Protect our Residential Neighborhoods, Preserve NCODs

Chris Crew was born in Morganton, NC and moved to Raleigh in 1964. He’s been a resident of Historic Oakwood since 1975.

Educated at NCSU and UNC-Chapel Hill and is retired from Public Safety. Preservationist, Cook, Trombonist, Brewer, Choirboy, Grandfather.

Chris spoke to City Council May 19, 2026:  

Don’t let up on the water restrictions—there are dry days ahead and water is precious.

Preservation: The Process.

The City Planning Staff advocates on behalf of individual development interests. When was the last time Planning acknowledged any negative impact in their review of a zoning change request?

Where is the advocacy for the people and for the plan they devised and adopted with stakeholder input?

Percentage of land in NCOD or HOD

• • 4% (4800) properties in NCOD
  • 1% (1400) properties in HOD

25% NX ? 30,000 parcels? (NX chosen because it allows 4 stories in many locations.)

The exact number of Raleigh parcels subject to Neighborhood Mixed Use (NX) zoning is not published as a single static figure. Because Raleigh’s GIS boundaries and zoning designations change as properties are rezoned, the total fluctuates. Your monthly consideration of zoning changes is responsible for this fluctuation, and it must certainly be impacting the expensive effort to update the Comp Plan by constantly changing the planning area.

Is there not enough space to experiment with housing and density without negative environmental and social impacts? Let’s look outside of the 5% deemed precious and identify areas where we can participate in growth,  increase housing, improve transportation and relieve the development pressure on our historic resources.

Z-39-25 Heck St 5-19-26

Here is an example where the Planning Department identified NO adverse impacts in their review. Here is another example of a zoning change that threatens protected resources without analysis and without demonstration of public benefit.

25% of parcels in Raleigh allow four or more stories and multiple use.

5% of parcels in Raleigh have the limited protection of historic or character zoning overlays.

These are precious resources and the impact of zoning changes cannot be fully appreciated without details– plans and drawings. A public benefit outweighing this stakeholder endorsed protection has not been identified in this case; no undue impediment to beneficial use has been documented. The parcel-by-parcel nibbling away weakens all protection and all zoning principles.

Encourage development that benefits all of Raleigh without adverse impacts on our historic and cultural resources by following our planning documents to entice development outside of the 5% that has some protection. Get gummed up in the equity question. Protection of neighborhoods was the founding premise of our ancestor’s first zoning efforts more than a century ago.

Please vote to encourage good development all along Raleigh’s future transit routes by steering around identified special resources—that’s what planning is for. Please deny the removal of the NCOD protections, please deny the zoning change request until such time as detailed plans allowing a thorough impact assessment are presented.

Thank you.

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