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The perils of politics in the Capitol City. We’ve pointed this out in the past, but Raleigh City Council experienced legislative brush-back when it recently considered imposing a 3rd Municipal Service District along the Blue Ridge Road Corridor. During deliberations on the MSD boundaries, Council decided to remove a very large proportion of residential properties, including both apartments and single-family homes. This resulted in the tax burden falling primarily on a few large businesses. As a result, it appears that the CEO of at least one of those business within the proposed district expressed concerns to members of the NC General Assembly. This prompted Senator Jim Perry to threaten to restrict Raleigh’s ability to create future MSDs altogether. And with that threat looming, Council decided not to move forward with the proposed MSD. That’s the political reality Raleigh City Council must navigate any time it proposes an action that impacts the finances of corporate citizens or uses its legislative powers in any way that draws undue attention from the N.C. General Assembly. Read more from Axios. Missing Middle Update On June 18, Planning Director Pat Young presented an update on the impact of the City’s current Missing Middle ordinances and potential areas of reform. Some of the key items from the report that stood out was the increase in MM (townhomes, duplexes and ADU’s) permit applications after enactment of MM reforms. There were 2,758 MM permit applications filed since enactment of MM in August 2022. For the equivalent time period immediately prior to August 2022, there were only 1,377 MM permit applications filed. That is a 53% increase after enactment of the MM reforms. Another remarkable finding in the report related to the use of the affordable housing incentive contained in the MM reforms. Those incentives produced 202 new affordable units in under 2 years and with no subsidy. Considering that building a new apartment affordable housing complex with 202 units would cost at least $55 million and require permanent operational subsidies, this is quite the achievement since those incentives have been available for less than 2 years. Don’t take our word for it, read the full report here. After the presentation, Council directed the Planning Director to bring back draft text changes to amend the Missing Middle reforms in two specific areas: 1. MM “character impact” on existing neighborhoods and 2. tree conservation/planting. According to the July 2 Council agenda, the Planning director will present these text changes to Council for consideration. Assuming Council decides to move forward, any text changes will need to go through the normal Planning Commission review, public hearing and final Council vote. That process means it is unlikely to get back to Council until October or November. One other interesting point mentioned during the presentation was that the pending Hayes Barton litigation was limiting Council’s ability to rollback MM reforms beyond the 2 areas mentioned above. Depending on how and when that litigation is resolved, there could be additional efforts to roll back MM further. At least one Council candidate has expressed interest in rolling back MM to some degree. After the July 2 meeting, Council goes on its annual Summer break and will return on August 20. RaleighForward will continue monitoring developments. If you hear of candidates arguing to limit MM reforms or are interested in joining the effort to preserve the Missing Middle reforms, please reach out to eric@raleighforward.org.
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