Sorry for need of clarification, are you saying the plots in purple that were gonna be 7 stories cap are going to be 5 instead? If so that’s a bit disappointing, considering there’s already a few 5 story buildings there (the cheap motels). I was hoping for way more. At least the TOD encourages mixed-use, I guess. 
Anything’s better than what’s currently there, that’s for sure.
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I may rewatch it to make sure I’m understanding what was passed but yes, I feel like the proposal was for 7 but the base height maximum was changed to 5 and council approved that.
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Staff initially recommended 7 but upon further discussion/questions acknowledged that it’s unlikely the density bonus for affordable housing would be used if we grant 7 stories (developers have told us that they can build 2 stories of concrete and then 5/6 stick/wood above, to get to 7/8 stories anything taller requires all concrete/steel and is significantly more expensive). If we approved 7 they’d build to 7 and stop, and the density bonus is meaningless. Approving 5 gives them flexibility up to 7/8 if they use the bonus.
Incentivizing affordable housing is working - we’ve seen more than 100 affordable units permitted through a similar provision in missing middle code at 60% AMI- with NO public subsidy required. That’s huge IMO. To date, 0 affordable units permitted through the “voluntary” inclusion in rezoning requests.
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Thank you for taking the time to clear that up. Makes sense!
And I appreciate the city moving forward on this stretch of the TOD. That area needs all the help it can get, and those living nearby appreciate it being on the city’s radar finally. Thanks.
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if true, i guess its a good thing for new bern?
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Not sure if the TOD will affect this, or if this is completely different, but noticed this on the Raleigh Rezoning portal:
It’s called “Wake III Campus”. Basically WakeMed, Wake County Health Dept., and the Wake Tech Health Science school are being combined into a new “Campus Zoning” bloc. Interested if anyone here knows what all that means and if it indicates a significant change to the development there??
(The info on that site is incredibly vague and full of jargon and I have searched & searched to find any news articles or other info about this plan. So far, zilch.)
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Watching this now but council’s meeting yesterday discussed the New Bern TOD. It opens with a nice recap of what we’ve done so far. I hope to do a summary blog post over the next few days.
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OK here’s my summary. Basically, all we have left are the Western stations, the stuff around Oakwood and Tarrboro Street, which is the most complicated one and where most of the feedback came from, for and against.
https://dtraleigh.com/2024/06/new-bern-avenue-tod-rezoning-summer-check-in/
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Appreciate the write-up. The more eastern parts that are finished, what does “finished” mean? Is the new zoning and TOD overlay already active for those lots? Is the rezoning complete, and now we’re waiting for the TOD overlay? Or are all the changes waiting on the western portion to be finalized?
I’m hoping that the western section doesn’t cause 6+ more months of delays.
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Great update! Thanks for that. Very glad to see so much of it is in place now.
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The Council is voting on different sections separately, but once the votes are taken they are final. It is as if the case is split. I think thats what Leo meant when he said they were finished.
I couldn’t figure out if there is a delay before rezoning takes effect. IMaps did not seem to be updated yet, though.
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That’s my understanding. They are effective the date council approves. It’s just that the admin piece of displaying it on maps and elsewhere lags behind.
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Yup. Back in the early discussions of this, I wasn’t sure if splitting things was a good idea or not, but I’m glad the council saw the political reality of it, and ended up doing it this way.
It was very clear from the public hearing that there was practically Zero opposition from anyone regarding the parts east of Donald Ross Drive/Peartree Lane. Separating it and getting the eastern & middle sections zoned quickly and efficiently was not only good for the whole proposal in-general, but those were the areas most vulnerable to “car-centric” development & sprawl. And the lack of controversy there made it a win-win for everyone. Even Liveable Raleigh seemed to have no opinion on it, shockingly.
So now all that’s left is to advocate for those western areas.
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Last week, council discussed the final piece of the New Bern Ave TOD, mainly this section below. As a recap, everything before this, I summarized on the blog here.
It’s kind of a weedsy update here but:
- Council immediately upzoned the DMV site, that was an easy one. OX-5 + TOD applied.
- Properties in Oakwood got DX-3. No TOD applied.
- Mostly, everything east of Tarboro got the proposed above.
- Whatever remains, got no TOD, no change in base heights except for a few cases, like the Bojangles and some surface parking lot on East Street.
Then some case-by-case parcel requests were taken up. Everything passed unanimously. Finally, if it wasn’t discussed they denied it. This case is done.
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I saw that the New Bern TOD can be pulled up on Imaps now if anyone wants to see the finished product.
On to Southern and Western.
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This is an amazing amount of infill opportunity
The future is bright
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On your blog, I really liked this part: “Still, when you compare East Raleigh’s landscape today with what it could be in the future, we have the potential to link tens of thousands of residents, current and future, within walking distance of a high frequency bus route with dedicated lanes and enhanced urban amenities. If the car-centric shopping centers outside the beltline and the area around WakeMed turn into it’s own destination district, that could really create an interesting transit link between it and downtown.”
When you look at the huge Tower Shopping Center complex, you can’t help but notice the potential there. I kinda look at it the way Midtown was before all the revitalization has occurred in the past couple decades. (Yes, I’m old enough to remember how sad North Hills & Holly Park were at the turn of the millennium. LOL.)
If a developer like Kane could make it “East Hills”, it’d be a dream come true.
The TOD debate was intense in the ITB portion but for the OTB portion, I think you won’t see people pushing against gentrification. I think they’ll welcome it with open arms actually.
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One of those sites just needs a grocery store. I know Moore Square has talked about it, I know the Exploris site is looking for one, and I think the former DMV would consider one. Three sites, hopefully at least one gets built!
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From what I understand the Exploris site is very likely to get a grocery - there was some soft indication Harris Teeter. Since the city owns the DMV site, any grocery chain courting them will back out eventually due to the time it will take to negotiate any kind of project, way to much red tape.
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Correct, Dalian has been approaching a couple grocery stores and is trying to secure an LOI from Harris Teeter for several months now. Hopefully in the next two months they can announce something and kick off their mixed use project!
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