2nd neighborhood meeting

Good evening Mayor and Council Members,

Five years ago when you defunded CACs (Citizen Advisory Councils) you eliminated the requirement that rezoning cases be brought to CACs for a discussion with residents, led by City Staff and attended by the applicant/developer.

You replaced those meetings with a required 2nd Neighborhood Meeting totally controlled by the developer.

Although a staff member might be in attendance, the staffer makes no effort to be an active participant or address any issues that arise.

I attended the 2nd Neighborhood Meeting for the West Street Tower (Z-12-25) last week.

It was strictly limited to one hour and worse yet, the Planning Department’s full report including the Statement of Consistency with city policies was not available.

It was a one-sided presentation of the developer’s opinions.

The residents had no information from the city to challenge any claims made by the developer.

It was uselss considering there will NOT be another opportunity for the residents to have this conversation after the Planning Report is completed and published.

The applicant bases their entire justification using an out-of-date map that says there might be a transit station at West Street some day.

But, two years ago at the Safe, Vibrant & Healthy Communities Committee meeting, a Transportation staffer reported that the West Street Alignment for the Northern BRT Route had been eliminated from consideration. There was no plan for transit at West Street. It had been removed. Councilors Patton and Jones were there as committee members. Councilor Harrison was there as the District Councilor.

I brought this same question about the possible West Street station being revived to the 1st Neighborhood Meeting in April. I didn’t receive an answer from the developer. And, after the meeting a staffer assured me they would find out whether there is or is not a planned West Street station.

Well, if they found out anything, they didn’t bring it to the 2nd meeting nor to the attention of the developer.  Because, 2 years later the developer is still making the claim that there is a transit station planned for West Street.

Raleigh’s Transportation Department confirmed again in April prior to the 1st Neighborhood Meeting and just last week prior to the 2nd meeting that there is no transit station planned for that location.

The developer continues to insist they can only rely on the map in the Comprehensive Plan even though they know the map is out of date and inaccurate.

This nonsense is ridiculous.

The 2nd Neighborhood Meeting should not take place without the Planning Department’s Report of Consistency.

In the past you have talked about taking control of the 2nd Neighborhood Meeting out of the hands of the developer and return control to City Staff.

It’s time to do that NOW!

One final thought. Any developer or land use attorney who knowingly uses false information to justify their case should face some sort of disciplinary action. Just sayin’

Thank You

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