INCLUDE THE PUBLIC IN THE REZONING PROCESS

Donna Bailey has lived in Raleigh for over 25 years and has been a neighborhood advocate for much of that time. She served as President of the University Park Neighborhood Association and has also been Chair of the Hillsborough-Wade Citizens Advisory Council (CAC). Donna has been very active in educating the public on what is going on within the city and making sure that resident’s voices are heard. Donna is a former member of the city’s Community Engagement Board.

Donna spoke to City Council on February 10, 2026:

Mary-Ann Baldwin was successful in removing the public from the rezoning process with the elimination of the required meeting held at a relevant CAC.

That meeting had a presentation with the applicant, a staff report by a staff member, and time to discuss all of the issues. And the applicant was not in charge. When that process was followed, the public had all of the information needed to make meaningful decisions.

Now there is NO process for the public to hear what the staff report says until the Planning Commission meeting. As you know the staff report comes out on a Friday afternoon and the Planning Commission meeting is on Tuesday  morning.

How is the public supposed to participate? How is the public supposed to prepare to respond to the staff report with so little time?

You saw with the Z-12-25 rezoning case at Peace and West St that the CACs banded together very quickly to hold a joint meeting AFTER the staff report was out and had already been to the Planning Commission. There were approximately 90 people in person and 45 people virtually.

YOU HAVE TO DO BETTER to make sure the public is included in this process.

The only way to fix that is to have a meeting that is NOT RUN by the applicant and include the city’s staff report BEFORE it goes to the Planning Commission.

The final hearing in the North Hills rezoning case brought some glaring flaws in the process to light.

As noted the Planning Department’s Rezoning Staff Report is NOT MADE PUBLIC until the Friday afternoon before a Tuesday morning Planning Commission.

This of course puts those who oppose the case at a disadvantage because they have so little time to prepare a response to present to the Planning Commission. And certainly doesn’t give them any time to speak to Planning Commissioners before the few minutes they are allowed at the meeting. What this means is the Planning Commissioners get mostly a one-sided view of the case from the point of view of the Planning Department.

But, in the final meeting of the North Hills case, two more issues came to light.

First, the applicant ADDED conditions to the case after the Public Hearing was complete, and the time for those in favor and opposed was all previously used. So, when the case came back to council after being held for 2 weeks, the applicant and staff were able to speak to the newly added condition. But, the public was not able to speak. This seems WRONG.

Second, when councilors ask questions of the applicant from the table, especially leading questions designed to allow the applicant an opportunity to defend themselves against points made by those in opposition, then the opposition should be given equal time to speak to those same questions.

Both of these scenarios played out at the final North Hills case hearing. Both of these scenarios were unfair to those who opposed the case.

I believe you should change the process to handle ALL of these issues:

• • Publish the Planning Department Rezoning Staff Report at least one week before the Planning Commission meeting.
  • Hold a meeting not run by the applicant, including the staff report BEFORE the case goes to the Planning Commission.
  • More speaking time should be allocated to both those in favor and opposed to a case whenever conditions are added or changed. In fact, whenever any change(s) are made to the case.
  • Any questions asked by a councilor from the table should be addressed to BOTH sides of the case. This should not be a time to allow the applicant to make unrebutted claims.

If you appreciate the kind of reporting we bring to you