Dear Council Members,
The previous Raleigh City Council spent zero amount of time discussing the unintended consequences of their major change to zoning practices which they characterized as mere “text changes.” Now the current council is MIA by failing to address these serious consequences for which several neighborhoods have presented evidence.
It seems the Council is on a path to destroy the very thing that made Raleigh a good place to live: orderly growth. While wrongly equating density with affordability, the City is encouraging destruction of a significant amount of naturally occurring affordable housing by encouraging more expensive building options on the property. As the New York Times noted previously, Raleigh’s historically Black neighborhoods continue to be gentrified by developers who are replacing their homes with luxury apartments for people that are seeking to move here. What about the interests of people who are already here?
City leaders characterize opposition to the City’s Missing Middle policies as the self-serving interests of one rich Raleigh neighborhood. What about the protests from Laurel Hills, Woodcrest, Barksdale, Roylene Acres and Mordecai/Clover apartments? And what about those neighborhoods bound yet to come for the same reasons?
Homeowners have lost important property rights through recent City Councils. Now there is no notice, no public hearing, and no appeal. As more neighborhoods discover the facts of Missing Middle, they will understand how much they have given up for a false notion of affordable housing and that increased density has transferred property value from neighborhood single family homeowners to developers’ pockets.
Our neighborhood group, Restore Raleigh Zoning, has placed before the Council common sense modifications that would accommodate greater density where it makes sense, without destroying single family neighborhoods in the process. Yet we are met with stony silence. (View recommendations here)
Instead, this council has wasted hundreds of thousands of tax dollars defending a practice they could have ameliorated for nothing.
My conclusion is the mayor, council and city staff have failed Raleigh regarding housing and zoning decisions.
Terry A. Henderson
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