Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Raleigh

That means Jan or Feb right?

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I believe so. They said the “upcoming” winter so I’d assume that means Jan or feb

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Where is the multi use path going to be? That’s cool!

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Nvm. I think I found it. https://go.boarddocs.com/nc/raleigh/Board.nsf/files/C3RNGZ5E8EC5/%24file/20210615ESDEngineersReport.pdf

  1. Sidewalks
    A 6-foot concrete sidewalk on the north side and a 10-foot multi-use path typical on the southwest side are proposed for the entire length of the corridor. The multiuse path on the south side of New Bern Avenue will be constructed from the Morgan Street /Blount Street intersection to the New Bern Avenue/Sunnybrook Road intersection. Sidewalks will be constructed on the north side of New Bern Avenue from the Tarboro Street/Edenton Street intersection to the Milburnie Road/New Bern Avenue intersection just to the east of Sunnybrook Road.
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Story from TBJ on this just dropped. No extra details really other than some additional context as to why they proceeded w/ this and not something more mixed-use.

When plans for the site were first announced at the end of 2020 they didn’t align with the city’s vision for the area, but the city’s Planning Department didn’t have the power at the time to request changes, Raleigh Planning Director Patrick Young said. The department met with the developer and asked if they would be willing to make changes to the plans, but the company decided to move forward with the current idea.

“We reached out to the owner’s team and said we don’t have any means to force you at this point, but we do think that you should consider the opportunity that’s happening here with the transit service,” Young said. “They listened politely, and I think they went back and considered it, but they decided to proceed.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2022/09/07/ralegh-retail-harris-teeter-development-nc-state.html

Seems pretty ridiculous that a city or town can’t deny permits for a project. I don’t understand how the city council doesn’t have the authority to deny a development they deem unfit. It’s odd to me that the city can claim eminent domain and condemn a person’s home(s) when they believe a development would be a greater benefit to the community, but they can’t deny a project that’s under utilizing the vision they have for the city.

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If the development meets all of the perimeters of it’s zoning, the city cannot deny it. They’ll lose in court every time.

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Only the council of no would attempt too do something stupid like that.

I have a big brained idea. Have the city council condemn the property and acquire it for a city-lead mixed use transit oriented development.

I’m only partially kidding since this is totally legal under Kelo v. City of New London

I’m not saying the city should actually use eminent domain, rather that it’s odd they have such powers and no power to deny projects they don’t approve of. Another annoying part, is this area is part of the Blue Ridge Corridor. An area where the city once again spent money on studies and didn’t follow through with what was recommended. If they had a vision for this plot of land, why didnt they just buy it and lease it for private development?

They can’t, because US zoning generally doesn’t set minimums. Instead, it assumes that more is always worse and less is always better.

Yeah, if this had passed a few months earlier than Aug 16 (and it was delayed by at least two months), the city would have stopped various aspects: the gas station would’ve been prohibited, the parking lot in front would’ve been prohibited, the single-story buildings would’ve been prohibited – and the potential additional height might’ve been enough to entice the developer to bring in a residential partner.

City ownership of the land really does result in the most flexibility, especially under the US planning system. Many of the most heralded new urban developments worldwide resulted from municipal ownership. But most cities aren’t willing to front the cash to do it right, and our scarcity mentality makes it difficult for both municipal officials and the fearful public to actually use their imaginations.

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Blame the North Carolina State Government not to get political but just stating facts the Republicans when they had a super majority changed alot of land use and zoning laws.

So what happened this August and why does this city and state seem so hopeless.

It’s sad to see a city like Phoenix and be in total envy at how well planned it is compared to a Raleigh that won’t get out of its own way and which the Republicans would be rid of.

There really against cities. Phoenix is going through the same. Screw that party! Raleigh can get out of it’s own way, just stop doing what the legislature does, just work with the feds, the city has shown with how there planning this BRT faster than the Commuter rail that it could take control of its own transit system, and let GoTriangle implode on itself.

Well, the idea of the commuter rail is that you’d have a connecting bus station- which isn’t open yet and won’t be until 2025.

Developer: Let’s think small…reallllly small on this one.

What sort of mental gymnastics does it take to hear the pitch on what they could build here and to go back and think…nah grocery store and gas station sounds more our speed.

But hey… glad it’ll save someone a 4 minute drive.

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Not much, if you’re so close-minded and strategically conservative that you literally cannot imagine doing business except in the way you always have. Judging from the name of this lot’s holding company “Jack A. Sneeden Corp.” (seemingly now going by Z.A. Sneeden’s Sons Inc.), whose apparent-patriarch is probably the guy in this obituary, this seems like the most likely explanation.

Case in point: there’s a similar issue that happened with an old K-Mart until other investors bought the lot.

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I believe I heard a rumor that the Harris Teeter at Western and Jones Franklin was closing and that the Asian Market at Cross Roads was going to move to that shopping center after the South Hills Mall was sold… That may all be old news, but I swear I heard there was a shuffle in the works.

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I was reading the Cary Mayor’s website and he mentioned an update about the new plans for South Hills. I think if it (Asian Market) finds a nice new spot it could do well. I haven’t been by there in a while but it always seemed like H Mart in Cary was packed with people.

In the development updates, Cary’s Economic Development Director notified the committee that talks continue with the new South Hills owners. We hope to see plans submitted in the next six months or so.

Turner Creek Elementary, EDC, and Council Meeting – Harold’s Blog (mayorweinbrecht.com)

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Just wanted to note my thoughts on some interesting things Terrance Ruth noted in his AMA earlier today:

Ruth is probably talking about the commuter rail project’s analyses on the supplies of natural and legally-binding affordable housing and our region’s travel markets -though most of that work came up within the past year (so it’s more recent than he made it sound). He’s clearly right in that affordable housing doesn’t matter if it doesn’t enable an affordable life -including ways to get around, and places to meaningfully go to. I’m glad he seems to be thinking about that, specifically, here.

This is actually a very fair critique of the collection of reports that recently came out for commuter rail, as well as (more urgently) our BRT projects. Especially since our planners have been putting in extra work to look at how to improve zoning, housing availability etc. throughout our future transit corridors, it would be a shame if our elected leaders just treat the studies as a rubber-stamping exercise and only focus on the shiny transit portion of this entire project.

But there’s nothing preventing City Council from doing that, as an institution.

Note, though, that you can see some of his implicitly preferred solutions baked into Raleigh’s policy document on making TODs happen equitably as well as its follow-up study that focused on the New Bern BRT line. So at least there’s that safeguard, I guess…

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