Here’s some examples from DC of what you can do in 12 stories. Id sell my soul to see anything like this bordering a new park in that lot. I love a good skyline as much as the next person and would’ve loved to see ours extended way further north with a 30 story tower here, but i don’t think it’s the end of Raleigh’s urbanist aspirations.
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I do see your point and agree with you to some extent, but there are two key things to note about DC:
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In terms of zoning, they have a lot more lots to play with. Much of the District is gridded, and they can build dense mixed-use in much of the city. In contrast, very little of Raleigh is gridded, so we have very few walkable neighborhoods to work with.
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In spite of that, DC still has a housing crisis, and the average home price in the District is over $600k. Granted, we have more than double the square mileage in city limits, but again, very little of that is zoned for mixed-use (and we’re not going to see much mixed-use zoning in other Wake County municipalities, either, whereas DC has the advantage of neighbors like Arlington and Silver Spring).
I see your point of “we can still have a pleasant urban experience with only ten or so stories,” and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, but we have so little room to work with as it is… just sucks to waste precious space.
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More insight into Jane Harrison’s (and other council member’s) thoughts on this matter. Seems like they all have conflicting views on council’s thought processes and expectations leading up to this rezoning vote. Mayor Baldwin sounds like she didn’t see this denial coming, and Jane Harrison is basically saying the opposite. I wish someone would take some accountability on this, I fear that this council is really much more divided than they’re putting on. Also, Jane Harrison really annoys me. You’re not alone @Jake.
protip: Google the headline and go to the Yahoo News or AOL links to get paywalled N&O articles for free)
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Yeah, Branch’s comments sorted spilled the tea for how this one went down, but if Forte is going to jump in with the new block of councilors…welp, there’s lots more ‘engagement’ to come…
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I’m far more concerned about the comments about derailing the park than the ‘no’ on upzoning.
12 stories and a park would still be pretty good!
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So f**king stupid the “neighbors” are somehow happy with 12 stories - already a tall ass building that they will absolutely see across the tracks (…and between the hundreds of trees that border the tracks behind their properties) - but any taller is somehow ridiculous and unfathomable… homies: A 12 STORY BUILDING WILL HAVE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME IMPACT ON YOU AS A 30 STORY BUILDING (which is to say: practically no impact)… but a less (positive) impact on the city as a whole.
Park funding: Gone. I hope that pit of gravel and abandoned buildings remains for another decade, now. F*ck around? Find out.
Jane Harrison seemed under the impression that the park would get built regardless of the 30-story rezoning. I suppose we’ll see if she’s right about that. If I’m not mistaken, it’s her constituents in that neighborhood.
So, we’ll see if they really did throw the baby out with the bath water. If a large portion of those residents did want the park (excluding the loud ones that didn’t want the tall building) and it doesn’t get built, she’ll have to answer to it.
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IMO, her comments about the park and the funding were bad faith comments, and frankly read like rubbing salt in the wound of the developer. A “Gee, we won’t approve your rezoning, but we sure would like your money for the park” is insulting.
I think that I may have mentioned this previously but Miami Beach has a brand new park because they made a similar deal with a developer to upzone part of the property for a tower. Guess what? The park got delivered first and the building is still in construction.
From this streetview nearly a year ago, you can see the crane on the adjacent property for the building which has risen a couple dozen stories since then. Five Park Miami Beach – Pre Construction Sales South Beach 305-726-4312
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Basically: “So thanks for offering to pay for the new park and build it faster than we were planning, in exchange for rezoning your property so you can then maximize your ROI, thus lessening the cost that this park will eat into your development budget. The answer to your request is NO. But we’d love if you still paid for the park 
”
If I were the developer I’d be telling them they can kiss my ass, and I’d be building by right and leaving the “park” a gravel pit as it stands now.
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Hi Jonathan. I have one simple question. For issues within downtown proper (within the actual downtown boundary), why is deference given to single family homeowners who are not in it?
How do we elevate the voices of those of us who choose to live within the boundary and want the density and activation that comes with living in a city? It frustrates me that downtown voices are split into 2 districts that are both also heavily suburban beyond the downtown boundary.
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Simply cannot fathom the council’s logic here. Something isn’t right.
Now we get no guaranteed private park funding (and we know the city was going to struggle to pay for it on its own), less housing, and less property taxes to the city.
Cool.
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This reminds me of the recent NH rezoning where Kane was going to pay for a new fire station and a transit station. But now we get neither.
Same kind of thinking and neighbors claim ‘victory’ over greedy developers.
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Devil’s advocate, here. Maybe these people look at these proposals for park, fire station and transit station funding as bribes to get more than the developers deserve rather than benefits that come with responsible zoning change requests.
Not saying I agree with that view, but I can see how people might have one such as that.
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Ah yes, don’t you dare bribe us with stuff we’d like and that would benefit a ton of people. 
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Like I said, I don’t agree with that view. People are weird, though.
Sounds like a NextDoor perspective.
Just came here to inform @JonathanMelton that my wife’s GC will be pulling all their current rezoning request until a new council is voted in. CONGRATULATIONS.
After reading that article and how unbelievably disorganized this whole process is why would anyone waste their time if this cannot get passed?
How stupid of a comment is this from Harrison:
“ And I didn’t want to belabor this case because it is a burden on neighbors when they are having to come back and come back and come back.”
Screw anyone’s opportunity to have a park downtown because these poor neighbors who have to attend another meeting they volunteered.
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I actually think this is spot on, that some people do see it that way. The big problem I have with it is that we’ve been doing these kind of “bribes” for decades. We call them conditions.
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Some people only see things in black and white / us vs them. It can’t be a balanced negotiation in good faith, it has to be winning the battle against the scheming developers.
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I bet that’s the same reason Kane withdrew their NH rezoning request. Just wait it out until we (hopefully) get some new council members in a couple of years. He’s got plenty of space to build out in the meantime in the NH Innovation district
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