The planning commission met last week to vote on three rezoning cases and two text changes.
Z-32-15 was deferred. The case concerned a 16.94 acre property that was proposed to be rezoned to commercial mixed use with a three story height cap. The rezoning would increase residential density, office intensity and retail intensity. City staff had found the case to be consistent with the future land use map but inconsistent with the comprehensive plan.
Michael Birch from Morningstar Law Group represented the applicant. He said that the determination of the primary street is made at the site plan stage and that was why the applicant had a reticence to add a frontage at the rezoning stage. He added that by the next planning commission meeting that the applicant could work with staff to add a condition that would address the frontage.
Z-33-15 was recommended for approval. It concerned a .69 acre property on Hines Drive. The rezoning was to residential-4 and would increase residential density. City staff had found the rezoning to be consistent with the future land use map and the comprehensive plan.
Commissioners talked about connectivity between two streets that ran along the property and asked about a possible pedestrian connection. Commissioner Eric Braun raised the question of a lack of CAC vote.
City of Raleigh
Z-33-15
The applicant Helen Green, a neighbor adjacent to the property, said that the property was originally used as a buffer between different residential properties. She said the local CAC was scheduled to vote the next month and said that the chair of the CAC said he didn’t expect any resistance to the rezoning. She said the rezoning would allow the property to be consistent with the rest of the neighborhood.
Z-16-15 was given a 30-day time extension. It concerned a 2.18 acre property along Hillsborough Street. City staff had found it to be consistent with the future land use map and comprehensive plan. Planning commission had deferred the case to wait for the citizens advisory council (CAC) vote.
A text change that addressed issues when a mixed use zoning district or campus district was separated from a residential property by an alleyway was recommended for approval unanimously. The text change would require a neighborhood transition between the properties other than the alleyway. Residents of Cameron Park had brought this item forth initially through citizen petitions to council.
City of Raleigh
Z-16-15
“It’s very important to our neighborhood that an alley transition proposal be adopted as part of the city’s ordinances before the remapping of the parcels along Hillsborough Street adjacent to our neighborhood,” Neil Reiman, president of the Cameron Park Neighborhood Association, said.
A text change to create a new use for short-term rentals was given a 90-day time extension. Travis Crane, planning and zoning administrator for the city of Raleigh, said that city staff would be able to bring back the text change within one month for planning commission review.
James Borden / Raleigh Public Record
The Architect Bar and Social House hosted a packed forum in January concerning short-term rentals.
