There’s no doubt about it. The new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) just isn’t sexy. At all. Rewriting zoning laws and re-mapping the entire city, parcel by parcel is hard work. But Raleigh is in the thick of it, and the Planning Department is engaging citizens in a creative way—by making them do it.
Yesterday, the draft of the UDO was made available for you to review and comment, but only between April 6 and June 5, 2001 (6:00pm deadline). That’s a pretty short time frame to get up to speed, digest, and comment—so you better start reading!
The Planning Department has made the rounds to all 18 Citizens Advisory Councils (CACs) to give a brief presentation on the UDO, highlight the changes, and walk citizens through a mapping exercise designed to help them understand the changes. Last month, the Southwest CAC looked at the area surrounding Carolina Pines and Lake Wheeler Road. Other CAC’s looked at areas within their boundaries.
The SWCAC broke into two separate groups. Our challenge was to review the existing zoning and map a new zoning category that was consistent with the future land use from the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. It was confusing at first, but once we got the hang of it, the group I was in starting up-zoning certain areas and “protecting” others. We had an eye on economic development but also conservation for the area, because we know our area well.
At the April meeting, the two groups will share each others mapping and why they made their zoning choices. This has happened around the city, and citizens had a chance to design a new Raleigh, well, at least through the UDO exercise.
Despite the fun in the mapping exercises, the UDO advisory group is concerned that things are moving too fast. The Raleigh Publuc Record reported:
The draft Unified Development Ordinance, UDO for short, is scheduled to be released on April 6 and the city plans to take public comments until June 6. City councilors will hold a public hearing in July or August, and could potentially pass the new code before the October election.
In his regular report to city council this week, UDO advisory group chair Rodney Swink listed several concerns about the timeframe to release the new code.
First and foremost, Swink said, the 60-day window will not be long enough for residents to fully review and comment on the draft. Swink also said that the group thought that the zoning map, which shows how each parcel across the city is zoned, should be released at the same time.
I recommend reading the entire article, “UDO group wants more time to review code.”
I’m concerned as well. Although the mapping exercise is a great way to get citizens engaged, not very many are participating.
On that note, what do you think the city can do to foster more participation and make the UDO rewrite appealing, sexy even, to more citizens? Does the UDO have the right rules in the right places for Raleigh? Will you have a chance to review the draft before June 5th?
Additional resources
- Limehouse portal
- Raleigh UDO resource
- UDO Review Draft Released (Raleigh Public Record)