Citizens Brief: HDR's West to Saunders Connection

With the December 2nd meeting coming up, I put together a Citizens Brief and the email below, which will be sent to the City Council Members:


On December 2nd 2008, the Raleigh City Council will be asked to consider a citizen's petition requesting that a key provision of both the Western Gateway Plan and Saunders Street Small Area Plan be enacted. Specifically, the petition asks for the deletion from the Comp Plan of the outdated Glenwood thoroughfare extension and the preservation of the current width and direction of Old South Saunders St.

The petition was filed to allow a privately funded and community supported redevelopment project along Old South Saunders St. This project was developed to the specifications of the Downtown Western Gateway and Saunders North Small Area plans, and depends on the execution their recommendations.

Key Issues:
1. Ready to Build, but City Plans are in Conflict: We have builders who are ready to start construction in Rosengarten Park, which is an exact fulfillment of the goals set out in Saunders North Plan Small Area plan. However, we cannot begin construction because the critical recommendations of this plan have not been enacted.
2. Time is of the essence: The Minimum Housing Code Department has forced virtually all of the houses in this neighborhood to be demolished or vacated. Without the execution of the Saunders St Plan these houses cannot be rebuilt. As a result, we are currently being fined for not demolishing houses that we are not able to rebuild. We cannot reoccupy, we cannot rebuild, we cannot sell because of this conflict in city plans.
3. HDR’s Preliminary Suggestions regarding the West St. Extension are in Conflict with both the Saunders North Small Area Plan and the Downtown Western Gateway Plans of 2004. HDR has put forth a preliminary idea proposing a 45 degree connection between West St through the PSNC site, connecting to our project centered on Old South Saunders Street. This is only a preliminary recommendation, but it is in conflict with the approved plans above. These vetted and approved plans are some of the most current, well thought out, and widely supported plans in the city.
4. Vetting the HDR Plan will take many months: The planning department previously suggested that we delay our petition until the HDR plan is complete. Discussions with Planning Department Officials and the HDR project manager revealed that completion of the plan, the subsequently required transportation studies, and the final approvals would likely take more then 6 months. Therefore they have agreed to try and provide adequate information for the City Council to make a decision at the December 2nd meeting.

Attached Documents
1. Citizens Petition Requesting the enactment of recommendations from the Saunders Street North Area Plan.
2. Citizens Brief regarding West Street extension plans
3. Variance request, asking for setbacks to be set to match those recommended by the

Saunders Street North Area Plan
We acquired these properties and developed this plan in close cooperation with the Boylan Heights Neighborhood Association and other community groups. Since HDR’s suggestion has not been approved or made public by the planning department Mr. Silver requested that we not publically share this information at this time. We have had the benefit of studying this area for thoroughly for years, and as such have attached an informational brief which attempts to simplify the issues involved.

Thank you for taking the time to consider our petition. We would greatly appreciate your support on the 2nd. Please call or email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Richard Johnson
271-1021