The choice is not between density everywhere anywhere and slow growth. The answer lies in responsible growth.
May 5 City Council Meeting
Highlights from May 5 City Council meetings
Make preservation a core value
A good planning process starts with defining a planning area and noting its features. We’ve got that —in a Comprehensive Plan whose interpretation and use should remain stable through the update cycle.
It’s time to step back and evaluate if Raleigh’s growth framework is being applied as intended.
Neighborhood Conservation Overlay Districts were adopted as legislative tools to guide growth while preserving established neighborhood patterns. If the City believes these overlays require revision, that conversation should occur through a comprehensive, citywide process—not through the incremental removal of protections on individual parcels.
Developer Welfare
Raleigh adopted a carefully thought-out and comprehensive rezoning of the entire City just 10 years ago which was and is designed to handle the growth we are now experiencing. But, Raleigh incentivizes speculators and hustlers to find cheaper and less densely zoned land not in the core of downtown and then rezone it because the city will rezone almost anything so long as you commit to building more density whether affordable or not.
Help Hold the City Accountable
The City is approving rezonings that directly contradict its own Comprehensive Plan and Small Area Plans, the documents meant to protect neighborhoods, historic areas, and responsible growth. When the government fails to follow its own rules, residents are left with no choice but to stand up and defend themselves.
CITY COUNCIL TO MIDTOWN: DROP DEAD
It turns out that at that January hearing when North Hills traffic was lightly discussed, the referral to the Transportation Committee – which had been previously promised to opponents – was not for any review of North Hills traffic at all but rather for the Six Forks Corridor Project – a dead project that would have provided little if any relief for traffic congestion in North Hills.
Place a moratorium on new zoning change requests
Raleigh’s current plans provide ample opportunity to reach Raleigh’s housing and density goals without threatening the character that makes Raleigh such a desirable address.
Supply-Side Affordability: A Harmful Fiction
Let’s move on from self-serving and counterproductive supply-side theories used to justify massive developments that are violating our neighborhoods and our adopted growth plans. Instead, let’s work with Wake County’s Affordable Housing Director toward solutions described in Livable Raleigh’s Affordability Agenda, to produce much more affordable housing and more growth according to our adopted plans.
Where Is It?
The city is FAILING at providing even a fraction of what is needed for Affordable Housing. According to the last breakdown of NET LOSS of Affordable Housing, the city is losing 4,000-5,000 units a year. The Comp Plan and Missing Middle rules are NOT promoting affordability. Instead, the city continues to destroy our existing NOAH to build “luxury” housing.