Former Mayor McFarlane asks City Council to DENY North Hills rezoning

Tough Decisions

Raleigh is growing.  We all recognize that.  Many residents mourn what they believe is the loss of the city that they grew up in and loved.

It is the inevitable outcome of creating a wonderful place that people want to move here.  The challenge has always been, how do you accommodate that growth without losing the character of the place that we love.

The most important part of that process is careful planning.  Planning provides predictability.  Residents want to know what will be built around them, and developers want to know what they can build.

Raleigh has prioritized that process.  We have developed a Future Land Use map and Comprehensive Plan.  We have also worked with residents and developers to look at specific areas of growth to develop Small Area Plans.

Raleigh has a rezoning request before the council that challenges that process.

Over the past years we have witnessed substantial change at North Hills.  It is exemplary of the successes and the challenges that Raleigh faces.  A Small Area Plan was developed with a large amount of input from residents and businesses in the area.  The agreement from that plan was a cap of up to 20 stories in the development.  The current rezoning request is for 40 stories.  While the argument is that there will be no more units than are allowed under the current zoning, there is much more to be considered.

North Hills is served by a limited, already overburdened, road system.

Six Forks Road and the Beltline are the primary access points.  Unlike downtown, there is not a grid system to provide traffic relief.  The plan to widen Six Forks Road was tabled last year after costs spiraled.  The strain to the infrastructure also includes police, fire, water and sewer.

Now comes the difficult part for the city council.  They have a staff report that claims the proposed rezoning is compliant with the comprehensive plan. One of the tenets of the plan is the transition from dense areas to the single-family homes around them.  This request does not comply with that.  It does not comply with the Small Area Plan.

No traffic impact analysis has been done.  Anyone that drives through this area regularly knows that multiple 37 story buildings with business, office, hotel and other non-specified uses will not only deadlock this area, but potentially make it unsafe.

We want to accommodate our growth.  That’s why we plan.

What does it say to all of those that participated in our process to throw that aside?

Staff recommendations are just that.  Recommendations.

It is up to our elected leaders to balance those recommendations with input from their citizens.

We welcome our new neighbors.  Let’s embrace our growth in a way that insures that Raleigh continues to be the exceptional city that we know and love.