March 16 Newsletter
Hello, and welcome to RaleighForward on Substack!
March and April are shaping up to be busy months! We hope you will attend these exciting events:
March and April are shaping up to be busy months! We hope you will attend these exciting events:
There’s still time to register for this exciting opportunity to learn about the most effective ways to influence policy at the local level. Please join RaleighForward, WakeUp Wake County and the National Civic League on March 20 for “Emerging Community Engagement Tools.”
Registration is free and dinner will be provided. Click below to save your seat.
We are also excited to share that we are partnering with WakeUP Wake County and CityBuilder to host a screening of “Fault Lines: Inside the Housing Crisis.” For more information and to RSVP, click here.
Thank you to everyone who joined our Happy Hour at Moon Room earlier this week. The event was a partnership with RaleighForward, WakeUP Wake County and CityBuilder. Thank you to Moon Room for hosting us! Stay tuned for future Happy Hours this year.
Articles of interest:
The Raleigh-Cary metro region’s population continues to grow rapidly. However, it’s important to understand that this does not mean the growth is spread evenly among the various cities and towns within this region. For example, Raleigh’s population growth is significantly slower than most other cities in the region at 3.1% between April 2020 and July 2023. During that same period Cary grew at 3.0%, Apex grew at 12.5%, Holly Springs grew at 12.1%, Fuquay-Varina was at 27.9% and Wake Forest was at 13.2%. One of the takeaways from these numbers is that Raleigh must produce more and diverse housing options in order to continue attracting new residents.
Here’s another example of the NC General Assembly taking aim at the actions of one local government’s effort to exercise its legal authority. This time it’s Garner’s effort to expand its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (“ETJ”). ETJ combined with annexation are important tools the NC General assembly granted to local governments decades ago. It lets them impose land use regulations on areas that will likely be annexed within a few years. These tools have been highly effective at guiding urban development across NC, particularly with respect to water and sewer infrastructure. However, in recent years the General Assembly has highly restricted the ability of cities to use annexation to expand their borders, which can lead to less coherent urban development over time. To explore this topic more, here is a great book that explores annexation and ETJ.
Open Philanthropy Launches $150 million Fund to Support YIMBY Reforms, Bloomberg reports.
New York’s recent zoning reforms are starting to have impacts, also from Bloomberg.
What will become of the former DMV site that Raleigh purchased from the State? A citizen group is close to issuing its recommendation. This is a key site downtown and offers an excellent opportunity to transform this large parcel.
Singapore’s public housing has been one of the most successful in the world. However, it is becoming strained. Here is an interesting explainer video.
With the federal government spending less on public housing and housing subsidies, cities are exploring a new model for building affordable housing without relying on public subsidies. The leader in using this model is Montgomery County, Maryland, but other cities like Atlanta and Chattanooga are also looking at using the model. Here is a presentation that explores how the model works.
As Raleigh works on a new comprehensive plan, should it consider upzoning to allow more and varied types of residential density across the City? How Upzoning in Cambridge Broke the Mold, via Bloomberg.
Now is the Time for LA to End Single-family Zoning, via the Foundation for Economic Education.
Asheville adopts Missing Middle reforms similar to Raleigh, from the Asheville Citizen Times.
From the Data Department:
Items of interest in the week ahead:
Raleigh City Council meets on Tuesday, March 18th 2025. Here are a few items of interest:
During Council’s 11:30 work session, it will receive a report on how the City is incorporating artificial intelligence into its work. Here is a link to the agenda packet.
During the regular meeting, staff will provide an update to Council on efforts to enhance the safety and quality of life issues in downtown. Click here for the agenda item.
Council will continue the public hearing from March 4 for rezoning Z-40-24. This is an interesting case because it involves a church seeking to use some of its property to develop up to 200 units of affordable housing. After the public hearing was continued on March 4, the church revised conditions to address stormwater concerns, traffic and reduce the maximum number of allowed units from 225 to 200. Click here for the agenda material. Churches around the country are losing members, so they need to find other sources of income to continue operating. Because of this, we can expect to see more churches trying to re-purpose or redevelop church-owned property for uses like affordable housing.
Other community meetings and items of interest:
For those that attend City Council meetings, you might have heard references to the “City Manager’s Update.” These updates are provided to Council and reflect the City Manager’s response to prior Council meeting discussion items or other requests for information from Council Members. They also contain helpful information about community events, among other things. If interested, these updates are available here.