, an alliance of several University City neighborhoods.

Fallon said that she sought a Planning Commission appointment to try and influence what she sees as a "burst of development" that will occur once the economy recovers.
"I am terrified that what will happen is that the city will want to get so much money in tax money that they will give variances to everything and we will have one big mess," Fallon said.
"I am for development," Fallon added. "I feel it will come. I don't feel in any way, shape or form you can hold it back.
"But it has to be livable. We have to be able to live with it, and the group of people coming in (to live in the new community) has to be able to live with us."
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission reviews local land-use plans and rezoning requests and makes recommendations to the Charlotte City Council. While elected officials have the final say, they often follow the planning commission's advice.
Fallon has deep experience with zoning and planning issues both in Charlotte and as a community board leader in Queens, N.Y. New York City's appointed community boards advise the city's elected officials on zoning and planning issues as well as a wide range of other concerns. Fallon served as Executive Secretary of Board 9 and was also on the group's zoning board.
As leader of the Northeast Coalition, Fallon has often hosted informal gatherings at her home with developers and builders seeking rezonings for their projects. Although Fallon has opposed a few projects outright, she more often has worked with developers to make improvements such as higher-grade building materials.
Fallon said that she recently stepped down from the Northeast Coalition's zoning committee.
She continues to serve as association president of the Legacy at Davis Lake, where she lives with her husband, Tim.
She also serves on the executive board of the Mixed Income Housing Coalition, which promotes government policies that create and sustain mixed-income communities; the Charlotte City Council's Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board; and the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance.
Fallon was one of two neighborhood representatives on the Committee of 21, which was created in 2008 by the city, county and Charlotte Chamber to recommend solutions to the region's transportation problems.
Fallon joins Greg Phipps, another University City resident, who was appointed to the Planning Commission this spring. . Phipps, who held the interim appointment to City Council when Malcolm Graham went to the NC Senate, has been active in the Back Creek neighborhood.


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