Participate in the Citywide Learning and Review Sessions on
Same meetings, different locations for your convenience.
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Interesting changes coming from the Legislature that impact how new subdivisions, site plans, and variances need to notify more citizens. Currently, this does not look to impact the rezoning notification process.
The North Carolina General Assembly has approved legislation that changes the way Raleigh and other municipalities in the state consider subdivision plans, site plans and variances.
At its Nov. 3 meeting, the Raleigh City Council authorized City Attorney Thomas McCormick and City Planning Director Mitchell Silver to draft a text change that will bring the City’s policies into compliance with the new state law. The proposed text change will be presented to the City Council for its consideration. (more…)
PUBLIC HEARING SET TO DISCUSS CONDITIONAL USE ZONING PROCESS
On January 19, 2010, the Raleigh City Council will hold a public hearing to discuss a proposed text change to the City ’s conditional use zoning process. At Wednesday ’s Council meeting, the City ’s planning staff was directed to review the 25-year history of the process and draft a text change.
The proposed text change will require that the neighborhood meeting for rezoning petitions take place prior to an applicant ’s submittal of the petition and include other benchmarked dates regarding submittal of conditions. The January 19 meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber.
Over 30 people attended the monthly meeting of the District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA) on the morning of October 17, 2009. After introductions, we talked about who we would like to have as special guests for future meetings. Upcoming guests include Captain Perry, Tom Stafford, and Kristen Rosselli. The group reviewed some upcoming items for City Council, had introductions from the Downtown Living Advocates, Renaissance Park neighborhood, and member announcements.
The November meeting for DDNA will be held at Renaissance Park. Elizabeth Byrd to coordinate pot luck breakfast. (more…)
We reported earlier when the 2030 Comprehensive Plan was approved by City Council. Last week, the plan was amended and adopted.
COUNCIL AMENDS AND ADOPTS THE 2030 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The Raleigh City Council on Wednesday [October 7, 2009] adopted the 2030 Comprehensive Plan after agreeing to make three minor amendments to the document.
The first amendment changes the Wilmont/Vann/Lundy Drive area from moderate density to low density residential on the future land use map. The Council also approved an amendment to the Cameron Village area that will allow retail on both sides of Oberlin Road between Clark Street and Everette Street. The amendment requires a lower intensity of use on the west side of Oberlin Road. Finally, the Council approved minor edits to the text of the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Element.
The Council considered amending the designation of a parcel of land located at Women’s Club Drive and Glenwood Avenue that is designated Neighborhood Mixed-Use. However, the Council made no changes.
Source: http://bit.ly/1cxTJy
A crowd of around 25 citizens joined at Carolina Pines Community Center to participate in the October 12, 2009 meeting of the South West Citizens Advisory Council (SWCAC). The special guest for this evening was The Honorable Senator Josh Stein, who provided an update from the most recent legislative session and took questions from the audience.
The meeting started off with an update from Officer Upchurch. Over the last month there were 724 calls between September 15, 2009 – October 12, 2009. The calls only cover the SWCAC area. There was a lot of concern about a drug search at 2420 Voyager Circle where we didn’t get a lot of details. Officer Upchurch said that this was a fairly normal search warrant by the Selective Enforcement Unit (SEU), we just usually don’t see SWAT-like officers in our area very often. Some residents were concerned for their safety and believe that things are being kept quiet because NC State students are involved. Other calls of interest included: (more…)
At last evenings candidates forum, September 27, 2009, hosted by Renaissance Park in their cozy club house, almost 50 citizens attended to learn more about Raleigh City Council District D and At-Large candidates for the upcoming election on October 6, 2009. Each District D candidate gave a brief introduction to themselves and why they are running for City Council. Moderator Moe Johnson then presented each candidate with five questions. At-Large councilors were then introduced and provided their platform. Questions from those in attendance followed.
Disclaimer, the following is my best effort attempt to capture the questions and answers from the candidates. I invite anyone in attendance or the candidates themselves to post any updates or corrections by contacting me or in the comments. The questions (after the first five) are paraphrased to get right to the topic.
Opening remarks from Renaissance Park resident and moderator, Moe Johnson. Renaissance Park is a new neighborhood, which means they are new at community activism. There is a desire to get involved in city government and this is one of the first projects to start that involvement for their community. (more…)
On September 8, 2009, the City of Raleigh website reported City Council Conceptually Approves Comprehensive Plan. I want to first start by commending Mayor Meeker and City Council for approving the plan. Next, a round of applause to the city staff, particularly Mitch Silver and Ken Bowers from the Planning Department, for their dedication and numerous hours put into this project. I was extremely impressed with the level of engagement from the District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA) and the expertise, patience, and perseverance they provided during the entire 10-month process.
City Council approved the 2030 Comprehensive Plan
However, I was not impressed with recent News & Observer coverage of the 2030 plan which belittled the free consulting work that DDNA provided over the past 10-months to City Council and the citizens of Raleigh. (Reference: Council adopts new vision for growth, Late tweaks add conflict to city plan)
These articles fail to mention that the DDNA group was following the process made by the planning department and city council. We presented our recommendations at the public hearing on August 13, 2009. Then we finalized those changes at our August meeting and submitted them to Councilor Crowder per the process the Mayor prescribed at the conclusion of the public hearing.
Unlike the N&O, I’ve been providing updates for DDNA on our participation with the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. This started in December 2008 when DDNA started to organize into citizen lead focus groups to review the plan. This was shortly after the plan was being rolled out and numerous public sessions were in the works. We started setting dates to meet, taking advantage of the many public sessions. We set milestones for the short time frame we had to review the plan during the holiday season. (more…)
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