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 April 8, 2025:
Good Evening,
I’d like to discuss the city policy of accepting money in lieu of actual affordable units in upcoming projects.
If the goal of the city is to include more mixed-income, mixed-use housing in growth centers and especially on transit corridors, accepting money in lieu of actual affordable units, will NOT accomplish that. We need to have mixed-income near services and transit.
The upcoming GoTriangle/Hoffman project next to Union Station was supposed to provide 39 affordable apartments out of a total of 385. The inclusion of 10% affordable units was a condition offered by the developer in order to secure an upzoning approval. We were told affordable units were a requirement of the federal grant being used to build the GoTriangle project.
Affordable units should be included, and City Council is in a position to assure that they are.
The alternative is simply unacceptable: Do you really want to approve a downtown bus transit station with only apartments built at or above market rate. Who does that serve?
Affordable units should be included in every housing development located on our transit corridors. That ought to be clear Council policy. But especially at the downtown bus station, right next to the downtown train station.
Mayor Cowell said in her State of the City address that, “We need mixed-income, mixed-use housing integrated with transit.” If you allow payment instead of actual units, that is not supporting your goal.
In addition, in the upcoming request to rezone the previous Z-54-22 case at Peace and West St., Council’s recent decision to add that parcel to the Downtown Transition Area CLEARLY states that:
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- Appropriate transitions in height, scale and design are required (DT 1.12 Downtown Edge)
- Buildings should taper to be COMPATIBLE with surrounding neighborhoods (LU-2)
- The guidance is very clear that the MAXIMUM height is 12 stories in a Downtown Transition Area
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Nowhere would 30 stories be acceptable.
Please just FOLLOW THE COMP PLAN!
Thank you Councilor Forte and others for voting for the application of the Downtown Transition Area to West Street.
Please attend the upcoming Neighborhood Meeting on Wednesday, April 23rd at 6pm at the McKimmon Center. More Info here: Just Follow the Plan
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