February and march 2024 meetings summary
It's been a busy couple of months, below is a summary of our February and March City Council meetings:
1) After years of significant delay, we approved changes to the Six Forks Road Improvement project so construction can finally start. The areas in Midtown Raleigh along Six Forks Road have seen significant development in recent years. Transportation bonds in 2013 and 2017 allocated funds to redesign Six Forks Road and make it safer for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The initial plan was approved in 2018 and called for a 6-lane median-divided street between Rowan Street and Lynn Road with separated bicycle and pedestrian facilities on both sides. However, years of delay and increasing construction costs, mostly related to land acquisitions, caused the project to balloon way over budget, from an initial cost of $30-40 million to an updated cost of over $100 million. A few months ago, we asked City staff to provide options to adjust the project scope to fit within budget and to gather additional public feedback on those options. Ultimately, we approved 6 lanes with a median and 8 feet multi-use paths on both sides for pedestrians and bicyclists from Rowan to Millbrook. I don't love the idea of road widenings, because induced demand is a real problem, and adding lanes typically doesn't help reduce traffic. However, this project was promised for years, and was the result of a great deal of public feedback. I am glad we made a decision to adjust the scope to bring it within budget so it can finally start, and folks along the corridor will have certainty. I'm also very glad we're building the multi-use paths for non-car users. These paths are similar to what is being constructed along our upcoming Bus Rapid Transit routes.
2) We made additional changes to our Public Comment rules and procedures. Soon after I was first elected, in 2020, the City Council at that time made it easier to speak at Public Comment, eliminating the requirement to sign up 2 weeks in advance and removing the prohibition on addressing Council Members directly. Earlier this term, this City Council made additional changes, moving our first Public Comment period of the month to its own meeting, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, to provide more time for Public Comments to occur. Recently we made changes again. The changes are as follows:
We removed the ability of the mayor or chair to reduce speaker time, instead we created a predictable, tiered system.
For the first Public Comment that occurs during its own meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, a maximum of 165 speakers are allowed, time allocated per speaker is 3 mins if 0 – 55 speakers, 2 minutes if 56 – 82 speakers, 1 minute if 83 - 165 speakers.
For the second Public Comment that occurs during our regular afternoon meeting on the 3rd Tuesday each month, a maximum of 50 speakers are allowed, time allocated per speaker is 3 minutes if 0 – 16 speakers, 2 minutes if 17 – 25 speakers, 1 minute if 26 - 50 speakers.
The deadline to sign up for Public Comment is 3 pm the Friday before the meeting.
3) We started the process of reviewing and applying the Transit Overlay District and rezonings of parcels along the New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit route. As I've written about numerous times, the City is building 4 Bus Rapid Transit routes ("BRT" like light rail but on wheels). The first route is along New Bern Avenue from downtown to a park and ride past WakeMed. BRT will not be successful without appropriate land use along the route, with denser housing, affordable housing, retail and services. The Transit Overlay District (TOD) mandates these types of development and prohibits development that is not transit supportive, like drive thrus, gas stations, surface parking lots, etc. We mapped the TOD along the corridor, except not on parcels that have historic properties or NCODs (Neighborhood Conservation Overlay Districts). There was a lot of discussion and concern about how to approach these more sensitive areas, so we decided to leave them out. These areas are not what is going to develop now anyway, as they're already populated with existing, sometimes historic housing. The areas that are ripe for development are the existing vacant and underutilized parcels, and commercial areas. The TOD is now mapped in those places. In addition to the TOD, staff has recommended that we upzone additional parcels along the corridor to facilitate taller, denser housing, including affordable housing with the TOD density bonuses. We are reviewing these upzoning/rezoning requests in sections throughout the next few months. The first parcels we focused on were the ones already earmarked for affordable housing, either through non-profit providers or private developments with site plans for affordable housing through the TOD density bonus.
4) We took the first steps to initiate a process to change City Council terms and elections. All of the proposed changes would take effect no sooner than 2026. Several years ago, we appointed a study group to examine how to change City Council elections for higher turnout and better governance. One recommended change was moving from October odd-year elections to November even-year elections. That change was made for 2022 and will continue. They also recommended moving the City Council to 4-year, staggered terms (we presently serve 2-year terms and we're all on the ballot at the same time) and adding Council Members (the size of our City Council has not increased since the 1970s, while our population has grown nearly 4x). We voted to schedule a public hearing on these specific changes: moving to 4-year staggered terms with a primary, and adding 3 district Council Members. The public hearing on these changes is next Tuesday, April 2. You can sign up to speak in support or in opposition by this Friday, March 29 at 3 pm.
Our next City Council meetings are Tuesday, April 2 at 1 pm and 7 pm.
jonathan.melton@raleighnc.gov
