Please note, if you would like to make a public comment at the hearing, you must sign up to do so. The sign up period opens on the Wednesday morning two weeks prior to the upcoming Council meeting, and will close at3 p.m. on the Friday prior to the meeting AKA 3PM TODAY. Find more more and sign up to speak.
And - in case you’re free earlier in the day, there is another important re-zoning case at 1PM that same day. They’ll be discussing CityPlat’s plan to re-develop the vacant K-Mart lot at 440 near Western Blvd: Rezoning Z-9-25 — 4500 Western Boulevard (District D). This project would transform an asphalt field and abandoned big-box store into mixed use entertainment and retail, with eventual housing. If you can, please show up and wear green to show your support. If you’d like to speak in support, use the link above and sign up by 3PM today.
Thank you for your continued support for more housing across the Triangle!
Here’s a TL;DR summary of Jenn Truman’s CityBuilderNC article “From Parking Lot to Midtown: Why North Hills Is the Right Place to Build Tall”linked above:
North Hills’ transformation: What was once a 1960s-era mall surrounded by surface parking has been incrementally redeveloped into a mixed-use urban district with housing, offices, retail, and public spaces — a model of post-suburban growth that reuses existing paved land.
Current rezoning push (Z-34-25): Kane Realty is asking Raleigh City Council to rezone underutilized land in North Hills for buildings up to 37 stories, with conditions on overall development size, design standards, reduced surface parking, open space, and green infrastructure.
Benefits of the proposal: The city’s planning staff says the new zoning could reduce vehicle trips compared to current zoning by enabling walkable, mixed-use development. Taller buildings help make housing and public space feasible.
Opposition & context: Earlier, more ambitious plans including transit and a fire station were dropped due to political resistance. Delays often narrow project benefits, and some local voices resist growth even in appropriate urban contexts.
Call to action: The author argues Raleigh should support Z-34-25 because it directs density to the right place — near jobs, services, infrastructure, and existing urban form — and urges housing advocates to show up at the January 6 public hearing.
A claim that the new structures will reduce vehicle trips is maybe, maybe not. If the majority of residents are retirees or WFH, or if they work within walking distance, the claim is justified. But if the majority of residents in the new structures are employed somewhere other than DTR (assuming they take transit to DTR), they’ll be bringing their cars.
I think the claim is that it’s already zoned for a certain density (height x sqft). This rezonibg asks for taller height, but with the currently zoned density. Meaning buildings will be taller, but take up less sqft, leaving more room for open space between buildings.
So traffic will not increase more then what it is already zoned for, and maybe decrease.
These densely developed places like North Hills won’t eliminate driving altogether, but they will significantly reduce the number of trips taken & total miles driven per year. It’s about being car light, not car free. While not perfect, car light is way better than car heavy in a fast growing city/county/metro.
it’s annoying the way they try to couch their opposition in some seemingly more palatable reasoning, but in reality they just oppose everything because “development bad”.
I’ve said it before, but it remains valid that the entitlement hasn’t changed, only the height has changed. In exchange for the height variance, the developer is offering more outdoor program space that they call “public”, though we know that it’s not actually public.
The developer has right to develop to the existing entitlement, and this infrastructure argument angle has zero impact, one way or another.
The first proposal for this site was two towers and then they changed it to the one. I assume they will do a phase 2 at some point. Some press releases have mentioned a future development there.
I’m curious if Livable Raleigh has ever endorsed a project? All we hear is them saying they want new housing, just now how it is being proposed. If they say no to 100% of housing options, it makes it hard for a reasonable person to take anything they say seriously.
If Livable Raleigh was given affordable housing and transit in their neighborhoods (as they often claim to want), they’d collectively have their heads explode.
A public records request shows zero communication between the Town of Cary and Epic Games since the town notified the video game company last December that its rezoning request for the former Cary Towne Center had been “withdrawn due to inactivity.”
i wonder what the fate of this site will be if epic decides an hq wasn’t the move. my vote is for EpicLand, a new theme park based on their incredibly popular IP.
Again with the shadows! Here’s a response to my comment to this FB post. And a screenshot of where the tower will be. So where are all these people with life-sustaining gardens live, cuz as far as I can tell, there are no houses that would be affected. omfg!
WEAR GREEN
Here’s a response to my comment to this FB post. And a screenshot of where the tower will be. So where are all these people with life-sustaining gardens live, cuz as far as I can tell, there are no houses that would be affected. omfg!
