Raleigh Downtown Living Advocates

Category: City Government (Page 9 of 15)

What if the City of Raleigh had “an app for that”

May 6, 2011 /

It’s no secret that the web and mobile apps have made our lives more convenient.  From banking to maps to the totally unnecessary but fun apps like Ocarina – many people can’t imagine their life without internet access or apps.  So what’s missing?  Why doesn’t Raleigh have more apps?

Think about what bothers you most about your neighborhood.  Have you done anything about it?  Why not?

Stick with me here.

When most people think of government, they think bureaucracy and politics.  At the city level, they pick up your trash, clean up your parks, maintain the sidewalks, and all the things that you encounter on a weekly, if not, daily basis.

So what if those little things could be made easier?  When things DO go wrong, wouldn’t it be so much easier to “have an app for that?”  Going back to why you probably haven’t attempted to solve what bothers you – we’re hoping to find ways to make solving those problems easier through more open government.

Let’s walk through a typical day and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

 

Jump over to Downtown Raleigh Digs for the rest of the article.


UDO Open Houses to education residents about proposed new development regulations

April 20, 2011 /

To help you become more informed about the new development regulations (UDO) proposed for the City of Raleigh, the open houses are designed to give you variety of educational opportunities,

including:

  • Large display boards highlighting major sections of the new regulations
  • Maps showing the current zoning for all areas of the City
  • Charts comparing the difference between the current and proposed zoning districts
  • Results of test cases from recent CAC workshop
  • Resource tables for the following…
    • 2030 Comprehensive Plan
    • New residential districts being proposed for the City
    • Mixed use centers, an important new form of development proposed for the City
    • Mapping, a process that will convert  the existing zoning districts to the new zoning districts
    • Various types of streets and building frontages
    • New transition regulations to help protect residential areas

Approximately halfway through the open house, Code Studio, the lead consultant writing the UDO, will make a presentation and then give you the opportunity to ask questions.

These workshops are all about helping the City get the “right rules in the right places” so the City can grow better, not just bigger. Details for the 3 open houses are available here.

You’ll want to check out the RaleighUDO website and follow them on Twitter to learn more.


Two month window for public review of UDO: what you need to know about upcoming workshops and web resources

April 1, 2011 /

You may have attended one of the neighborhood meetings or offered feedback in the fall of 2009 when the city initiated the process of rewriting long standing development codes, in an effort to codify a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).  (We first wrote about it on this blog back in November of 2009.)  

This has been a huge effort, since many of the current regulations were put in place fifty years ago, with hundreds of individual code updates since then resulting in an overly complicated development process.    

Now this process is at the point of being wrapped up, and this is what makes your renewed attention critical: 

“what is allowed in the new UDO will be allowed to be built without any public review, or comment”.

This all started with the city’s major initiative launched four years ago to update its comprehensive plan – here’s the original timetable.

But unlike the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, which is a guide for future development in Raleigh, the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) is LAW, dictating allowable heights, setbacks, land uses, transitions, landscaping buffers; etc. across the city.  

So what does all this mean . . . Raleigh City Councilman Thomas Crowder puts it this way.  “The large majority of new development in the future is being recommended by the Planning Director to be staff approved, rather than approved by the Planning Commission and/or City Council.  In other words, what is allowed in the new UDO will be allowed to be built without any public review, or comment”.

And, what’s happening now . . An initial consolidated draft of the UDO will be released on April 6.  The public will then have two months to let the City know what it thinks.  An open house for the Public Review of the UDO draft has been set up at different times on April 20-21.  

In addition to the three sessions offered by the Department of City Planning, the Triangle Community Coalition will sponsor a UDO workshop and lunch on April 21st starting at 11:30am at the Urban Design Center.  Register here.

Philip Poe, a DLA Core Group member, is representing the interests of residents on the UDO Advisory Group.  Philip has just released several web based tools to help residents get engaged in the process.



RaleighUDO.com: This website will help you learn about the UDO and give you an opportunity to add comments to content publish on the site. 

RaleighUDO on Facebook and RaleighUDO on Twitter: These web tools will be used to alert the public about upcoming events, special announcements and new posts on the website. 


Light rail in Downtown Raleigh: We need effective transit that will attract choice riders

March 25, 2011 /

If you’ve attended any public meeting regarding Raleigh’s light rail, you may have noticed a gap between engineers’ ideas and those of developers who seek to maximize quality infill of vacant urban lots with vibrant, appealing options for downtown residents.  For instance, the need for flyovers seems to be full of engineer assumptions about travel speeds, types of train cars, length of cars, etc… I understand that it’s cheaper, but I think it’s important to say that Raleigh doesn’t need cheap transit.  We need effective transit that will attract riders.

I join urban planners in saying that we do that by putting light rail on the ground, where it encourages economic development and is approachable, walkable, and accessible.  I’m picturing an attractive, elevated plaza on what is now the undeveloped area south of the Glenwood/Morgan intersection and north of the Boylan Wye.  This would allow light rail to connect to Union Station at a street level – see these images, making the Union Station concourse the center of block redevelopment.

In contrast, the engineering-based alternative proposes building giant bridges across the entire west half of downtown discouraging economic development, local choice (walk-up / bike-up) ridership and ultimately creating an eyesore to residents, because it’s cheap.  No thanks.

Recent articles provide some background:

Rail route is blurry through downtown Raleigh

A (maybe) light-rail bridge over Boylan Avenue

Wanted: your input on Raleigh train routes and station locations

I agree with those who believe the light rail should head north from Union Station on Wilmington and Salisbury streets.  This route is nearest our state government complex where we employ more than 10,000 workers who could use this option to commute to work. 

Lastly, it’s frustrating that TTA did not provide a photo illustration of the Morgan Street connection.  I wonder why?  If all options are equal, all are on the table and TTA is deferring to Raleigh for the final decision making, why not make that option as visible of the other two?  It doesn’t add up.

I’m looking forward to attending the workshop on March 30th at the McKimmon Center so I can learn more. Please join me in what I hope to be a great turnout so we can make our voices heard – for the overall project and its promise for Raleigh’s redevelopment.  Flyovers aren’t going to do it!

See you there!

Triangle Transit has now posted the downtown rail alignments on their website.  A downtown alignment not shown but supported by members of the Mayor’s Passenger Rail Task Force is a “hybrid” of D6, that combines the benefits of D5 & D6.

WANTED: your input on Raleigh train routes and station locations. Don’t miss this opportunity!

March 14, 2011 /

Anyone who’s studied the economic and environmental benefits of public transit agrees that light rail is a critical factor in unclogging highways and encouraging infill development of Downtown property.  But the mapping of tracks presents a more challenging discussion.  

Mark your schedules now for the latest round of transit workshops!  

 

Sessions are planned during the last week in March in various locations around the city – here’s the schedule.

Are these workshops important for residents to attend?  Absolutely!  There are critical decisions being made that impact the track alignments and station locations within the downtown grid.

But let’s catch up . . 

First, don’t confuse the Triangle Regional Transit Program with high speed rail.  Last summer there were several hearings on high speed rail, but this project is on separate “track” literally, and won’t have any impact on the regional transit system being discussed this month. 

Last September public workshops were held, and residents were asked to evaluate the proposed rail corridors within Wake County to support a commuter and light rail train service.  It may help to review our previous post about these workshop, Don’t Let the Train Pass You By, and a recent article from Midtown Magazine, They’ve been working on the railroad.

The upcoming workshops now become more specific in identifying proposed light rail alignments (routes) within the corridor, as well as individual station locations.

The Wake County Corridor begins in the vicinity of the Triangle Metro Center in Research Triangle Park (RTP) and follows the existing North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) corridor east through west Raleigh, then turns southeast (just south of Downtown) towards Garner. 

The commuter rail portion of this corridor covers 37 miles, with faster speeds (43mph), less frequency and fewer stations.  Commuter rail is more of a park and ride transit option, where stations are being planned to include 4,400 parking spaces and 40 bus bays.


The light rail portion of this corridor will run 18 miles from Northwest Cary through NCSU and downtown, where it turns northward, continuing on the CSX corridor to near Triangle Town Center.  Light rail trains stop more frequently and stations are spaced closer together.  Click here for a sneak peak at the 20 station locations being proposed.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

The train corridor passes under a bridge at Boylan Avenue, but there’s not enough room for the light rail vehicle to fit alongside the freight rail tracks.  Here the light rail trains will need to exit the corridor for the few short miles they travel through Downtown Raleigh.  So we’re back to having to select between several alternatives, each problematic for different reasons.

Triangle Transit’s solution is for the light rail tracks to climb overhead on a long bridge, before rejoining street level.  Read the article from Indyweek.com.  Boylan Heights residents, hearing about this option, are concerned about the negative property impacts to their neighborhood.

Another option would be for the train to exit the corridor near Charlie Goodnight’s, and travel along West Morgan Street.  The Passenger Rail Task Force favors this alternative, pointing out the boost to property development along the way.  But the 3-car vehicle chosen my TTA will extend up to 270 feet long (three 90’ cars), which makes any turn north to rejoin the corridor at Seaboard Station difficult, if not impossible, due to the humped elevation over the Morgan Street bridge.  Click here to see the two route alternatives.

Sound familiar?  It’s like the high speed rail controversy all over again.

The transit and city authorities are making decisions on public transit that will determine future urban economic development/redevelopment opportunities and have a far reaching impact on our residential neighborhoods.  

The DLA encourages all residents to get educated on the issues and make your voices heard.  The upcoming workshops will allow residents to review detailed information on the transit routes, stations, travel time, ridership estimates and costs.

Don’t miss this opportunity . . . Don’t let the trains pass you by!


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