What do we know about Kane Realty's Downtown South (DTS) plan after a 3-hour long Planning Commission meeting on Friday? The answer is, we didn't learn one thing on Friday that we didn't already know; and going into Friday, all we knew about developer John Kane's...
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.
Disinformation in Local Elections
On Tuesday, October 20, Raleigh's News and Observer is hosting a webinar, "Disinformation in Local Elections: How to spot it and what you can do" I decided to write to the N&O on the eve of their webinar because I have three examples of the role disinformation has...
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.
Courtney Napier Challenges Raleigh’s Affordable Housing Bond
In the current issue of INDYWeek, Courtney Napier challenges the Raleigh City Council to center their Affordable Housing Bond on our city’s most pressing housing needs rather than on development profits.
David Knight, Trying to Have it Both Ways on the Quarry, Fails His Constituents and His Convictions
As a candidate for City Council, David Knight campaigned on opposition to the RDU Quarry. He made his position clear in statements to both INDYWeek and the News & Observer. To INDYWeek he said: INDYWeek Candidate Questionnaire - David Knight To the...
Weasel Conditions: A Zoning Tool for False Council Promises
Weasel Conditions. This is a case study of how the Z-41-19 zoning applicant and complicit Councilors falsified the meaning of zoning condition #8 to create a misleading narrative, suggesting it offered significant environmental protections, when in fact, it did not.
UpZoning 101: The Money and Politics of Growing Raleigh
Even though Shelley Lake neighbors were joined by literally thousands of Raleigh residents in petitioning the Council to protect Shelley Lake Park, Council, by a 7 to 1 vote, continued its pursuit of density wherever profitable, regardless of the impacts. Here are 5 lessons the Shelley Lake neighbors learned, and what neighbors of future upzonings can expect from this Council:
Melton flip-flop
Let’s be very clear. There is one and only one reason the council abolished CACs. They wanted to eliminate the independent voices of citizens involved in rezoning cases as payment to the developers who paid for their campaigns.
Delivering for Barnhill
Hillsborough-Wade CAC Chair Donna Bailey spoke at the July 7 Raleigh City Council meeting on Mayor Baldwin’s conflicts of interest.