November/December 2023 meetings summary: affordable housing, alternative response, noise ordinance

Our last City Council meeting of 2023 was this past Tuesday. I'm now midway through my second term as an At-Large Council Member, and beginning this month, I also serve as Raleigh Mayor Pro Tem. It's a great honor to represent this city!  Thank you.

If you're inclined, we have a end-of-year fundraising deadline 12/31, and your contribution would go a long way to continue my service to the city.

Below is a summary of our November and December meetings:

1.  We started the process of implementing an alternative response program for public safety.  We know public safety is a growing concern in Raleigh and many cities across the country.  I also know that sworn officers are not always best equipped to respond to all types of calls, and we often ask our officers to do too much.  Presently Raleigh has a team of social workers who work within the Raleigh Police Department, our ACORNS unit.  But a few other cities have implemented separate, alternative response models to address community needs, such as calls for service regarding mental health and other crisis.  We are working to implement crisis call diversion (where a mental health professional will assist in answering 911 calls), a co-response model (where a social worker will respond to calls with an officer), and a community response team (where a social worker, EMS, or peer support specialist responds instead of an officer). These new models will operate separate from the police department, and will supplement the ACORNS unit, which functions mostly as care navigation and case management (following up with individuals after they've interacted with police).  The city is gathering feedback on this proposed alternative response program, please share!

2.  We discussed enacting a municipal service district (MSD) to serve the Blue Ridge Corridor.  Under State law, an MSD is a defined area with a special, additional tax rate where the revenue collected from those taxes is put back into the district for extra services and infrastructure.  The Blue Ridge Corridor is experiencing explosive growth, with Bandwidth and DHHS building new headquarters there, along with the planned development of the entertainment district surrounding PNC Arena.  The city presently has 2 MSDs (downtown and Hillsborough Street near NC State).  There are a few proposed or pending, in midtown and near Dix Park.  We agreed to begin the formal process to implement the Blue Ridge Corridor MSD, and this item will come back to us next year for additional updates, and for us to schedule a public hearing.

3.  We continue to allocate funding and city-owned land for the creation or preservation of affordable housing.  We allocated $3.5 million for preservation of 292 affordable rental units in five rental housing developments.  We also sold land for $1 to Habitat to develop 9 affordable townhouses for first-time homebuyers. And we leased 2 parcels of land for development of a 144-unit affordable rental community for low-to-moderate-income households.

4.  We approved revisions to our noise and amplified sound permits.  As we continue to grow, noise is becoming an increasing concern for many of our residents.  Our existing noise ordinance was difficult to enforce and out of date.  And our existing nightclub/hospitality rules were confusing, complicated, and hurt small businesses.  The city engaged in a months-long process to gather community input.  These new rules will go into effect in February and should provide more accountability while maintaining a fun and safe environment.  You can read about the new rules here.

5.  We were thrilled to learn that the federal government has allocated $1 billion (yes, BILLION) for development of the S-line which is a passenger rail service connecting Raleigh to other towns in our region and directly to Richmond and DC.  I was excited to join Secretary Pete Buttigieg at Raleigh Union Station for the announcement of this funding.  We are making strides to reduce car dependency and to build a more sustainable city. Transit in Raleigh will look very different, and much-improved, in the next few years, with bus rapid transit (BRT) coming online and more passenger rail not too far behind!

We are on "break" until January.  However, I have Community Office Hours this Saturday, December 16, 9-11 am at Bedford Food & Drink.  I hope to see you there, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

jonathan.melton@raleighnc.gov