January 2024 meetings summary: DMV acquisition, council retreat
Happy (belated) New Year. I'm writing with updates from our January 2024 meetings.
1) We authorized the purchase of the former DMV site on New Bern Avenue using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This acquisition was a critical step in our efforts to acquire land along our first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route so that we can provide affordable housing and other equitable developments. The city will soon own the DMV site, part of the duplex village site, and several other key corner lots along the route. The sale for the DMV site should close this month, and then next steps are to engage the community about what they need and want to see built on the site. From there, we'll use that feedback to engage development partners. In the meantime, we've asked staff to come up with creative ways to activate the site so it's not just sitting there empty, with a fence around it.
2) We funded development of more affordable housing and bus shelters. We allocated $5 million in gap financing to the Battle Bridge project for creation of 200 affordable rental units. We also allocated funding for 49 additional bus shelters, funded by the Wake County Transit Plan approved by voters in 2016. We are closing the gap on bus stops that need some shelter or bench. Affordable housing and safe, reliable transit work together and are two key goals to building a sustainable city.
3) We approved a few big rezonings downtown, both for land that is presently vacant parking lots. One site is adjacent to the Pendo building. They are planning a new residential tower, including affordable housing. The other site is on Glenwood Avenue, behind the Hibernian Pub. Converting vacant and underutilized land, especially surface parking lots, downtown helps make sure we grow up and not out, limiting sprawl and easing the burden on our infrastructure. Now if only we could get the owners of other surface parking lots to get moving...
4) We received results of a third-party pollster survey regarding potential changes to City Council structure and elections. As a refresher, Raleigh City Council is presently comprised of 7 Council Members and 1 Mayor. The site of our Council has remained unchanged since the 1970s, while our population has greatly expanded. In 2020, the Council created a study group to look at certain election reforms. Some of the study group's recommendations were implemented, specifically, moving City Council elections to even years (we were previously elected in October of odd years and turnout was very low) and beginning a citywide voter education effort. We chose to get more feedback on other recommended changes, specifically, should the size of City Council expand, if so, should we add district or at-large seats, or both, and should the City Council pivot to staggered, 4-year terms (we presently serve 2-year terms and every member is up for re-election at the same time). Based on the results of the third-party survey, it appears we will likely add the question of 4-year, staggered terms to the ballot this fall and let voters decide. Regarding expanding Council, consensus seems to indicate adding more districts and district Council Members; that would be a few-years process. If we add districts, I will advocate to add a downtown district. The number of residents living downtown has greatly increased in the past few years, with more residential units under construction downtown right now than ever before. We're becoming a big city, and our downtown is developing into a 24/7 neighborhood of its own, with its own unique needs and challenges. I don't think it makes sense anymore to split up and dilute downtown residents into multiple districts. These issues will come back to us on a future agenda for more discussion and final decisions. Stay tuned!
5) We had our annual City Council retreat last Friday and Saturday. We had great discussions about ways to improve public comment, budget priorities for this year, an update from our lobbyist, and a robust discussion about community engagement. My assessment was that there was a lot of Council agreement on most of these issues. Our list of priorities for the year include: community safety, multimodal transit, community engagement, worker pay, affordable housing, homelessness support, small business support, and sustainable growth infrastructure. We're about to begin our budget work sessions, and I look forward to considering how to allocate funding to best address these priorities.
Our next City Council meetings are Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at 1 and 7 PM.
jonathan.melton@raleighnc.gov
