February 2nd Newsletter
Save the date for our next Happy Hour with WakeUP Wake County! Details below — we will see you there.
RaleighForward and WakeUp continue working with the National Civic League on a program exploring emerging trends in community engagement. Be on the lookout for more details in coming newsletters.
For those unable to attend, RaleighForward and WakeUp’s December 5, 2024, annual reception featured Vicki Been, Faculty Director of New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and former Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development of the City of New York.
Professor Been presented “Making Housing More Affordable: What Have We Learned?” She explored what other communities across the country are doing to address housing affordability and offered some ideas for Raleigh, in addition to praise for some of the reforms Raleigh has made recently.
Please consider taking a look at the video here.
To help RaleighForward continue to make these programs available to the community, please consider donating here. If you are interested in sponsoring an event, please reach out to eric@raleighforward.org.
The Raleigh City Council conducted its annual retreat on January 24-25. Some of the issues discussed included:
Updates to Council’s Strategic Plan. Click here for the agenda backup information.
Council discussed changes to the Public Comment process. Based on those discussions, Council is likely going to vote on changes to how Public Comment will be handled in the future. The most likely outcome will be imposing a finite amount of time Council will devote to hearing public comment during Council meetings. This will make meetings more predictable, while still providing more public comment opportunities than state law requires (which is one time per month). Click here (City Attorney Presentation) and here (City Attorney Memo) for the agenda materials. Additionally, click here for the February 4 Council agenda item.
Affordable Housing Presentation. Council received a presentation summarizing the City’s approach to addressing the housing affordability crisis. Click hereto access the presentation. During the staff presentation, Planning Director Pat Young included a portion of an excellent “explainer” video produced by a Falls Church, Virginia Council Member named Justine Underhill. It is one of the best efforts to explain how building new market-rate housing helps bring down housing costs across communities. If you click on one item in this newsletter, we hope it is the link to her video.
Articles of interest:
The Political Psychology of NIMBYism, from The Atlantic.
America’s “Grand Housing Bargain” is Broken. It’s Time for a New One, via Strong Towns.
To Rebuild Los Angeles, Fix Zoning, from The Atlantic.
Unpacking Inclusionary Zoning and Pittsburgh’s Two Competing Proposals, via PublicSource.
Rent Stabilization is at a Breaking Point: Can NYC Find Balance Before It’s Too Late? From Forbes.
Here is a great series of articles exploring the linkage between housing affordability and education by Shelterforce.
Tiny Home Community Popping up in One of the Top 30 Biggest US Cities. Here’s Why it May Help Solve a Housing Crisis, via TCD.
Jed Byrne, Founder of “The Business of the Built Environment,” is building an impressive library of “Explainer” videos related to all aspects of real estate development. If you are interested in what goes into building the environment we all occupy, we highly recommend taking a tour of these videos.
The Raleigh metro area remains one of the fastest growing regions in America. That makes dealing with housing affordability a continuing necessity for elected officials now and for the foreseeable future.
Items of interest in the week ahead:
Council meets on February 4, 2025. Here are some key agenda items to consider:
Council approved a contract for the Final Design Phase of the planned Smoky Hollow Park. The park will be located on the former site of the City’s Motor Fleet lot. The park is located in a portion of the City that lacks access to parks and greenways in comparison to most other areas of the City. Click here for the agenda materials.
The City continues implementing the 2016 Wake Transit Plan. This week, there is an agenda item related to site acquisition for approximately 10 new bus stops with full shelters. The City is working to build full shelters at every bus stop that has at least 10 boardings per day. For more information, click here.
The City received an $80,000 grant to continue the E-Bike Voucher Rebate Program that started in 2024. The grant will add 40-60 additional vouchers to the original 150 issued. Click here for information about the E-bike Voucher Program.
Rezoning Z-34-24 is a Missing Middle rezoning where the applicant is seeking to rezone 1.76 acres from Residential-4 with Neighborhood Conservation Overlay to Residential-4 with Transit Overlay District. The site is close to the New Bern Avenue BRT line. If approved, the site, which is located across from Enloe High School and has 3 single-family homes, will be approved for up to 38 new residential units. This is another demonstration of the effectiveness of Raleigh’s Missing Middle Ordinance. Additionally, there is an under-appreciated element to the Missing Middle ordinance. It offers smaller, local builders the opportunity to develop within the City because the national builders that dominate the Raleigh real estate market are generally not interested in small parcels. Giving local builders the opportunity to develop can create more vibrant, economically diverse neighborhoods. Click here for more information.
Other community meetings and items of interest:
The City continues to gather input for developing its next Comprehensive Plan. On February 12 and 19th, the City is presenting “A City in Motion: Traffic and Transportation Solutions.” If you are interested in learning more about this topic and providing input, click here.
The City recently began the budget process for the next fiscal year that starts July 1, 2025. As part of the engagement process for the budget, staff completed a series of listening sessions on January 13. Staff will work to include the input collected in those sessions in the draft budget. To stay on top of the process as it proceeds to adoption in June, click here.