Let’s stipulate a couple of points up front. Missing Middle, done well, is a good thing. But….What the previous Council produced is MM done deviously, and sloppily. Much of it, in fact, undermines the whole premise of MM, which is to offer an increased number of affordable-housing options than would exist without it.
The false dichotomy that one must be either pro-growth or anti-growth serves no one. A sensible and balanced approach to development would promote growth that is equitable, environmentally sustainable, supported by adequate infrastructure, and compatible with existing development.
Raleigh’s highly promoted public information sessions about Missing Middle Housing rules got off to a rocky start last Wednesday evening, being held a year and a half late, after the city’s neighborhood densification rules began going into effect.
Council’s upcoming decision to either keep or eliminate Raleigh’s COVID-era free bus fares has been framed as making an important statement about Raleigh’s commitment to high quality and equitable bus service. Maybe so, but if you listen to the Raleigh Transit Authority’s Nov 10 deliberations on the topic, you might conclude that reinstating fees will have little impact on a system that is in decline and without an effective plan to provide high quality and equitable transit services in post-COVID Raleigh.
The first camp favors letting the market work without regulation, arguing that it will serve rich and poor alike – but knowing that it won’t – while the second camp favors using the powers of city zoning to assure that growth occurs and serves the interests of all.
Former Planning Commission Chair Bob Mulder highlights the need to improve Raleigh’s missing middle housing rules. Focusing debates on criticisms of pro and con stakeholders only diverts attention from what we all (except the greediest) agree on: Adding density in the right places is good, but the missing middle rules should be improved – with a more open, public engagement process about how to actually retain, replace and produce housing that’s affordable to current working families and households.
When our urban forests are gone, our streams are flooding from overgrowth, and Raleigh is one huge Urban Heat Island, Missing Middle Text politics will not save us.
Council’s sledgehammer efforts at planning have been both thoughtless and undisciplined. Density does not improve quality of life or lower housing prices.
Your relentless drive to spread density everywhere is going to be the death knell for the remaining urban forests in our older subdivisions. You are riding the crest of the tree removal wave, as well as the steady progression towards increased traffic gridlock.
After calling Richmond, Boston, Southern California and New Jersey/New York home during a financial services career, Bill Dix arrived in Raleigh 35 years ago. By far the most congenial place they’ve ever lived, he wants to keep it that way. Active for over two decades...