Wednesday, Mar. 17, 2010

Rezoning rules are on table

Raleigh considers streamlining its cumbersome procedures for 'conditional use' zonings, which can be modified repeatedly.

The city's Planning Commission is changing Raleigh's rezoning process for "conditional use" projects, a popular type of development that allows communities to request changes and make development more acceptable.

Unlike general use rezoning, conditional use projects can be changed repeatedly - and often are. They're the most common rezoning option for Raleigh builders.

Under the city's current process, some projects are constantly evolving, and some take more than a year to conclude.

In a new effort to change that, the city is proposing to require neighborhood meetings before conditions are added to a case, restrict certain conditions, and add time limits for submitting changes and for the Planning Commission to approve them.

"It's difficult for the community and the Planning Commission to keep up with ever-evolving conditions," said city Planning Director Mitchell Silver. "This will get parties to sit down, talk and get conditions forward."

Silver said communities, developers and planning commissioners have all expressed frustration about the current process.

Silver said he reviewed the development approval procedures of several other cities before suggesting the changes that are now in the commission's Committee of the Whole.

District D City Council member Thomas Crowder also was involved in crafting the proposed changes. Crowder suggested requiring neighborhood meetings before developers add conditions to a project, since the new restrictions would limit the neighbors' impact after conditions are added.

"This way it would be more advantageous and more productive for the community and property owners," Crowder said. "It would open up better communications early on, and go a long way to avoid contentious cases."

The Planning Commission's Committee of the Whole is scheduled to revisit the issue at its April 6 meeting. It could recommend that the Planning Commission endorse the proposed rezoning changes.

The commission would then vote to recommend changes to Raleigh's City Council, which will have the final say.