Raleigh council keeps Honeycutt Road rezoning open; developer to add stormwater and access conditions

The Raleigh City Council left open a rezoning hearing for a roughly 14-acre parcel on Honeycutt Road after the applicant requested a deferral to add conditions related to stormwater, erosion control and public access.

Planner Hannah Rekow with the City of Raleigh told the council the property is currently zoned R-1 and lies within the Falls Watershed Protection Overlay District; the applicant seeks rezoning to R-6 conditional use and to retain the overlay district. "There are 9 proposed zoning conditions. They limit residential uses or dwelling no more than 56 dwelling units, prohibit apartment building type," Rekow said, and the proposal commits 15% of the site as a tree conservation area and 30% of the site as open space.

The zoning presentation noted several transportation-related conditions: an exemption from the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) block perimeter, dead-end street and cross-access standards; a required 10-foot path connecting the Chatterston Drive stub to the internal pedestrian network; and an option for the developer to provide either 6-foot sidewalks on both sides of internal streets or a single 10-foot multiuse path. A high-visibility crosswalk on Honeycutt Road near Rue Monet Drive was proposed "subject to approval by NCDOT," Rekow said. Because the request is inconsistent with the future land use map designation (rural residential), approval would amend the map to low-scale residential.

Applicant counsel Michael Birch of Longleaf Law Partners asked the council to defer the matter to the June 3 meeting so the developer could add several conditions in response to council and advisory-commission feedback. Birch said the additional conditions would include increased stormwater detention, enhanced erosion-control measures during construction, a public bike/pedestrian easement to guarantee continuity between Chatterston Drive and Honeycutt Road, and an emergency-services vehicle easement. He added the developer plans to use collapsible bollards or similar barriers "to prevent your standard vehicular traffic over that area, but, of course, we'll allow for emergency services to utilize that."

Birch also summarized commitments tied to the Falls Watershed Protection Overlay District that the developer intends to preserve: a 30% impervious-surface limit, a 40% forestation requirement, double-width buffers along a stream feature (from 50 feet to 100 feet on either side) and a requirement to implement green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) if the site exceeds 24% impervious surface. He said the developer capped density at four units per acre, which corresponds to 56 units on the site.

Graham Smith, chair of the Stormwater Management Advisory Commission, spoke during public comment and said the commission had met with the applicant and reviewed draft conditions. "We're very happy with that. We've seen some draft conditions, and we're very pleased with that. So we're, at this point, have no opposition to" the applicant's presentation, Smith said.

Councilor Silver thanked the applicant for addressing emergency-access concerns and for accommodating requests from nearby residents, saying the wider easement and bollards would help "uphold public safety" and provide the connection older nearby subdivisions lack.

After discussion the council voted to hold the hearing open and continue the item to the June 3 evening session so the applicant can file the additional conditions; the council did not take a vote on the rezoning itself.

Next steps: the applicant will return on June 3 with revised, written zoning conditions for the council to consider; the formal rezoning decision remains pending.