{"id":70033,"date":"2016-02-29T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=70033"},"modified":"2016-02-29T02:44:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T07:44:03","slug":"council-committee-delays-decision-on-trailwood-drive-rezoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2016\/02\/29\/council-committee-delays-decision-on-trailwood-drive-rezoning\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Committee Delays Decision on Trailwood Drive Rezoning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Heavy rains, wind and the threat of tornadoes can\u2019t stop the Growth and Natural Resources Committee.<\/p>\n

Members of the City Council committee met for a brief 30-minutes on Wednesday to discuss a controversial rezoning – Z-39-15<\/a> – on Trailwood Drive that, if approved, would allow for a four-story student housing development on currently undeveloped property.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Google Maps<\/p>

The site of the proposed apartment complex is outlined in red<\/p><\/div>\n

With concerns that increased traffic will have a negative effect on the area, committee members at a previous meeting, asked the applicant come back with a traffic impact analysis.<\/p>\n

They did, but City planning staff didn\u2019t have enough time to review the study before the meeting. At the request of committee chairwoman, City Councilor Kay Crowder, a decision will be made at the next meeting on March 9.<\/p>\n

The rezoning would increase the density for the five-acre parcel from six units per acre to 14, or from a maximum number of 33 units to 78. The height of the project, which would consist of apartments with one to four bedrooms, would come in at four stories. A nearby student housing development sits at three.<\/p>\n

Neighbors in the nearby single-family housing communities oppose the project, arguing that it\u2019s a high-density project in an inappropriate area. It has been unanimously opposed at two West Citizens Advisory Council meetings.<\/p>\n

Keeping in line with the existing development, neighborhood spokesperson Tom Kwak, said the community is willing to compromise with a three-story development at 10 units per acre.<\/p>\n

Kwak said neighbors are in favor of the high-density residential near campus, which allows students to walk to classes, restaurants and other entertainment venues. The area near Centennial Campus, however, isn\u2019t served by the Wolfline and would require students to use their cars. \u201cWe consider it poor city planning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Google Maps<\/p>

The site today<\/p><\/div>\n

Responding to the concerns of the neighborhood, attorney Lacy Reaves said the developer was prepared to propose 12 units per acre, which would bring the total number of units down to a little more than 60.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not 10, but it\u2019s not 14,\u201d he told committee members. \u201cWe think it\u2019s a good faith response to the position that has been taken by the neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that they were willing to add another condition that no more than half of the units would be four bedrooms.<\/p>\n

Councilor and committee member Russ Stephenson pointed out that this area on the Future Land Use Map is designated as Moderate Density Residential, which consists of six to 14 units per acre. He noted that 14 is already on the high end\u00a0of that range.<\/p>\n

Reaves acknowledged his comment and replied that it was one of the reasons why they backed down to 12. He added that because\u00a0the property backed-up to I-440, it wasn\u2019t appropriate for single family residential and that a multifamily development would be better suited.<\/p>\n

While the traffic study wasn\u2019t discussed at the meeting, Trailwood Drive resident Wendell Gilliam said he already experiences the traffic problems in the area. He said accidents in front of his home increase at the start of every semester and that at the request of the mailman, he had moved his mailbox into his driveway where it was safer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen a case of spot zoning any worse than this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Spot zoning is generally defined as \u201cthe application of zoning to a specific parcel or parcels of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city’s master plan and current zoning restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaves did not provide details of the traffic study, but reiterated his statements from the previous meeting, at which he said the impact from the development would be minimal.<\/p>\n

Talking briefly, Crowder said, \u201cI do think it\u2019s important to acknowledge something that\u2019s the big white elephant in the room. The Trailwood bridge is now closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the Trailwood bridge and the Lake Dam bridge are closed, exacerbating any traffic problems through the area. She said at best, the Trailwood bridge would be opening in late 2017.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

Google Maps<\/p>

This bridge was closed by the NCDOT on February 12 \u201cin the best interests of public safety.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Growth and Natural Resources Committee are delaying a decision on a hotly contested rezoning on Trailwood Drive in order to give planning staff more time to review a traffic study submitted by the applicant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24029,"featured_media":70040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24029"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}