35raleighsneighborhood.pdf

James

W.

Brantley

As

we

enter thenextcentury,olderneighborhoods

areincreasingly underinfluencesthatcan alter

their fundamental nature. Traffic and parking

prob-lems, infill pressures, changes in land use, turnover

from

home-ownership

to rental,can allcontributeto

neighborhood evolution and even decline.

Unfortu-nately,neighborhoodsseldom havetheopportunityto

planpro-actively fortheirfutures;rather,contentious

and emotional responses to particular, well-defined

"threats'"arethe

norm

.Long-termtrendsgo

unconsid-eredandnopolicydirectionisset.Inaddition, toolsfor

neighborhoodstabilizationtendtobe verylimited. Although

many

communities have neighborhood

planningprograms,there areonlya handfulofcities

acrossthecountrythathave developed neighborhood

conservationoverlayzoningdistricts.Raleigh's

pro-gram

is uniqueinthat the particularsof each

conser-vationdistrictaredetermined througha rigorous, neigh-borhoodparticipation-orientedplanningprocess.

The

conservationdistrictpermitsan unusuallevelof neigh-borhoodself-determinismabout itsownzoning.ltcan

alsoprovide a

means

for neighborhoodstabilization

similartolocalhistoricdistrictzoningbutlessintrusive.

Raleighhistoricallyhas beenreliantonstate

govern-ment,NorthCarolinaState University,andother

insti-tutions for a largeshareofits

economy.

Development

ofResearchTriangleParkinthe 1950sshiftedthearea

from blue-collartowhite-collarjobs.

The

neighbor-hoods produced by these socioeconomic conditions tendedtobequitestable. Severalofthe oldest

neigh-borhoods,whicharewithinwalkingdistanceof

down-James W. Brantley,A.I.C.P.,wastheleadneighborhood plannerfor the City ofRaleighfrom 1989 to /994, and duringthattimehelpedestablish the City'sneighborhood

planningprogram.

town,havesurvived urbanrenewalto

become

pictur-esquehistoricareas.

Many

middle-class suburbs with

largewoodedlotsweredevelopedsurprisinglycloseto

downtown

("inside the Beltline") throughthe 1950s and1960s.Intheirquietway,theseneighborhoodsare

attheheartofthe identityanddesirabilityofRaleigh.

The

Cityhas

grown

ata steady,modest ratesince

its founding in the 18th century.

By

the mid-1980s,

however, Raleigh

was

one of the fastest growing Americancities. Infilldevelopment

became

quite

com-mon

alloverthe City,and

some

oftheolder

neighbor-hoods were subject to

new

development pressures.

Twotypicaltypesofinfillproblemsoccurredduringthe

1980s and generated the discussion leading to the

establishmentoftheneighborhoodplanning

program

and the neighborhoodconservation overlaydistrict.

These development patterns, small lot and large lot

neighborhoods,areillustratedherewiththeuseof

two

mythicalneighborhoods.

Small Lot Neighborhoods:

Funky Bottom

The

mythical neighborhood

Funky Bottom was

subdivided between 1900 and 1910into lotsthatare

much

smaller thanthecurrentquarter-acresuburban

standard.

The

development pattern is

compact

and

pedestrian-oriented, with buildings set close to the

streetand

some

mixed-use, suchascornergroceries.

When

zoning

was

establishedinthisareainthe 1940s,

there

was

no small lot. detached residential zoning

district.

Funky

Bottom

was

zonedwith

what

hassince

come

to be thought of as an apartment (typically

garden apartment)zoningcategory.

The

rationale for

suchzoning

was

thatthedensity

was

higher thaninthe

standard quarter-acre subdivision.

Over

time, infill

tendedtochangethe characteroftheneighborhood.

Single-familyhouses have beenreplaced with

apart-ments,changingtheneighborhoodscaleandcontext.

A

wide

mixof

peoplelivein

Funky

Bottomincluding elderly people, students,bohemians,and

young

profes-sionals.Although

most

residents have

grown

accus-tomed

to the large

number

ofrentalunitsinthearea,a new,particularlymassiveapartment

complex

focused

concernsthattheneighborhood

was

changingbeyond

recognition.

A

fine old

bungalow

was

demolishedto

allow access to the apartments, and the land the

apartments

were

buiIton

was composed

oftheformer

backyardsofseveral otherbungalows.

Large

Lot Neighborhoods: Forest

Woods

Many

Raleigh neighborhoods from the 1940s to

1960s were developedwithhalf acre or largerlots.

Our

other

myth

icalneighborhood.Forest

Woods,

haslarge

lots because these were stipulated in the original

covenantsand becausethe

homes

hadindividual septic

systemsprior tothe avallabilityofCityservices.Since

there

was

no half-acre lot zoning category

when

Forest

Woods

was

annexed,it

was

zonedforquarter

acrelots.

The

housesintheneighborhoodaremodest

brickranch houses.

The

residentsof Forest

Woods

are

middle-classand mostlyintheir fortiesandfifties.

The

lotshave

become more

valuable thanthehousesthat occupy

them

and the covenants have lapsed. In a particularly controversial instance, rows of houses

were

boughtup andtheland

was

consolidatedand

re-subdivided into quarter acre lots.

The

new

houses

were

set

much

closertothestreettooptimizethe use

ofthe

new

smallerlots,which cause the

new

houses

toappeartobe inthe frontyards oftheolder houses. Thispractice

became

increasinglyfrequentduringthe 1980s.Forest

Woods

andothersimilarneighborhoods areverydesirable,affluent,andpoliticallypowerful, so

demands

foranswersto thisproblem wentstraight to theCity Council.

When

theCity Administration

was

chargedbythe

CityCouncilwiththe taskof studying the situationand

making

recommendations about possible solutions, problemsassociated with older small lotandlargelot

neighborhoods

were

inthe forefront.Certain

underly-ing issues surfaced:

• _{Olderneighborhoods have developedunique}

charac-teristicsovertheirlifetimes.

•

Development

regulationssuchaszoninggenerallydo

not takean olderneighborhood's uniquecharacter

intoconsideration.

• _{Residents often have extremely diverse points of}

View abouttheirneighborhoods, and

some

arevery

wary

ofchange.

•

Unique

aspectsof

some

neighborhoodsshould be

perpetuatedandnotpermittedtoevolveinto

some-thingelse.

Giventhese findings, theproblemthen

became

how

toimplementthegoalofperpetuatinguniqueaspectsof

certainneighborhoods.

The

restofthispaper describes

the formulation ofthe

Neighborhood

Conservation

Ordinance and

how

itworks, together withexamples

offourneighborhoodsthathave developedtheir

own

plans.

Crafting

the

Neighborhood

Conservation

Ordinance

The

heartofthe issue

seemed

tobe the needfora

zoning adjustment.

Two

possibilitiesweretodesignate

more

historicoverlayzoningdistricts,ortocreate

some

kind ofsemi-historic overlay district that could be appliedto

newer

areasorlessarchitecturally pristine areas. Raleigh hasseveral local historicdistricts,

ad-ministeredbythe Historic Districts

Commission,

and

the program is considereda success.

The

historicdistrictoption,however,

was

deemed

unworkable because of the extreme reluctance of

many

property owners to put themselves under the

rigoroussupervision ofyetanother layerof

govern-ment.

An

additionallevelofbureaucraticreview

was

not acceptable.

Whatever

zoningdistrict

was

applied

to these neighborhoods needed to be administered

withoutadditionalreviews or subjectivedecisions.

The

alternative

was

todevelopa

more

flexibletype

of overlaydistrict.

Two

typesof

Neighborhood

Con-servation Overlay Districts

(NCODs), which

were

dubbed

"NCOD

1"_and

_"NCOD

2,"

were

discussed.

The

district that

was

finally adopted

was

NCOD

I.

The

NCOD

2 designation

would

have been

more

stringent,something between

NCOD

1andthehistoric

district,andlikely

would

have beenadministeredbythe Historic Districts

Commission.

This

NCOD

2

would

have beenthekindofconservationdistrict inplacein

Nashvilleandothercitiesacrossthecountry, regulat-ing major

works

such as building additions, but not regulatingbuilding materials orcolors. Intheensuing

years, the

NCOD

2 has notbeen brought upagain.

Afterconsiderablediscussion,an ordinance

creat-ing

anew

overlaydistrictwithlimitedscopeandstrictly

objectiveadministration

was

proposed.

The

draft

the City Attorney under the guidance of the City

Council'sComprehensivePlanningCommittee.

From

the first, the proposal

was

very controversial, with

considerable oppositionfromdevelopers,realtors,and

landlords,

who

feltthat the proposal over-regulated

neighborhoods oftheCitythathad alwaysbenefitted from"flexibility."

The

spectersofintra-neighborhood

feuds and massive staffincreases were also raised.

Not

surprisingly,

many

neighborhoodactivistsfeltthat

theproposed ordinancedidnotgofarenough.

Some

arguedthatthey should beable legallyto halt

develop-ment

proposals not to their liking. In spite of this

controversy,theonly aspectofthe draftordinancethat

was

eventuallydropped

was

aprovisionforaninterim

moratorium on subdivision and building permits in

areas under consideration. Otherwise, the essential elementsofthe draftwere adopted in thefinal

ordi-nance.

Each

uniqueapplicationoftheoverlaydistrict

would

betheresultofanintensiveneighborhood-input

planning process, with several assurances that the

majorityoftheneighborhoodsupportedtheuseofthe

conservationdistrict.

The

aspectsoftheneighborhood

thatcouldbe regulatedbythedistrictwere1imitedand

would

be administered ina

manner

no

more

compli-cated than regular zoning. There

was

also a special

allowanceto preventanyexisting lotor housefrom

being

made

non-conforming bythatoverlaydistrict.

The Neighborhood

Conservation OverlayDistrict

was

adoptedin 1989,andsincethen nineneighborhood

plansand nine conservation districts have been

cre-ated.

Two

oftheplans did notresult inconservation

districts,and

two

planseachresuItedin

two

conserva-tion districts.

As

of

December

1994, four

neighbor-hoodplanswere

underway

withanotherslatedtobegin

inJanuary 1995.

The

Neighborhood

Plan

Relationship to the Comprehensive Plan

Policy additionsand changesareconstantly

under-takenintheformofCouncil-adopted

Comprehensive

Plan

amendments. Twice

a year,

when

Raleigh's

Comprehensive

Plan is physically updated, various

adopted planningstudiesincludingneighborhood,

cor-ridor,andothersmall areaplans,are inserted intothe

Comprehensive

Plan.

Neighborhood

plansarebyfar

the

most

detailedsmall area plans prepared.

The Planning Process

Neighborhoodplans areinitiatedinoneoftwoways:

by the neighborhood with authorization by the City Council, orbytheCouncil actingonitsown.inthefirst

case, a representative ofthe neighborhood formally

requests that theCouncil authorizethepreparationof

apian.

Sometimes

a petitioniscirculatedinthe

neigh-borhoodas a

show

ofsupport, butthisisnotrequired.

Inthesecondcase,theCityCouncilinitiatesa

neigh-borhoodplanonitsown,ifitfeelsthat this levelof study mightresolve

some

issuesinthearea.Otherboardsor commissions, such as the Planning

Commission

or

Historic DistrictsCommission,canrequestthat

Coun-cil authorize a neighborhood plan. There are no set

criteriaforthetypeofareasthatcanbe candidatesfor neighborhoodplans.

Once

the project has been initiated, the project

boundariesandaschedulearenegotiatedbetweenthe

neighborhood, the Planning staff, and the Council.

Representativesoftheneighborhoodexpress an

inter-estinservingonthe taskforce thatwi1 1preparethe plan

and a list of

names

is submitted to the Council for

officialappointment. Inclusivenessanddiversity are

soughtintheseappointments.

The

neighborhood

plan-nerassignedtothe project

works

withthe task force

overa

maximum

ofsix

months

toproducethe plan. Because

many

oftheneighborhoodrepresentatives

have noexperience dealing with municipal

govern-ment,planning,oreven committeework,the

neighbor-hood planners stress a very structured, methodical

planningprocess.Issues areidentified,an inventoryof existing conditionsisproduced,andthen

recommenda-tionsareformulatedas goals,objectives,policies,and implementation strategies. At the beginning ofthe process, there is an initial

community

meeting to

introduce theprocessand introduce thetaskforceto

theneighborhood.

A

listofissues isgatheredduring

thismeeting.

Sometimes

questionnairesare alsoused

to help identify issues.

The

task force then holds a

seriesofsmallerpublicmeetings.Expertsfromvarious

fields,suchastransportation,housinginspections,or

parks, are brought in to answer questions and offer advice.

On

questions of land use and zoning, the neighborhoodplannerisavailabletodiscussoptions,

including the Conservation District.

The

task force

hosts asecond

community

meetingtounveil the draft neighborhoodplan.Copiesofthedraftplanaremailed

toalIpropertyownersintheareapriorto thismeeting.

The

culminationofthiseffortisaformalpublichearing

beforetheCouncilandPlanning

Commission.

For each neighborhoodplanthere are three

mass-mailingstoallpropertyowners and uptoadozenpublic

meetings.Emphasisisplacedongetting sizable

atten-danceattwo

community

meetingsandthefinalpublic

Required Plan Contents

The

ordinance that

createdthe

Neighbor-hood

Conservation

overlay district stipu-lates these

minimum

contents of a

neigh-borhoodplan:

•

Neighborhood

his-toryandevokition,

• Landuseinventory,

•

Description

of

housing: existing,

new

development, and maintenance.

Neighborhoodresidentsdiscusstheirplan.

• _{Inventory of built}

environmentalcharacteristics,includinghouseheight,

setbacks and location of main entrance, but not

includingroofpitch,architecturalst>'le,fenestration,

buildingmaterials, colors,orvegetation.

• Lotsizeandconfiguration,

•

_Open

_{space and} recreation,

•

_Commercial

_{developmentandrevitalization,}

• Circulation/transportation,and

• _Capital

improvement

needs.

Inventoryingbuiltenvironmentalcharacteristicsand

lot sizes and configuration is the most detailed and time-consumingtaskinplanpreparation.

The

product,

as presented to the task force, is a series ofspread

sheets of the data collected, the range,

mean

and

median

ofthe data,anddescriptivegraphs. In addition, staff prepares

maps showing

non-owner-occupied

units,existingzoningnon-conformities,anddensity.

This information isthenusedbythe taskforceintheir

decisionsregarding possiblezoningadjustments,

in-cludingtheConservationDistrict.

Enforcement, Implementation,

and

the Link to

the

Neighborhood

Conservation Overlay District

Neighborhood

plans formabroad policydirection

for the future of the subject neighborhoods.

The

recommendations inneighborhoodplanssometimes

cover

many

subjects, and the implementation

tech-niques are varied.

Some

topics, such as property

maintenance beyondthat requiredbythe CityCode,

fall outside ofthe purview ofthe City and must be

implementedthroughongoing neighborhoodactivism.

Unfortunately, this is not always forthcoming and

many

recommendationslieunimplemented.

The

most

common

neighborhoodplanrecommendations,

how-ever,applytothe transportationsystemandtozoning.

Changes

to the transportation system are

most

fre-quently requestsforreduction of speed limits.These

are referred totheCity'sTransportation Department

for implementation. In every neighborhood plan to

date,thetaskforcehas

recommended

modificationsto thezoningoftheneighborhood.Becausethe existing

zoningoftenallowsasignificantincreaseinresidential density,

some

formof

down-zoning

isusuallypursued bythetaskforcetopreventchangingthecharacterof

the neighborhood.

The

conservation district can be

used forzoning modifications withoutcreating the

non-conformitiesthat

make

otherzoningchangesso

con-troversial.

Staffing

and Budget

The

Raleigh PlanningDepartmentcurrentlyhassix

divisions: Administration,Zoning,SitePlansand

Plan-ning divisionprepares

Comprehensive

Plan

amend-ments, includingneighborhoodplans.Thereisadistrict

planner assignedtoeachoffoursectorsoftheCityand three additional floatingplanners

who

arenotassigned

toanyparticulargeographicareas.Eachdistrict

plan-neriseitherthe project

manager

of neighborhoodplans

inhisorherdistrict,or

works

withone ofthe floating

planners

who

acts as project manager. In the prior

staffing arrangement, there

was

one neighborhood

plannerandasmallpoolofstaffto assist. Because of

theincreaseinrequestsforneighborhoodplansandthe

needforacontact personforeach sectorofthe City,

staffassignments

were

re-configured in 1994.

There

was

aninitialbudgetallocationfor

neighbor-hood

planning, butafter

two

yearsthis

money

was

not

usedand

was

takenfromthebudget.Varyingportions

ofthesalariesofsevenstaffpeoplegotoneighborhood

planning, as do

some

charges for

GiS

(geographic

information systems) time.

The

neighborhoodplans

are reproduced in-house as black and white

photo-copies,soprinting costs are partofthegeneral

photo-copyingbudget.

The

tlnaldocumentsareprintedinthe

formatofthe restofthe

Comprehensive

Plan, so no

specialpresentation

document

ismade.

The

Conservation

District

into the rezoning request until afterthey have been

determined bythetaskforce.

The

rezoning requestis

usuallyfiledbythe taskforce.

The

City

Code

requires

thatamajorityofthepropertyownersinthe

neighbor-hood

sign the rezoning petition. Although the task force,whichusuallyhastogodoor-to-doortocollect signatures,hatesthispartofthe process,strong

com-munitysupportistheresult.

The

Cityitselfcanalsofile

therezoningrequest.This hasonlyhappenedin

neigh-borhoodsthathave low owner-occupancyratesafter

theneighborhoodplan hasbeenadopted bythe

Coun-cil. In such cases, the signatures of a majority of

propertyownersare not required.

A

particularly attractive feature ofthe Neighbor-hoodConservationDistrictisthatitdoesnot createany

new

non-conformities.

The

regulationsapply onlyto

new

subdivisionsandconstruction.

A

common

ques-tionis,

"Ifmy

houseburns

down,

andisina

conserva-tiondistrict, butdoesn'tmeet the regulations ofthe

conservationdistrict, canIrebuild it?" Judging from

the frequency ofthisquestion, one

would

think that

Raleighlias

many

more

housefiresthan itdoes.

The

answeristhatiflessthanhalfofthe valueofthehouse

isdestroyed,the house

may

berebuilt with no

addi-tional requirements; if

more

than halfofthevalueis

destroyed,avariancefrom the Board of Adjustment

willberequired.

The

Conservation District

was

created to allow

neighborhoodstheopportunitytoidentifyand perpetu-atecertain aspects oftheirneighborhood's

develop-ment.

The

ordinance that created the Conservation

Districtsetthesecriteriaforthe application:

Four

Neighborhood

Plans

and

Conservation

Districts

Rinmvmede

Road

•

_The

_{areamust have begun development}atleast25

years prior to filing for the Conservation District

designation,

•

_The

_area

must

beatleast 15acresinsize,orbe an

extensionofanexistingConservationDistrict,

•

_The

area mustbe at least

75%

developed, and

•

_The

area

must

possess a distinctive character.

The

aspectsofthe neighborhoodthatcan be

regu-latedbytheConservationDistrictarelimitedtolotsize

andwidth, frontyardandsideyardsetback,building

height,

main

buildingentrancelocation,andwidths of

rights-of-way and greenways.

A

rezoning request for

NCOD

may

befiled atthe

beginningoforduringthepreparationofthe

neighbor-hoodplan,but the actual regulationscannot beinserted

Thisuniqueneighborhood

was

thefirsttorequesta neighborhoodplan.

The

road,whichisverynarrow and

winding,roughlyparallelsasmallcreek.

The

lotsare

quite largeand wooded, andthehousesare relatively

smallandunostentatious,blendingintothe

woodland

context.Severalofthehouses,which mostlydatefrom

the 1950s and 1960s, were designed in the

modern

stylebylocalarchitectsandareof

some

architectural

interest.

The

residents are well educated and

many

teachatNorthCarolinaStateUniversity.Adjacentto

Runnymede

Road

isthesiteofa small lake that

was

drainedtoallowconstructionofseveral largehouses of

Williamsburg andCharlestonrevivalstyles.This type

of construction

was

spreading into adjacent older

neighborhoods.Infact,thisneighborhood

was

one of

themostactivetear-downandinfillareasinthe City.

Lots atthe end of

Runnymede

Road

adjacent tothe

drained lake site were recombined,

two

housestorn

much

closer to thestreetthanthesurrounding houses.

On

these

new

lots,

many

largetreeswere

removed

and

the creek

was

channelized.

A

broad spectrum of

Runnymede

residents were alarmed aboutthe potential for

more

ofthis kind of

development.

They

asserted thattheirneighborhood had a uniquecharacterthat

was

worth preserving in

the face of development pressures to the contrary.

Several

communityand

taskforcemeetingswereheld

overa six

month

period,andone ofthedevelopersof

the

new

houses

was

activeonthetaskforce.

The

task forceexercisedastrong leadership functionandgained

theconfidenceofthe neighborhood.

The

neighborhood

plan

recommended

the creation of a neighborhood

conservationdistrict basedonthe actualsubdivision

andbuildingpatternandexpired covenants.

The

task

force also felt that very large houses should be set

furtherbackontheir lots.Consequently,a graduated

setback based on house height

was

included in the

conservationdistrictregulations.

Much

time

was

spent

duringtheplanning processonissueswhichcannot be

effectively dealtwithinthe

Comprehensive

Plan.For

instance,becauseexistingparkingareaswere consid-eredunsightly,aprototype

was

designedandincluded

in the plan.

The

prototype has never been used and cannot be enforced.

Consideringthat this

was

thefirstneighborhoodplan andthefirstConservationDistrict,there

was

surpris-inglylittle interestfrom the neighborhoodaboutthe

whole

project.Because ofthecontroversy

surround-ing the originalneighborhoodplanningand

conserva-tion district ordinance and the specter ofneighbor

againstneighbortights,allpartiesinvolvedwereglad

andalittle

amazed

thatneighbors,along withthelocal

developer, couldgo throughthis processand still be

speaking to each other a year later. In the ensuing

years, a lot splithasbeen approved anda

new

house

builtundertheConservationDistrictregulations,but the invasionofthe"Williamsburgers"hasended.

South

Park

SouthParkisone ofthevenerable African- Ameri-can neighborhoods located just east of

downtown

Raleigh.Portionsoftheareaareincluded inaNational

RegisterHistoricDistrict,butneighborhoodopposition blocked an attemptto

make

the area a local historic district.

The

areaisbisectedbyamajorthoroughfare

that

was

justaneighborhood streetin thepast.

When

acorridorplan

was

preparedfor thisroadway,so

many

neighborhood issuesarosethat aneighborhood plan

was

recommended

as afollow-through.

The

areabegandevelopment aroundthe turnofthe

century and

was

marketed as an opportunity for

African-Americans to

own

their

own

homes.

The

streetnetworkisacontinuationofthe

downtown

grid,

andthelotsare relatively small.South Park hada

mix

ofmiddle-andworking-classfamiliesupthroughthe

1960s, but since then the area has

become

poorer.

Most

houses eventually shifted from owner-occu-pancytorental.

Now

approximately

80%

ofproperties

arenon-owneroccupiedorvacant.

The

originalzoning allowedtwentyunitsperacre andpermittedthe

con-structionofapartmentbuildings sprinkledthroughout

theneighborhood.Inoneparticularlycontroversialand conspicuous infillproject,a singlefamilyhouse

was

replacedwithaonestoryfour-plexsetsideways ona

narrow, deep lot. Entrances to the apartments are

locatedoffthenarrow

walkways

separatingthis

apart-ment

buildingfromtheadjacentsinglefamily houses.

The

frontyardsetback,perthezoningrequirements,is

about fifteen feet deeper than that of the adjacent

houses,convenientlyallowinga frontyard parkinglot.

An

arrayofutilityboxesistheonlyrelieffor thestreet

facade,which is painted a brilliant blue.

Many

resi-dentsofthearea,particularlythose

who

worked

onthe

National Registernomination,

were

veryalarmedby

what they

saw

as the steady replacement ofolder

singlefamilyhouseswithincongruousfour-plexes.

The

CityCouncilinitiatedtheSouthPark

Neighbor-hood Plan, and the task force

was

appointed from

among

volunteers

who

came

forward at a well

at-tended

community

meeting.

Most

ofthe task force

members

wereolderresidents

who

were

particularly interested in re-establishingtheneighborhoodfabric

they had

known

in thepast.

The

development ofthe planwentslightlyover scheduleduetothe difficultyin

reachinga consensuson thetask force.

Many

ofthe

issueswere ofa socialand

economic

natureandcould

be addressed only indirectly by the

Comprehensive

Plan.

The

task force did, however, feel that the

ConservationDistrict

would

beeffectiveinpreserving

some

aspectsofthe physicalenvironment.

The

South Park Conservation District defines a

maximum

and a

minimum

lot size.

The

underlying

twenty units per acre zoning

was

not changed.

The

effectofthe

maximum

lotsizeincombinationwiththe

underlyingzoningistolimitthe sizeof

new

apartment

buildingstothreeunits.

New

buildingsarerequiredto

besetclosertothestreetthan

would

beallowedinthe

underlying zoning.

The

zoningcase

was

filed bythe

Cityand

was

approvedwithnoopposition.

Roylene Acres

QuestionableinfillintheSouth Park neighborhood

brick ranch houses on quarter-acreto half-acre lots,

Roylene Acres is similartodozens ofother Raleigh

neighborhoods.

Many

of the residents

moved

into

Roylene Acres as part ofthe

wave

of in-migration

brought aboutby the development of Research

Tri-angle Park in the 1950s.

The

neighborhood is in

transition,with

anumberofnewyoungfamilies

moving

intoan area

composed

primarilyof

homeowners

aged

sixty and above.

The

older long-term residents are particularlyconcernedabout possiblechangesin the

neighborhood. Thissinglefamilyneighborhoodis

sur-roundedbyhigher densitydevelopments,includingan

extensiveapartment area patronized by North

Caro-lina State University students. Althoughthe original covenantsare still in effectand the neighborhood is

zonedforfour dwellingsper acre, aconstantconcern

intheneighborhoodisthe potentialforencroachment

ofapartmentsintotheneighborhood. Thisisdespite the

factthatahotlycontestedandprobablyinfeasiblezone change

would

be requiredtopermit apartments.

A

developmentproposal toconstructtownhouses

acrossthestreetfromRoylene Acresinstigated

neigh-borhoodinterestinestablishingaConservationDistrict

onthisadjacentundevelopedland.

The

neighborhood

petitioned the CityCouncil for aneighborhood plan, and proposedthattheplan areaboundaries includethe townhousesite.

The

CityCouncil authorizedthe neigh-borhood plan, but excluded the contested property

from the plan area.

The

task force had to shift its

concern to the neighborhood itself. At first, thetask

force

was

very concerned with enforcing certain

standardsofproperty

upkeep

and

appear-ance,including

paint-ing,landscaping, grass cutting, on-site

park-ing,and outdoor

stor-age.

When

they

learnedthatthe

Com-prehensive Plan

can-not address such

is-sues,theyfinally

rec-ommended

a

neighbor-hood

conservation

dis-trictthatsimply

codi-fied several

restric-tionsfoundintheir

cov-enants.

Mordecai

Mordecai isone of

theneighborhoodsthat

ringdowntown

Raleigh.Itis

named

aftertheMordecai House, anearly 19thcenturyplantationhousethatis

one ofthelandmarksofthearea. Mordecai is located

tothenorthofhistoric

Oakwood,

butdoesnothavethe

extensive stockof renovatedhistorichousesfoundin

that district. Mordecai has a

mix

of housing types,

rangingfrom mansionstosmall Victoriancottages. In

general,theeasternareahas smallerlotsandsmaller

houses setclose tothe streetwhile the western area has larger lotsand awiderrangeofsetbacks. Adja-cent to the neighborhood on the west are extensive

railroadyards,a dilapidated mill building,twelveacres

ofovergrown vacantland,andoneof Raleigh's larg-est,oldestpublichousingfacilities.

The

areaiszoned

fortendwellings peracre,andseveralinfillapartment complexesofdifferent sizeshave been builtoverthe past twenty years.

A

number

ofelderly, long-term residents arevery

active in civic affairsandan influx of

young

profes-sionalpeople hasbroughtabout anevenhigherdegree ofneighborhoodactivism.

As

aresult,representatives

ofthe neighborhood requested that a neighborhood

planbe preparedfortheir area.

The

boundariesofthe

study were initiallydisputed,

some

feeling that the

studyareashould be

much

largerthanstafforiginally

proposed.

An

area

was

finallyselectedonthecriteria

thatitdevelopedprimarilybefore

World

War

II.

When

volunteers fora task force were solicited atthe first

community

meeting, over twenty people

came

for-ward.

As

this

was

an unworkable number, the City

representthevarious portionsoftheplanarea.

The

neighborhood plan

was

prepared over a six

month

period. Because of the level ofinterest and

education of the task force, the process

was

very

rigorousandthefinalproduct

was

carefullyconceived.

The

taskforce

recommended

arezoningpackagethat

includedthreeelements:

•

A

downzoning

from ten dwellings per acre to six

dwellings peracre, with use limited to oneor

two

dwellingsona single lotinselected areas,

•

A

Neighborhood

Conservation Overlay District tailoredtothe easternarea with itssmallerlotsand

smallersetbacks,and

•

A

_separate

Neighborhood

Conservation Overlay

Districtwith largersetbackstailoredtothewestern portionoftheplanarea.

The

neighborhood plan also

recommends

that an

eligibilitystudyforlocal historic districtdesignationbe

prepared. Ifthe areawere designated a historic

dis-trict,there

would

be

two

overlaydistricts onseveral properties.This

would

probablynot leadtoany

admin-istrativeproblemssince theconservationdistrict

regu-lations are as objective asthose ofthe otherzoning

categories with

which

the Historic Districts

Commis-sion deals.

Changes

to the parks and greenways system and the pedestrian circulation networkwere also

recommended,

aswellasacomprehensive trans-portation study.Giventhe persistenceofthe residents,

theserecommendationswi11probably be pursueduntil

implemented.

Conclusion

Because

ofthe

manner

inwhichtheneighborhoods areselected forneighborhoodplans,noprioritizingof

neighborhoods by need oreligibility hasdeveloped.

Consequently,

some

neighborhoodswithlesserneeds have been the subject of neighborhood plans and

conservation districtswhile areasofgreaterneedgo

without.In

some

partsoftown, aninitialconservation

districthascaused interest in surrounding

neighbor-hoods.These havethen requestedtheir

own

neighbor-hood

plansandconservationdistricts,asifsaying,

"We

don't exactly

know

what

we

are asking for but

we

want

one too." This could lead to Conservation

DistrictscoveringextensivepartsoftheCity, including

many

neighborhoodsthatarenot very unique.Recent legislation that requiresexpensiveadvertising for the

rezoningof

many

propertiesat once,such as for the

conservation and other overlay districts,

may

bring

abouta

more

carefulapplicationof theconservation

district.

One

ofthe

most

stimulating aspectsofthe

neighbor-hood

planning processis itseducationalfunction.

The

staff learns about the neighborhood while the task force learns

more

aboutthe functionoflocal

govern-ment.

At

thebeginningoftheplanningprocess,

many

neighborhoodrepresentatives arepoorly informed about

the rolesandlimitationsofthevariouslevelsof

govern-ment

and about the workings of the development

market.There isalsoless interest inlong-range

plan-ning thaninshort-termirritations,suchasbarkingdogs or themotorcycleparked onaneighbor'sfrontporch.

Interestingly,inspiteofoftenvocal oppositiontoCity

intervention, there isa desire for the City to silence

thosedogs and

remove

thatmotorcycle.

By

thenight

ofthepublic hearing,however,

many

misconceptions have been lifted and all involved are exhausted but

satisfied.

A

common

comment

is that the

neighbor-hood

has gottensomethingforitstaxdollars.

The Neighborhood

ConservationOverlayDistrict

has been successful in addressing the discrepancy

between zoning and build-out in

some

ofRaleigh's

older neighborhoods.

Many

neighborhoods that are

trulyuniqueandcontributepositively to theCityasa

whole have beenstabilizedby neighborhoodplanning

andtheconservationdistrict.

The

programhasbeen

quitesuccessfulandhas

come

toreceive supportfrom several ofits initial detractors.

The

combination of neighborhood-basedplanningand neighborhood

con-servationzoninghasbeenveryeffective.

The

program

hasbeendescribedinaneditionof

"ZoningNews,"

as

well as a Planning Advisory Service report entitled

"Innovative Tools for Historic Preservation."

An