Raleigh City Council Regular Meeting – February 4, 2025
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Raleigh City Council Regular Meeting – February 4, 2025
The Raleigh City Council met on February 4, 2025, for the evening public hearing session beginning at 7:00 PM. Mayor Janet Cowell presided. The council heard public testimony and voted on several street closings, rezonings, and a text change to a planned development. Key topics included a proposal to reduce public comment time limits, multiple rezoning cases with affordable housing conditions, and a development agreement for a greenway trail.
Public Comments & Testimony
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Public Comment Policy Change: Mayor Cowell announced that the council had voted earlier in the day to reduce the second-Tuesday public comment session from three hours to two hours. The council will revisit the issue in two weeks, and the public is invited to comment at that time.
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Street Closing STC-06-2024 (Rocky Branch Creek Drive): Amanda Jones of the Transportation Department presented the closure of approximately 7,000 square feet of right-of-way between Saunders and Dawson Streets, part of the Park City South development. Worth Mills (representing the applicant) spoke in support. No opposition. Approved unanimously.
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Street Closing STC-07-2024 (Common Oaks Drive): Amanda Jones presented the closure of about 1,545 square feet of excess right-of-way for a 61-unit senior living facility. Pam Porter (TMTLA Associates) and three others spoke in support. No opposition. Approved unanimously.
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Rezoning Z-04-24 (5009 Louisburg Road): Hannah Reckau (Planning & Development) presented the request to rezone 20+ acres from R-10 to RX-7 Conditional Use, with conditions limiting height to 6 stories and 700 units, and requiring 3.5% of units affordable at 80% AMI for 30 years. A concurrent development agreement (DA-1-25) would fund a greenway trail. Matthew Carpenter (Parker Poe) spoke in support, requesting deferral to February 18 to modify the affordability term from 10 to 30 years. No opposition. Council discussion raised concerns about long-term maintenance costs and solid waste services. The public hearing was continued to February 18 for both the rezoning and the development agreement.
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Rezoning Z-20-24 (721 Chappell Drive): Hannah Reckau presented the request to rezone 0.86 acres from R-10 to RX-3 Conditional Use, allowing up to 60 units with an affordable housing condition of 1% of units (rounded up to one unit). Isabel Maddox (Nicholson Crampton) spoke in support, noting the change would round up the affordable contribution. No opposition. Council discussed the Frequent Transit Development Option (FTDO) and the loss of naturally occurring affordable housing. The public hearing was continued to February 18.
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Rezoning Z-27-24 (Town Drive & Triangle Town Boulevard): Hannah Reckau presented the request to rezone 6.5 acres from split commercial mixed-use to CX-4 Conditional Use, removing special highway overlay districts and requiring 13% tree conservation. Molly Stewart (Morning Star Law) spoke in support. No opposition. Councilor Patton expressed comfort with the case. Approved unanimously.
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Text Change TCZ-30-24 (Crabtree Village PD): Hannah Reckau presented amendments to the Crabtree Village Planned Development to reduce the remaining entitlement from 162 units to 65 townhouses, remove an age restriction, and allow more flexible parking and retaining wall standards. Isabel Maddox (representing the owner) spoke in support. Councilor Jones confirmed stormwater compliance. Approved unanimously.
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Rezoning Z-34-24 (118, 122, 126 Clarendon Crescent): Hannah Reckau presented the request to rezone three lots (1.7 acres) from R-4 with Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) to R-4 with Transit Overlay District (TOD), limiting height to 3 stories and 38 units. Matt Tomasulo (property owner) spoke in support, noting the lots are non-conforming and near a planned BRT station. Opposition speakers Christian Anastasiades, Charles Potterman, and Cathy Hedgepath argued the NCOD protects neighborhood character and that infrastructure is inadequate. Council discussion highlighted the lots’ non-conformity and proximity to transit. Approved unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Street Closings (STC-06-2024, STC-07-2024): Both approved by unanimous vote.
- Rezoning Z-04-24 and Development Agreement DA-1-25: Public hearings continued to February 18, 2025, to allow the applicant to amend affordable housing conditions.
- Rezoning Z-20-24: Public hearing continued to February 18, 2025, for the applicant to finalize the affordable housing condition language.
- Rezoning Z-27-24: Approved unanimously.
- Text Change TCZ-30-24 (Crabtree Village PD): Approved unanimously.
- Rezoning Z-34-24 (Clarendon Crescent): Approved unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
And uh we welcome you all to tonight's public hearing. And um before I start, um I will say we had a long um conversation today about public comment. We are not going to be discussing anything further tonight, but I just wanted to say that we may recheck in on that in two weeks. So um, and that would be the proposal that we voted on today that took it from thr on the second Tuesday from three hours to two hours. So just putting that public notice out there so that folks can come weigh in um on that. Again, no guarantee where that goes, but we will likely revisit that um in two weeks. So putting that notice. All right. So then um starting with the public hearings, we have the street closing uh STC 06 2024, and we have Amanda Jones from Transportation to speak to it. Uh good evening, Madam Mayor and Council members. My name is Amanda Jones of Transportation. I'll be giving you the first two presentations this evening. Uh the first one we have today is Rocky Branch Creek Drive. So the area indicated in red is the closure area. It is between Saunders Street and Dawson Street. So this closure area is approximately 7,000 square feet that was dedicated with phase one of Park City South. Um Park City South is 10.1 acres of land within the triangular-shaped area, bounded by South Saunders Street to the west, South Dawson Street to the east, and Western Boulevard to the north. So the master plan for Park City South has now been amended to relocate that street within phase two of Park City South, and that street will connect Saunders to Dawson. There would need to be a water easement retained upon this closure if approved, and the closure does align with policy T 2.7 of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. And lastly, this is a page from that amended um master plan. This is a different orientation than what you saw earlier. So you have Saunders Street to the north and Dawson Street to the south of the page. And it indicated in red is where Rocky Branch Creek Drive currently is today. And that was my presentation. Counselor Patton. Correct, yes. And I believe we do have some people that signed up from the development team too. Any other questions? Okay. So then I can open the public hearing. All right. And we have a few people that are signed up in support. And Michael Birch is the first person. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of Council Worth Mills here on behalf of the applicant filling in for Michael Birch this uh this evening. Uh the this street closure uh was kind of always part of the plan for Park City South. Um as mentioned uh with the removal of this small section of right of way, uh phase two of Park City South is providing that connection between uh South Dawson uh and South Saunders uh to make sure that folks can get uh from one to the other uh once once both phases are built. Uh but happy to answer any other questions that you might have this evening. Right. Questions? Right. Thank you so much. Next speaker is Jennifer Ashton. Uh I'll just note that I'm covering for all three. Okay. All right. Uh and there is no opposition signed up, so I can close the hearing. Yes. Um I move to adopt the resolution ordering the closing and the related actions. Second. Okay.
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