Raleigh City Council Regular Meeting - October 7, 2025
Raleigh City Council Regular Meeting - October 7, 2025
The Raleigh City Council met on October 7, 2025, in afternoon and evening sessions to consider consent agenda items, receive reports, hold public hearings, and vote on several rezoning cases. The evening session focused on four rezoning requests and included extensive public comment and council deliberation.
Consent Calendar
- Approved consent agenda items including mutual aid agreements, property donations, bond issuances, budget amendments, contract awards, traffic schedule changes, and other routine matters.
- Approved Planning Commission recommendations to set public hearing dates for several rezoning and text change cases (Z-11-25, TCZ-13-25, Z-17-25, Z-18-25, TC-3-25) for November 4, 2025.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Rezoning Z-12-25 (Peace Street/West Street): Speakers in support included the applicant (Jason Baron), Sig Hutchinson (former Wake County Commissioner), Larry Miller (Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative), and several residents who emphasized consistency with the comprehensive plan, the need for housing density near transit and parks, and the project's public benefits including affordable housing contributions. Opponents, including Roy Attride (Raleigh Neighbors United) and Connie Upchurch (resident), argued that the proposed 27-story height violates transition policies, overwhelms the adjacent historic neighborhood, and sets a dangerous precedent. Over 830 petition signatures were submitted in opposition.
- Rezoning Z-10-25 (Leesville Road): The applicant (Worth Mills) presented conditions limiting units to 18, prohibiting apartment building type, and providing a wall and landscaping. Supporters noted consistency with the future land use map. Opponents, including Alex Mulashik (Ghost Pony Trail HOA), raised concerns about parking overflow, stormwater management, and potential delay of development on other nearby sites.
- Rezoning Z-51-24 (Fairbanks Drive): The applicant (Toby Coleman) explained the request primarily updates outdated conditions and allows three-story buildings. No public opposition was heard.
Discussion Items
- Noise Ordinance Amendments (Item E.3): Staff presented proposed decibel limits for amplified sound, with different categories for Glenwood South and other areas, based on expert recommendations. The council received the proposal; a vote will occur at a later meeting as required by state law.
- Civic Assembly on Comprehensive Plan (Item F.1): Staff presented the design process for the Raleigh Civic Assembly, which will inform the next comprehensive plan (Reflecting Raleigh). Council approved the remit for the assembly.
Key Outcomes
- Z-12-25 (Peace Street/West Street): Approved on a 6-2 vote (Councilmembers Patton and Harrison opposed). The rezoning allows a 27-story building (up to 360 feet) with conditions including a $400,000 affordable housing contribution before certificate of occupancy, building height stepbacks, and restrictions on uses.
- Z-13-24 (New Hope Road): Public hearing held; council voted to keep the hearing open and defer the decision to the October 21, 2025 meeting to allow the applicant to finalize additional conditions with environmental justice partners.
- Z-10-25 (Leesville Road): Approved on a 6-2 vote (Councilmembers Branch and Harrison opposed). The rezoning allows up to 18 residential units with conditions including a 6-foot wall, understory plantings, limited building height, and speed hump on Ghost Pony Trail.
- Z-51-24 (Fairbanks Drive): Approved unanimously. The rezoning updates conditions to allow three-story buildings, removes obsolete requirements, and caps residential and commercial uses.
- All consent agenda items were approved by roll call vote.
- Council contingency disbursements were authorized: $1,000 each to Wake Audubon Society, USCRI-NC, and HIS Daughter’s Legacy.
Meeting Transcript
All right, everybody. Thanks for coming. We have the public hearings tonight. The first is street closing STCO2 2025. Mr. Rao. Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council members. My name is Amanda Jones with Transportation. I have for you today a proposed closure for a portion of Swinburne Street. So the area indicated in red is the closure area, and our applicant is Thomas Kavanagh of Wake Med. He is the Vice President of Facilities and Construction. This area is. You can see the site outlined in a heavy black line in the drawing on the right. So there are some use restrictions here. They have prohibited a handful of uses, an old establishment, pawn shop, other things. They have also limited office square footage to 500,000 gross square feet. They have offered some conditions around building height and stepbacks. So building heights are limited based on a submitted exhibit. I'm going to talk through that in a little bit more detail on a subsequent slide. So they have prohibited, they are prohibiting on site surface parking between any building and the eastern boundary of the site, which is the location of the park. They have said that any site plan will include pedestrian connectivity along the eastern boundary of the site to the park. And they have also specified a minimum 2500 square foot outdoor amenity area meeting the urban plaza standards and city regulations that would be located either along Peace Street andor adjacent to the park. They have also made a condition around affordable housing, making a contribution to the city's affordable housing fund. This is staggered across four payments. The first is tied to the first building permit for the first 200 units. The second payment is tied to the final building inspection for the second for the first 200 units, and then another pair of payments on that same timing at the 500th unit. They are offering tower separation between floors 13 and 20 for a minimum of 50 feet, and then floors uh 21 through 27, separated by a minimum of 75 feet. That's a 50% increase above what's currently required by code. Zoning in the area is mixed. There's industrial mixed use on the site and immediately adjacent, downtown mixed use adjacent, and then uh R10 as well as office mixed use, residential mixed use, neighborhood mixed use, all in the vicinity. This is an aerial view of the site. You can see the future Smoky Hollow Park site on the east side of the site. You can see Seaboard Station on the other side of Capitol Boulevard and the railroad tracks, and then on the uh to the west across West Street and Railroad Tracks, Glenwood, Brooklyn neighborhood. Another more of a 3D view of the site. You can get a feel for the low-scale industrial development that's currently there. A view from Peace Street, a view from West Street. This is looking south, and then a view from West Street at the north end of the site. So I want to go back to that condition around building height. What they have done is set the ceiling for building height rather than the floor because there's significant grade on the site, right? So the north end of the site is limited to 24 stories, not to exceed 240 feet, and then could be taller if the primary street is P Street, and then in the southern portion of the site, limited to 27 stories. Again, that 20-foot differential and a maximum of 360 feet. So the bottom half in blue here is the 27-story, northern half in yellow, 24 stories. And here's roughly, this is not a surveyor's drawing. This is a PowerPoint drawing, but roughly where that falls on the site applied to an aerial photograph. So the big change here is a significant increase in residential units. The office square footage is actually going down, being held steady by the zoning condition. Industrial uses are also going away because of the zoning condition as well as the base district proposed. So this is consistent with the future land use map. The future land use map designates this site as central business district. The DX base district is consistent with that.
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