URGENT CALL TO ACTION – SOUTH PARK NEIGHBORS – Z-22-26

Robert Russotti has been a South Park resident since 2006. He is a local business and property owner who cares deeply about thoughtful development, neighborhood preservation, and ensuring that residents have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their community.

URGENT CALL TO ACTION — SOUTH PARK NEIGHBORS — Z-22-26

Is everyone in South Park aware of what is happening with Z-22-26 and the potential removal of our neighborhood’s existing height restrictions?

This rezoning involves approximately 0.93 acres at Bragg Street and South East Street and seeks to remove these properties from the South Park Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD).

The applicant’s own filing could not be clearer:

“The sole purpose of this rezoning request is to remove the subject site from the 28.7-foot height limitation restriction of the South Park NCOD.”

During the Planning Commission meeting, the developer specifically discussed the possibility of approximately 50 residential units on this property.

To be clear, Z-22-26 does not itself approve a specific 50-unit building. But 50 units were discussed by the developer, and I believe South Park residents deserve to know the potential scale of development being contemplated when deciding whether removal of our neighborhood protections concerns them.

The Planning Commission has now voted 7–3 to recommend approval, and the case is scheduled to be reported to City Council on September 15.

I am not opposed to housing, density, or responsible development. South Park should continue to grow and evolve.

What concerns me is dismantling a Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District one property at a time.

The 28.7-foot height restriction isn’t an accident. It is one of the protections specifically adopted to preserve the scale and character of South Park.

If we remove that protection here, what happens when the next property owner says:

“You removed the overlay for my neighbor. Why not for me?”

And then the next owner asks the same question.

That is how we risk losing the heritage, material culture, scale, and historic character of South Park — not overnight, but one parcel at a time.

And this isn’t only about height.

Greater development intensity can also raise very real questions for existing residents about parking, traffic, neighborhood congestion, infrastructure, and the changing scale of our residential streets.

If Raleigh believes South Park’s height restriction is outdated, then let’s have that conversation openly, transparently, and comprehensively with the entire neighborhood.

But please don’t dismantle a historic neighborhood conservation district parcel by parcel.

If the South Park height restriction can be removed because it prevents the development a property owner wants to build, what principled reason will the City have to deny the next request?

Whether you support or oppose Z-22-26, please pay attention, learn about the proposal, contact the City, and make your voice heard.

This is our neighborhood. What happens on these 0.93 acres could help determine what South Park looks like for decades to come.

Z-22-26 — Bragg Street & South East Street
City Council Report of Planning Commission — September 15, 2026

Robert Russotti

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