The Raleigh City Council met on July 7, 2026, to address a wide range of issues including a proposed youth curfew following a violent July 4th incident, stage two water restrictions due to drought, approval of several rezonings and annexations, and updates on e-bike regulations. The meeting also included recognition of Partnership Raleigh, approval of consent agenda items, and reports from the planning commission and city manager.
Well, we'll be able to do it. Well, we're going to be able to do that. Good afternoon, Mayor Cowell and members of City Council. I am Yunera Campus with the community engagement department. On behalf of Partnership Raleigh, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for this recognition and for your continued support of this important initiative. Partnership Raleigh began in twenty twenty as a workforce development program for college age students divided into two pathways, the community climate internship program and the pathways to public service fellowship. Today, Partnership Raleigh stands before you fifteen fellows and twelve interns strong. Together, we represent more than twenty academic majors, twelve universities, and serve across thirteen different departments and divisions throughout the city of Raleigh. Our interns and fellows bring fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and enthusiasm to the departments they serve. They contribute meaningful work while learning from experienced professionals. By investing in young adults today, we are cultivating the next generation of public servants, community leaders, and skilled professionals who may one day choose to continue their careers right here in our own city. Now let's gather for a picture. Yeah, thank you. Okay. Okay, next we had the consent agenda, and we had two items pulled, one on quail hollow road, and one on the city hall, all remaining. Do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor of the motion. Aye. Aye. All opposed. That is unanimous. So let's go back to the other two items. Yeah, I believe I pulled the quail hollow drive item for discussion. We had received a lot of resident interest in this, and I've asked the transportation department just to provide a brief review of what the plan is here and for any opportunity for council to weigh in or ask questions. Hi, Barbara. Thanks. Thank you. Good afternoon, Council. I'm Barbara Godwin with the Transportation Department. Just going to briefly go through some background information on the Quail Hollow Drive Green Street project for you. So just to set where we are, we're between Hardemont Road and Millbrook Road. So this project was identified in the Midtown St. Albans Area Plan, which was adopted back in 2020. Quail Hollow was identified to receive stormwater improvements, traffic calming measures, as well as improvements to bike infrastructure along the corridor. And it was identified as a high priority implementation as part of that plan. So it was also identified through the neighborhood traffic management program to receive traffic calming treatments. So most recently in March of 2025, City Council voted to remove Quail Hollow from the traffic calming process so that traffic calming treatments would be addressed through the Green Street project. And then as also just more background, this segment of Quail Hollow is part of the big branch greenway alignment. So again, looking at that section, segment five between Hardmont Road and Millbrook Road. So when we talk about design trade-offs, the Midtown St. Albans area plan really gave us a few different options to consider when it comes to a concept. So some of the recommendations call staff to look at considering a shared use path on the east side of the street. It also uh considered looking at separated bike lanes, which would allow for uh north and south bike travel on both sides of the street, and then um as sort of a compromise option between those two staff came up with a two-way cycle track option for the east side of the street, a lot of trade-offs uh that were considered when we really took a look at these three different concepts. Um, and ultimately we decided to move forward with concept C because it allowed for a lot of flexibility at the curb that option B would not have allowed. Um, it also prevented us from moving behind the curb with delivery of the project, which would protect a lot of mature trees. So these uh graphics just give you an idea about what phase one of the Green Street project will really look like once delivered. Um so again, this is really an effort of paint, striping, and signage. Um, this uh concept on the left here represents the cycle track and what it will look like upon delivery on the east side of the street.