Council approves Barwell Road rezoning with added stormwater controls after neighborhood concerns about traffic and odors

Raleigh City Council approved a rezoning for property along Barwell Road on Tuesday that includes additional stormwater controls requested during the permitting process, after several residents and neighborhood groups raised concerns about traffic safety, flooding and odors from a nearby wastewater facility.

Staff and the applicant added conditions requiring detention and treatment for the 25‑year storm event and double silt fencing for grading within 200 feet of the Neuse River riparian buffer. The applicant and environmental groups proposed the wording to mitigate construction and post‑construction impacts to Walnut Creek.

Worth Mills, attorney for the applicant, said the new conditions aim to "mitigate any impacts to Walnut Creek both during construction and after construction." He told council the applicant is continuing to work with Partners for Environmental Justice and the Neuse Riverkeeper on final language and said a site‑distance easement for improved visibility at the Barwell Road curve is still being finalized with city attorneys and transportation staff.

Peter Knosson, the project's engineer, and Wayne Miles, the city’s stormwater manager, discussed green‑stormwater‑infrastructure (GSI) options. Knosson noted practical limits for some GSI on suburban single‑family developments and said much of the site benefits from long floodplain reaches that provide natural filtration. Miles said the stormwater group believes additional GSI options are feasible on this site and offered to work with the applicant on those measures.

Residents and neighborhood leaders urged the council to consider public safety and long‑term quality‑of‑life impacts. Dr. Ulysses Lane, president of the Brandywood South Division Neighborhood Association and chair of the Southeast Raleigh Citizen Advisory Committee, raised concerns about sight distance at a curve on Barwell Road, potential increased traffic from a new subdivision access, localized flooding and odors from the Walnut Creek lift station. "We're concerned about that curve," he said, and asked when vegetation clearing and sight‑distance work with NCDOT would occur.

Raleigh Water staff responded that the Walnut Creek regional lift station received a capital odor‑control upgrade and ongoing chemical dosing to reduce hydrogen sulfide. Erica Bailey of Raleigh Water said the utility monitors system performance and emphasized that hydrogen sulfide is detectable at parts per billion, which is much lower than the parts‑per‑million threshold sometimes discussed in workplace exposure standards.

Council members asked staff and the applicant to continue coordination with transportation to address sight‑distance and to work with stormwater staff on feasible GSI measures. Council approved the zoning amendment with the added stormwater conditions.

The council’s approval includes instructions that the applicant record any required easements before final platting and that the city continue technical review of stormwater controls and sight‑distance improvements. Staff noted that additional design work and coordination with NCDOT may be necessary before construction permits are issued.