Policy Tradeoffs Should Weigh in Favor of Affordable Housing
Just like the rest of the Country, Raleigh is facing a housing affordability crisis. Watch any City Council meeting and you’re likely to hear something about the lack of affordable housing in Raleigh. So, it’s interesting when public officials and neighbors express concerns about drinking water supply and watershed protection the moment an affordable housing community is proposed for one of the few suitable properties in North Raleigh. What is left unsaid is the fact that the proposed community is next door to a strip shopping center, Interstate 540 and a single-family development with assessed values generally over $600,000. All of which lie within the same watershed protection area.
That’s no coincidence. Development within Watershed areas are regulated stringently and rightly so. All development in these areas is required to have less impervious surface area and more conservation area. These heightened environmental regulations have the perverse effect of creating highly desired large lots with correspondingly large, expensive homes while making it nearly impossible to build housing for Raleigh’s police officers, fire fighters, teachers and service workers.
Rezoning Z-40-23 is a rare exception to this regulatory reality. If approved, the rezoning will allow the construction of a 150-unit affordable housing community to be built within walking distance of two grocery stores, a pharmacy and other services. The average income restriction for the project would be 60% of area median income (AMI), with some units reserved for people with incomes as low as 20% of AMI. Despite these potential community benefits and opportunities, the rezoning case has been under review by the Planning Commission and City Council for over a year.
Although the property is surrounded by intense development, the discussion in the Planning Commission centered around the development’s potential impact on the Falls Lake Watershed, Raleigh’s drinking water supply. While it is true the proposed community includes more housing density than allowed under current zoning, the applicant offered extensive stormwater control measures to offset any impact to the watershed.
This practice is precisely how the intense shopping center development next to the property was developed, not to mention many other developments located in the same watershed. Here are a few examples. Life Time Fitness graded over 9 acres and has roughly 38% impervious surface. The adjacent Leesville Towne Centre strip center graded about 17 acres and has roughly 83% impervious surface. Despite being in the same watershed, City Council rezoned these projects and all vary from the Comprehensive Plan’s recommendation of low-density residential for the Falls Lake Watershed. For comparison, the proposed affordable housing community will grade approximately 4.76 acres and will have roughly 28.5% impervious surface.
There are also “by-right” projects that need no rezoning like Barton Pond Elementary built by Wake County recently (graded approximately 7 acres and has roughly 23.9% impervious surface) and the planned Elevation Church located at the corner of Six Forks and Strickland (proposing to grade about 4.1 acres and with about 29.7% impervious surface). These uses, too, are at odds with the Comprehensive Plan’s recommendations of no new non-residential land uses in the Falls Lake Watershed.
The proposed affordable housing community is a less intense use than these other projects allowed in the same watershed. It’s also important to note that rejecting this rezoning does not mean the property will stay undeveloped. If City Council denies the rezoning, the property will remain zoned Residential-4 which allows single-family homes. While that may yield fewer homes for Raleigh residents, it does not mean higher environmental protection for Raleigh’s drinking water. Take the Avalaire development in Wake County for instance. The 50+ acre single-family residential development was entirely forested before being developed. Since development began in 2019, there are 56 large homes built and planned. Nearly every house has a three-car garage, expansive outdoor living areas, grassed areas and a swimming pool. Not surprisingly, these new homes have assessed values between $2 and $3.5 million. Avalaire is within the Falls Lake Watershed and almost 2.5 miles closer to Falls Lake than the Strickland site. Because it is a single-family use there was no conversation of impacts to the Watershed, it was allowed “by-right.”
Council should use common sense when weighing the costs and benefits of different types of development proposals. This is one of the last undeveloped parcels in this area of Raleigh and it will be developed with or without this rezoning. The question Council should consider is whether the best use of this last parcel is more million-dollar homes and commercial amenities to serve them or housing for its hardest working residents? They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. This aerial puts the proposal in the proper context.
