The Raleigh’s City Council’s budget workshop Tuesday evening started with standing-room only. Supporters of city-sponsored arts programs, the Interfaith Food Shuttle, city employees and many other causes showed up in droves to give their thoughts on the next year’s budget.
Council members have to pass a balanced budget by the end of the month. Councilors will start deliberating on the city manager’s budget proposal on Monday afternoon.
Read more about the city manager’s budget proposal here.
ConAgra pays for explosion response
ConAgra will pay $42,858 for the city’s response to the explosion at the company’s Slim Jim plant in Garner in January 2009.
Changes to the zoning process
A text change that has been kicking around the city council and the planning commission to change the way rezoning petitions are approved passed Tuesday after five months on the table. Planning commission members rejected the text change, but city council revived it and passed the changes today.
Here’s what will change in the rezoning process:
- Requires developers to hold neighborhood meetings before submitting rezoning petitions
- Requires Traffic Impact Analysis in most cases
- Requires notice in third-party rezonings before submission and after advertising for the public hearing
- Prohibits right-of way value, prohibition of connectivity and drawings or renderings as conditions of approval
- Allows only one change to the application before the public hearing
- Allows only one change to the application before the first planning commission meeting
- Allows unlimited changes to the application during planning commission deliberations
- Allows only one change to the application each 15 days
Council also plans to consider additional changes to the rezoning process, including who needs to be notified and eliminating other conditions that the planning commission can impose.
