Federal Grants
- Raleigh so far has not been as impacted by federal grant cuts as other entities, including the county, universities, and nonprofits, but risk continues to exist.
- Funding from HUD (Housing and Urban Development) is about 16% of City’s annual spend and so far nothing has been lost. Similar with grants from Department of Justice.
- Raleigh did lose two grants — $2.4M for charging infrastructure and $1M for a forestry grant.
- Council asked staff to provide more detail about impact of cuts on County services that may impact the community. There is a big concern about the impact of cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) funding.
Legislative Agenda
https://pub-raleighnc.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=3623
- The City’s lobbyist is Philip Isley who is a former City Council member and lobbies for other municipalities.
- Isley must often play defense rather than offense.
- Mayor Cowell suggested focusing on not just the General Assembly, but on the Executive Branch including Council of State.
- Council priorities are Affordable Housing, Transportation & Transit, and Public Safety. Property tax relief is also a big concern.
- Guiding principles are to protect and increase revenue streams and protect and increase municipal authority.
- Getting more flexibility would be a “massive lift” per Isley.
- Want to leverage relationships with other forms of government (public/public partnerships) as well as public/private partnerships.
- Want to advance strategic plan and advance policies that support residents.
- Topics raised included multi-modal transit, building codes, property tax relief, stormwater issues, infrastructure reliability and resiliency, mental health, LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credits), surplus property including how it can be used for economic development, affordable housing, and to increase the City’s revenue stream, and public safety infrastructure including fire, police, and EMS.
- Isley said the General Assembly plans to come back into session for a few days beginning October 20.
Steady State Bonds
https://pub-raleighnc.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=3617
- Council realizes the public has lost some trust because of the failure to deliver on the 2017 Transportation Bond.
- They want to have more frequent and smaller bonds on a four-year cycle so they can be better managed.
- They have built in the capacity to issue $200M worth of bonds every four years without raising taxes. If there is a desire to raise taxes, a half cent tax increase would allow for $250M, a one cent tax increase would lead to $297M, and a 1.5 cent increase would lead to $340M.
- Because the $200M would buy less over time due to inflation, the steady state would need revisions over time in order to remain revenue neutral.
- A public referendum would still be required, even for the built-in $200M.
- Timing would be for council to decide purpose and amount of bond in April, hold a public hearing in May/June, and have a referendum on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
- Because Parks had a big bond recently, the focus likely will be on Housing and Transit bonds.
“Big Ideas” Discussion and Exercise
https://pub-raleighnc.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=3620
- It was virtually impossible to follow this discussion without being able to see slides and/or flipcharts.
- City Manager Marchell Adams-David pointed to successful “Big Ideas” that have been realized, including the development of Hillsborough Street and North Hills, the Gipson Play Plaza at Dix Park, the Dreamville festival, and the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Team.
- Future ideas included a baseball stadium, regional rail, and a connection from downtown to Dix Park.
“Reflecting Raleigh: The Next Comprehensive Plan”
https://pub-raleighnc.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=3619
- Planning Director Patrick Young introduced the plans for updating Raleigh’s Comprehensive Plan by 2027 to cover the period through 2050 when Raleigh’s population is expected to increase to 750,000. He noted that Raleigh has grown in every census since some time in the 1800s.
- There is a five-step process for updating the plan. Step one is engagement and has included about 100 events reaching about 12,000 residents. According to Young, this is about 2% of Raleigh’s population so far in the process and 3% is considered the standard.
- Key themes emerging from Phase 1 include community education and engagement, smart growth, housing affordability, sustainability, and preservation and distribution of natural resources. The top 2 are Affordable Housing and Managing Growth
- Phase 2 involves beginning to draft the plan, working through tradeoffs and tensions identified in Phase 1. This will happen through involvement of both Technical Teams and a Civic Assembly.
- Subject Matter Experts will be included in Technical Teams that will address five different areas and assess priorities from a technical perspective. The Subject Matter Experts will include key staff members, selected members from Boards and Commissions, and applicants from the community.
- Members of the Civic Assembly will be drawn from a random lottery and will be balanced demographically. Those 40 to 50 individuals will spend about 40-60 hours over 6 weeks learning about issues, discussing specific questions, and taking multi-vote approaches for Council to consider. The members of the Civic Assembly will be compensated with a small stipend and childcare and meals will be provided.
- Phase 2 will also include a Cost of Growth Analysis by staff. Mayor Cowell mentioned needing more density and infill to deal with growth and questioned how the Council can encourage home ownership. Patrick Young discussed reinvesting in areas where there are existing services in order to manage costs.
- Staff will ask Council to endorse their plans at an October 7 meeting and will reflect input from today’s retreat at an October 14 meeting.
- Phase 3 will involve policy development and an initial draft of the plan.
- In Phase 4, the plan will go back out for public reaction and Phase 5 will be adoption of the plan by the end of 2027.
Expansion of Affordable Housing Sites
https://pub-raleighnc.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=3622
- The city owns 69 available lots, most of them less than ¼ acre in size. Additionally,Raleigh Housing Authority has 200-300 sites. It may be possible to assemble some of the smaller sites into larger groupings and also to consider negotiating sales of some of the properties. There are environmental issues with many of the sites as well.
- Raleigh uses 4% LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit) financing for most affordable housing development. It is less competitive than the 9% LIHTC financing. Additional gap financing is required in either case.