Raleigh City Council Meeting – May 5, 2026: Rezoning Cases and Public Hearings
Raleigh City Council Meeting – May 5, 2026
The Raleigh City Council held public hearings on three rezoning cases on May 5, 2026. The meeting included discussions on Z3825 (Trailwood Drive), Z5225 (3470 Blue Ridge Road), and Z0126 (307 West Martin Street). Key decisions included the denial of Z3825, unanimous approval of Z5225, and a unanimous continuation of Z0126 to a future meeting.
Discussion Items
Z3825 – Trailwood Drive Rezoning
- Staff (Bynum Walter) introduced the request to rezone ~14 acres from R6/R4 to RX-3 (residential mixed use, 3-story) and R10 with conditions. The property is near a floodplain, and conditions included limits on floodplain disturbance, no-rise certification, build-to along Trailwood, and protective fencing. The planning commission recommended approval (vote not specified, but some members opposed due to floodplain concerns).
- The applicant (Molly Stewart, Morning Star Law Group, representing Floresta LLC) requested a deferral to revise conditions, noting they were considering dropping the two western parcels. They asked to reserve their time for a future meeting.
- Council members expressed concerns about the process: Councilor indicated the deferral would push the case to June 2 (evening session), but a motion to continue to June 2 failed 4-4. Councilor noted the applicant had not received feedback until the night before, and the opposition speakers (John Totten, Chris Bass) were present but chose not to speak, wanting to wait for the revised plan. Councilor argued it was unfair to vote without hearing from both sides.
- A motion to deny the rezoning was made and seconded. After debate, the motion passed (vote tally not explicitly given, but one councilor said they voted to deny because the alternative was a 4-4 deadlock). The case was denied, allowing the applicant to restart the process with the planning commission.
Z5225 – 3470 Blue Ridge Road Rezoning
- Staff (Matthew Clem) presented a request to rezone 1.6 acres from R4 to RX-3 (3-story) with conditions: 20-unit cap, no retail, no apartment building type. The site is on a frequent transit corridor. Planning commission recommended approval 9-0.
- The applicant (Isabel Maddox, Homes by Dickerson) spoke in support, noting the developer had already extended the Blue Ridge sewer line. Conditions include a 20-unit cap, prohibition of retail and apartments, and a conceptual townhouse layout. Council asked about fire response times (met standards), pedestrian connectivity (Blue Ridge widening project will add sidewalks), and stormwater management (full requirements apply).
- No opposition speakers. The hearing was closed, and a motion to approve passed unanimously.
Z0126 – 307 West Martin Street Rezoning
- Staff (Bynum Walter) introduced a request to unify zoning across ~1.25 acres from DX-5 (with shopfront frontage) and DX-20 (with conditions) to DX-20 with a unified set of conditions. The site is in the Depot National Register Historic District (not local). Planning commission recommended approval; RHDC recommended approval with caveats regarding historic facade treatment. The applicant (Jamie Schwadler, Parker Poe, representing Turnbridge Equities) requested a deferral to revise conditions, particularly the preservation language for the contributing structures. They noted the changes were minor and would provide more flexibility for retail tenants.
- Council asked about time constraints; the applicant agreed to June 2 at 1:00 p.m. (afternoon session). A motion to continue the hearing to June 2, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Z3825 (Trailwood Drive): Denied (motion to deny passed; vote tally not recorded but effectively 5-4 or similar). The applicant may resubmit a new case starting at the planning commission.
- Z5225 (3470 Blue Ridge Road): Approved unanimously (motion to adopt consistency statement and approve the zoning amendment passed).
- Z0126 (307 West Martin Street): Continued to June 2, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. (afternoon session) unanimously, with revised conditions due by May 22, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome everybody to tonight's public hearings. We've got three cases scheduled. And I will start with Binum Walter to introduce Z3825. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of Council Bynum Walter, planning and development. This is a new keyboard. This is Z38. And I just will note before I start that the property to the south of the request here has been rezoned since this map was made. And the this parcel is now R10. So this is a request to rezone just under 14 acres from a combination of R6 and R4, a portion with conditions, all with the special residential parking overlay district to a combination of uh residential mixed use with a three-story height limit and conditions and then residential 10 with some conditions. This is consistent with the comprehensive plan, but inconsistent with future language map and the urban form map and planning commission recommends approval. So you can see the site here uh located on both sides of Trailwood Drive. They have offered a uh variety of conditions here. So the first uh limits the total uh square footage of disturbance uh permitted with the within the hundred-year uh floodplain, and then they have also committed to pursuing a no-rise certification in accordance with the city storm order design manual. Uh they have uh offered a build to along Trailwood Drive and also offered that parking areas would not be located between those building, the building facade and trailwood. They've offered a street-facing pedestrian entrance on the west side of Trailwood, uh, and then along the limit of disturbance adjacent to regulatory water course buffer, they have offered a brand name, uh protective fencing of super salt fence uh prior to grading our construction. And you can see the flood hazard areas here. Uh and the site is outlined in yellow, so the flood hazard is all on the west side of Trailwood. The uh change in entitlement here is going to increase the maximum number of residential units that's allowed. The um setbacks also change. This, as I mentioned before, this is consistent with the comprehensive plan, but inconsistent with future land use and urban format. So consistent with uh policies around compact development, connectivity, capitalizing on transit access, uh very heavily related around housing supply. Um I'll leave it at that. Um then a couple of inconsistent policies here. Uh one tied to the inconsistency with the future language map, and then the other two tied to fire response time standards for this location. Uh Planning Commission recommends approval, and then uh there were concerns from a couple of members who voted in opposition about the floodplain protections, and I will note those have been revised to address the enforceability concerns that were raised previously. And a rezoning here would amend the future latency map to moderate scale residential similar to what is on the property to the south here already has been has resulted from that previous rezoning. What question uh I will note the applicant would like to defer uh your action to your next meeting if possible. And any questions I could answer for you before the public hearing. Questions for Ms. Walter. Okay, but go ahead and do the hearing tonight and then just keep it open, right? Okay. So I will open the hearing for Z38, and we have four people signed up in support. Anoj Matal, Molly Stewart, Daniel Watley, Jason Meadows. Thank you, Mayor Cow, and members of council, Molly Stewart, Morning Star Law Group, on behalf of Floresta LLC, the applicant. Uh as you heard uh from staff, we do request a furlough this evening. And uh based on some new suggestions and new feedback that we've received recently. Uh, we would like to make significant changes to the case. We are still evaluating those. Um and so we would like to bring those back. Um if we could reserve the remainder of our time, uh we would very much appreciate that. Uh it is probably unhelpful to go through what we had planned for this evening, as uh likely the changes would be quite significant. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh we did have anybody want to ask anything? Okay. Um as we said earlier, we have so many cases on May 19th.
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