New subject: Urgent: RCAC resolution from April Meeting - please respond

3 May 2010

Hi folks,
At April's meeting we heard a report back from Phil Poe, the liaison on
behalf of the CAC leaders to the UDO workgroup.  Phil indicated that folks
on the UDO workgroup didn't feel they had the information they needed to
make the kinds of recommendations they're being asked to make on a variety
of issues, including form-based planning and inclusionary zoning.  The CAC
leaders agreed to put forth a resolution asking for an extension of the
comment period on the consultants' approach to rewriting the Unified
Development Ordinance (the city's zoning code) as well as more opportunities
for the public to learn about the elements being discussed and more concrete
examples of these elements from the Planning Dept. and the consultants.
The group agreed that a resolution should be drafted after the meeting and
approved by electronic vote, and folks volunteered to draft the resolution
(thanks Bill and Phil!) which is pasted below.
Please respond via email with your yea or nay vote by noon on Wednesday, May
5th.  Thanks!
Ana Duncan Pardo
Chair, Hillsborough CAC
Chair, RCAC
(919) 818-5933
RCAC suggestion to City Council on the UDO
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Where As the UDO is a complex process of great importance to Raleigh that
touches on every aspect of the future of our city and communities;
Where As the Complexity of the project requires significant commitment of
time from the pubic to comprehend the concepts, informatively discuss and
provide input;
Where As the Importance to clearly define requirements for Code Studio is
critical;
Where As similar Projects in other cities have taken 2 to 3 times longer to
complete than Raleigh’s time table;
Therefore Let It Be Resolved that the Diagnostic and Approach phase be
extended at least 2 months;
And Further Resolved that Good Examples – both visual and written – be
provided to help the public better understand the UDO concepts and
processes;
And Further Resolved that More workshops be conducted to deal with the more
challenging issues like affordable housing and context and district mapping;
And Further Resolved that Test / Pilot cases be developed to help the public
understand what the final code will look like and be interpreted;
And Further Resolved that City Council re-examine the timeline and
deliverables to ensure Code Studio is able to deliver a complete and quality
product at the end of 18 months.