Daniel Parolek coined the phrase "Missing Middle Housing." He recently held a webinar explaining the common mistakes made when implementing this policy. Raleigh is making most of those mistakes with this text change. The Top Five Missing Middle Housing Implementation...
Downtown South Needs a Makeover
During the holidays we are re-posting some of our favorite guest blogs while we take some time away from our normal hectic schedules. Here is a recent message from Jane Harrison. Jane Harrison, Ph.D., works at North Carolina State University for NOAAs Sea Grant...
Planning Commission votes 8-0 to deny current Downtown South Project and calls for a revised and improved project.
After six weeks of special meetings and intense analysis, the Raleigh Planning Commission found the Downtown South Project, the largest development proposal ever in Raleigh, to be fundamentally inconsistent with Raleigh’s adopted policies for environmental protection,...
Profiles in Courage
As the largest development proposal ever seen in Raleigh, John Kane’s Downtown South Project challenges all the normal processes for judging community impacts and benefits. The political pressure for quick approval is equally off the charts, so much so that the City...
Stick to the Plan — Raleigh’s Comprehensive Plan
Raleigh’s Comprehensive Plan makes a clear commitment to sustainability and focuses on the “interdependent relationships of environmental stewardship, economic strength and social integrity.” It emphasizes the provision of economic and housing opportunities for all segments of the population in all areas of the city… including “aging in place.” It strongly promotes protection, restoration and preservation of the environment and existing neighborhoods; “of careful infill development that complements existing character and responds to natural features” … “the conservation of urban, suburban and native forests” … “preserving its natural landscapes” … “wildlife and habitat protection” and on and on.
Kane’s Downtown South Up-Zoning Case Z-13-20: A Primer. (Short Version: 40 Stories, Could Be Anything, Starts Thursday)
Affordable housing included? No. Enhanced Stormwater Controls? No. Low-impact Development promised? No. Is there a Community Benefits Agreement? No. Are ANY design or details offered? No. None.
City Council votes 7 to 1 to destroy Azalea Falls.
At the October 6 Raleigh City Council afternoon meeting, David Knight led a spurious, yet successful effort to destroy Azalea Falls, one of Raleigh’s designated National Historic sites. As usual, the development-driven Council majority voted 7 to 1 (David Cox being the lone dissenter) to perpetrate another environmental disaster in our community.
Save Raleigh’s Azalea Falls
(This is the full version of the abbreviated op-ed published in the News and Observer on October 2, 2020) Azalea Falls is a hidden Raleigh gem that has recently been designated by the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources as being an ecological habitat of...
Council Plans an Environmental Disaster to Benefit a Construction Conglomerate
Despite overwhelming evidence that this upzoning should not go forward, this Council seems determined to approve the destruction of our most precious environmental assets for the insignificant benefit of one of the largest construction conglomerates in North America.