The South West Citizens Advisory Council (SWCAC) met on July 14, 2008 at Carolina Pines Park. Here are my notes:
I was late to the meeting and missed the police report and Parks & Rec update. Generally, from RPD, robberies are up all around the city and that is their main focus right now. The rest of the meeting consisted of a review and vote of rezoning case Z-37-08 and an overview of the bicycle plan for the City of Raleigh.
On the rezoning case, Ted Van Dyk, who represents the petitioner, presented the rezoning case and the conditions (restrictions) on the proposed R-30 CUD (Conditional Use) zoning from the current R-10 zoning. He walked us through the latest vision. The concept to use the back road as access to the property has been abandoned and that portion of the property will remain R-10. Numerous other questions we addressed. A vote was held. A motion was on the floor to delay the vote pending a condition to limit the number of units for the rezoning case. The motion was seconded, and passed 16-6.
On a side note and in complete transparency, I found out that after the meeting that the owner of Sammie’s (bar in Mission Valley) was in attendance and is the owner of the property. I was not able to confirm he is the owner or has a vested interest. However, he was present and brought some folks from Pine Knoll Apartment or Avery Close (one of those places), which is where most of the 6 votes against delaying the case stemmed from. I would expect more people like this present at the next meeting.
Fleming El-Amin, Transportation Planner, spent the next 30 minutes or so reviewing the cities bike plan. The city is currently revising the bicycle plan and recently awarded an RFP to Greenway Inc., of Durham, for the project management of the plan. The goal is to expand the plan from the 1991 plan and to create a BLOS (Bicycle Level of Service) for the city. Several public meetings have been formed, the next public meeting is planned for August 26 (tentative) at Shelley Lake from 4-7pm. There is currently on online survey (http://greenways.com/raleighbike.html) that folks can complete.
Some interesting results already, Hillsborough Street is seen as on of the number one area’s for cyclist improvements. The top three intersection that need improvements include Western / Avent Ferry, Gorman / Western, and Hillsborough / Oberlin. No surprise that all these are near the NCSU campus. One interesting thing that jumped out for me where some of the accident statistics provide. Seven (7) bicycle-related crashes occurred between 2001-2006 on Trailwood Drive.
El-Amin reviewed the next steps in the updating of the bicycle plan process. They are looking at codes and policies to be updated and will be making a recommendation as part of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan update. The Complete Streets concept was mentioned, as well as the three E’s of cycling, Encouragement, Education, and Enforcement. A final presentation is expected in the September / October 2008 time frame and adoption be City Council in the October / November time frame.