We can affect policy at the city, county, state, and national level by how we vote. Locally, we focus on Raleigh (if you live, advocate, vote in Raleigh), but our ability to affect what happens in Fuquay-Varina, Wendell, Clayton, etc. is limited.
I would have loved to have seen the SFH and MFH metrics on just Raleigh alone,…on just Wake County alone, etc. That said, I think it’s safe to assume that the amount of multifamily is higher in Raleigh than in Fuquay, in Cary than in Zebulon, and in Durham than in Chatham County.
The progress toward more density is invariably going to have to be led by the core cities and maybe Cary as a mature suburb that’s largely run out of room to physically expand. We need to focus on those opportunities, rather than hand wringing about sprawl in the burbs. We have to make the cities more desirable so that people will choose to live in them over the new cookie cutter houses 15 miles from the city centers.
Exactly. Raleigh is surrounded by smaller municipalities aggressively annexing whatever they can to expand their boundaries and competing with each other simultaneously. Since annexations can only be voluntary, we end up with a bunch of single-family suburban sprawl.
Raleigh is just as willing to accept voluntary annexation petitions from property owners as the other municipalities in Wake County are. Many of the Wake municipalities including Raleigh have negotiated annexation agreements with one another to define boundaries.
As of more recently, there is a nuance to what the city will annex going forward. While not perfect, I understand it to be a more objective in terms of it making financial sense for the city. How will the annexed area be served? What are the fiscal impacts? While the city itself cannot annex at will like it used to do, it also doesn’t automatically grant annexation because it’s requested.
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, and into the first decade of the 21st, the city liberally annexed development and watched its density decline as more and more suburbia grew to larger and larger percentages of its land area. That trend has reversed this century with substantial dense infill projects and a more discerning annexation policy. As a result, don’t expect Raleigh to add its next 100,000 people at 3300 ppl/sqm, rather through infill & redevelopment, and through highly limited & targeted annexations.
Raleigh has a ton of “Donut Holes” of unincorporated bubbles just barely outside the beltine that are older single-family homes that rejected ever becoming part of the city. As those get older and the land gets more valuable, developers will start being attracted to gobbling them up and putting newer homes. When they do that, they often will get the city to annex it.
Sometimes, when we’re lucky, they’ll get it rezoned for multi-family. A good example was a big plot of land where Trawick meets Skycrest. I think two old 50’s ranches (unincorporated) were bought up there. It was annexed and rezoned and now a big Townhouse development with probably 2-3 dozen townhouses are going in.
That’s a good example of what to expect. It make no sense for the city to annex two single family homes, but it makes financial sense for the city to annex an infill townhouse project.
City Council votes frequently to approve annexation petitions. I’ve never seen Council turn one down. I’ve never even seen a “no” vote on an annexation petition. Unless the staff is telling potential petitioners that it would be a waste of time to file a petition – if I were the lawyer for a prospective petitioner and heard that, I think I would test the system just to see – there’s no evidence of selectivity on the part of the City.
Do you know that to be true, or are you just speculating?
I seem to remember a rejection this year, but my memory may be playing tricks. It could also be true that non-viable requests get squashed before hitting council.
I read the Council minutes. One petition that was rejected might have escaped my notice, but there are 25 more that didn’t. It’s conjecture that the staff are telling people not to petition. Property owners have a legal right to petition, subject to the requirements.
There is no mystery as to whether a tract is a successful candidate for annexation or not. Most of the assessment is just math (cost-benefit analysis).
Few are going to pursue an annexation petition that would not score a Manager’s (staff) recommendation.
Chances to withdraw (or never file) come early and poor candidates therefore rarely make it to Council”s agenda.
All I know is that there was an entire segment on annexation and fiscal viability (or something like that) at the council retreat that I watched on YouTube. They were very clear that the city is not interested in approving annexations by right of the petitioner, rather annexation must either benefit the city or at least not burden the city.
The truth of what’s been happening in the last few decades is demonstrated in the data. Even as the city slow grows its limits, it keeps densifying its overall footprint. This puts Raleigh on top of the density metrics among all of NC’s largest cities (which isn’t saying much).
Here are the annexations before City Council since July. Looks like business as usual to me.
8215 Leesville Rd, 9 SFH on 14 acres
5910 Ponderosa Rd, 26 SHF on 5 acres
0 Mid Pines Rd, 0.2 acres residential landscape buffer
8000 Ray Rd, 4 SHF on 1 acre
12801 Strickland Rd, 33 townhomes on 5 acres
2101 Jones Franklin Rd, 1 SHF on 1 acre
13120 Strickland Rd, 152 apartments on 16 acres
5313 Tomahawk Tr, 1 SHF on 3 acres
7001 Destiny Dr, school on 48 acres
2310-2314 Andor Pl, 6 dwelling units on 1 acre
4208 Forestville Rd, 12 dwelling units on 3 acres
1539 Old Milburnie Rd, 254 apartments on 94 acres
5424 Rock Quarry Rd, retail on 1 acre
2816 Hodge Rd, public ROW and HOA-maintained park on 2 acres
The two projects on Strickland Rd are 10 miles as the crow flies from City Hall.
My parents moved to the area last year and live just outside of the city limits off Buffalo Rd. , and it is pretty crazy how much land is being cleared that way for new developments. A new Publix and apartments have already gone in between them and 540 in the year and a half they have been here. Now things are being cleared for development past them.
Most cities, including Raleigh, have defined Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) areas outside and adjacent to their city limits where the county cedes planning and code requirements to the city.
This is in recognition that these areas are potential annexation candidates due to topography and likely utility extensions.
Ensures that dimensional standards and the pattern of development will be conducive to being a good municipal addition and also be compatible with the city’s maintenance expectations.