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On June 1, 2009, the Lineberry Alliance held a meeting to discuss real estate opportunities in our area. For reference, our area is South of I-40, West of Lake Wheeler Road, North of Tryon Road, and East of Trailwood Drive. Lineberry Drive connects almost all of our neighborhoods together. At the meeting were neighbors from Camden Crossings, Whitehurst Townhomes, Trailwood Springs, Trailwood Hills, and Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate. We were lucky to have Realtor Louise Griffin a friend from the Wade CAC join us, along with South West CAC Chair Mary Belle Pate and District D City Councilor Thomas Crowder. The meeting notes and agenda are below:
Agenda
- Introductions & Lineberry Alliance overview (5 minutes)
- 2030 Comprehensive Plan review (10 minutes)
- Discussion: Current state of the neighborhood (10 minutes)
- What is our reputation?
- What are our assets?
- Rental readiness class (10 minutes)
- Louise Griffin, Realtor®, ABR®, ePro®, RE/MAX United
- Discussion: Promoting the neighborhood (20 minutes)
- Neighborhood branding: Rhamkatte? Centennial South?
- Promoting home ownership
- Neighborhood home tour
- Listing homes for sale / rent online
- Wrap-up & Action Items (5 minutes)
Meeting Notes
After some brief introductions, we spent a few minutes talking about the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. I went over the basics, then the group got into some discussion about some things we’d like to see in our area. Everyone agreed that we have a variety of housing opportunities at affordable price points. We really lack some retail. Some folks mentioned having more neighborhood retail mixed use. Others wondering what happened with the proposed car wash on Trailwood / Tryon and were curious if something better could be developed there. The group thought it might be nice to have some type of pizza place like the Lillies Pizza or Ruckus at Trailwood Hills Drive and Tryon. A locals hang out so-to-speak. Other ideas were coffee shops and perhaps some professional places like doctors, dentists, or health-related.
We talked about why attracting retail to our area is an issue. It was noted that our demographics (zip code wise) do not accurately reflect the area. The way it’s currently done, does not consider the housing south of Tryon Road, who might shop at the Lake Wheeler Road / Tryon intersection and surrounding area if there were attractive and desirable retail options.
The group talked briefly about our current reputation. The reality is that we are currently known as a college party area. This needs to change if we want out neighborhood to be more family-oriented. We also talked about how Lt. Perry (RPD) is helping with some quality of life issues, such as the no parking violations. Additionally we talked about the PROP (Probationary Rental Occupancy Permit). We believe that recent changes to the PROP and the rental registry program will have a positive effect in our neighborhoods.
Next, the group compiled an extensive list of assets for our area. First things first, we have a stellar location. We are close to downtown, I-40, the Farmer’s Market, Lake Johnson, NC State campus, RBC Center / arena area, and convenient shopping at downtown, Crossroads, and Garner. Our housing options that include apartments, townhomes, and single-family homes provide a mixed variety. Our schools are assets. Our sidewalk connectivity helps promote outdoor activity such as walking, jogging, and biking. Many neighborhoods have dog stations. We have bus routes and bike routes. Carolina Pines Park, across Lake Wheeler Road, has amenities like a dog park, baseball fields, volley ball courts, tennis courts, a small children’s park and a community center. We’ve got some great stuff, but maybe home-buyers don’t know this. Maybe you didn’t know some of this?
With all these great assets, how do we promote our collective neighborhoods? The group brainstormed on this for a while. We first recognized that we need to be better organized. I’ve talked about this before, but what we really need to do is form a board of directors and get some neighborhood commitment. Some of our ideas to help create neighborhood unity and promote the area include: an annual get-together, wine tastings, kid friendly activities, ice cream socials, a neighborhood wide home tour, and community-wide open houses. Do these sound like good ideas that we want to collectively do? I’m sure you have some ideas to add, please use the comments to contribute your thoughts.
Talking about our assets and ways to promote the area lead us to talking about what our neighborhood is called. Currently, the real estate listing shows this area as “Trailwoods.” I’m sure that everyone already knew this (I admit, I did not). We talked about calling the area Centennial South or Rhamkatte. Some folks liked Centennial South, but thought it would not help with our reputation because of the correlation that could be made with NC State. We were really digging Rhamkatte because of the historical value. We even starting talking about things like Welcome to Trailwood Hills at Historic Rhamkatte. We think that if we can get better organized, that we can pursue naming our area and getting the business community and chamber of commerce involved. We even talked about getting a logo designed and having entrance signs put up as you enter the neighborhood saying, “Welcome to Historic Rhamkatte.”
Before the meeting was adjourned, we talked about our action items. Part of the agenda included three actions items for each person. Simple things that each person could complete and contribute. The first action is to get two people to join the Alliance mailing list by June 30, 2009. The second item was to make at least one comment on the 2030 Draft Comprehensive Plan at http://raleigh-consult.limehouse.com (Click Comp Plan-Public Hearing Draft). The final item was blank on the agenda, but was intended to have each participate do something for their neighborhood. For example, one person volunteered to help with the Lineberry Alliance Facebook page. Another task was to ask the Trailwood Springs HOA to install dog stations in their area.
I think everyone left feeling really energized to get some things done. We want to get better organized so that we can create a sense of activity in our area and bring in more families. But this small group of people can ‘t do it alone. We need help from our neighbors. So when your name is called, be ready to march with us as we work to improve our neighborhoods.
Attendance:
- Eva Johannes, Camden Crossings
- Danielle Simorelli, Whitehurst Townhomes
- Paul Landay, Trailwood Springs
- Alex Gregory, Trailwood Hills
- Jason Hibbets, Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate
- Louise Griffin, Realtor®, ABR®, ePro®, RE/MAX United
- Mary Belle Pate, South West CAC Chair
- Thomas Crowder, District D City Councilor
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About: Jason: I'm a neighborhood advocate. I started off by getting involved in the Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate Community Watch program and helped grow that organization. I saw an opportunity to unite other neighborhoods in our area with the Lineberry Alliance. I became chair of Raleigh's South West Citizen Advisory Council (SWCAC) in April 2010 along with vice chair Anthony McLeod and second vice chair Mary Belle Pate. I work with other neighborhood leaders in District D alongside City Councilor Thomas Crowder, on the District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA). I've completed Raleigh Neighborhood College (Spring 2005) and Leadership North Carolina (May 2007). In 2009, I lead a group of neighborhood volunteers to review Raleigh's 2030 Comprehensive Plan. I have a genuine interest in strong communities, fostering diversity, understanding the issues, and being transparent in my work. You can follow me on Twitter: @jhibbets |
Tags: location, PROP, real_estate, rhamkatte, RPD