It will be interesting to see what Clyde Holt, III does when the Raleigh Planning Commission hears rezoning petition z-006-08 on July 1st. Clyde Holt, an attorney with the Smith Moore Law Firm in Raleigh, sits on this board.

The rezoning is sought by Katherine and Robert Binns, owners of the Homestead Village Mobile Home Park. They would like to get the rezoning, as a potential buyer requires such a change in order to redevelop the property which is currently zoning for manufactured housing parks.

The potential buyers are represented by David York, an attorney in the same firm as Holt — Smith Moore.

Thus far, Holt has left the room during discussions related to the case. That’s an honest decision. Its a responsible action.

Rezoning petition z-06-008 will determine if more than 160 homeowners are evicted from their mobile homes in order to make way for a new residential development.

A valid protest petition was filed at the rezoning case’s public hearing by residents of a nearby housing development. In that petition, the residents indicated that they were concerned about the impacts of a potential new road that they feared might be a part of the new development.

As a result of that petition, the rezoning case will need approval from three quarter’s of the planning commission. The commission consists of eight members plus the Mayor, Charles Meeker. That would mean at least six members must vote to approve the change.

With Holt sitting out, it will require the “no vote” of only two commission members to scuttle the rezoning.

A new rezoning hearing data has been established to determine the fate of the 160 households living in Homestead Village Mobile Home Park in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Committee of the Whole, under the Raleigh Planning Commission, will meet at 9 am on Tuesday, July 1st, in the Municipal Building in Room 305.  The group will consider the merits of Rezoning application Z-006-08.

The zoning change would allow a proposal by a developer to build more than 1300 homes and an assortment of retail and commercial buildings on the 38 acre site, off of Capital Boulevard, near the 540 interchange.  Katherine and Robert Binns, owners of the park, filed the request for a zoning change on October 19th of last year.  The petitioners suggest that the region would benefit from a rezoning because a classification would provide the area with flexibility in the 4 types of land use (Shopping Center, O&I-2, Residential -4, and conservation management) that are otherwise “lacking in areas” .  They disagree with the notion that the development would cause significant impacts to traffic.

An initial analysis by the planning department suggests that the rezoning would create demand for an additional 599 seats in the area’s public schools.

A previous hearing was delayed pending a traffic impact study.

Raleigh’s Planning Commission has elected to wait on the rezoning application for Homestead Village Mobile Home Park.  As noted earlier, no study of the impacts of traffic has been completed.

The new rezoning would accommodate a proposal to build 1,355 new residences on the 38.58 acre tract in North Raleigh, near 540 and Capitol Boulevard.

The Commission indicated that the study should be completed in no more than 90 days.

This week, the City of Raleigh, North Carolina may approve a rezoning that would evict more than 160 families from Homestead Village Mobile Home Park.

The rezoning would clear the way for the redevelopment of the 38.58 acre site into a mixed use retail and residential site along Capital Boulevard, immediately north of 540.  Homestead Village is currently zoned for Manufactured housing and residential-4.  It can have as many as 230 homes, although it only has about 180 lots on the site.

The rezoning would allow the developer, who has not been identified publicly but is represented by attorney David York, to build 1,355 new residential units.  The submitted plan would allow a 30,000 square foot office building.

The City of Raleigh Planning Department notes that the plan is not consistent with the Capital Boulevard Corridor Plan.

The traffic impacts are significant.  Currently, there are no mass transit options in this area.  Having so many people using Capital Boulevard as their neighborhood thoroughfare makes little sense.  The plan would include a buffer as well as the construction of new access roads.

The 2020 Plan almost included a transit corridor for this area.  There is discussion now (by the Special Transit Advisory Commission) of making the area one of the chief priorities for transit spending in the 2035 plan.  This might include commuter rail and/or enhanced bus service.

A traffic impact analysis will not be prepared prior to the rezoning decision on May 21st.

Full details of the plan are available here.