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City outlines two-and-a-half-year process for next comprehensive plan, aims for broader outreach and measurable goals
Summary
Planning staff described 'Reflecting Raleigh,' a comprehensive-plan update to guide the city to 2050 with five phases, a citizen assembly of about 50 residents, technical working groups, and a commitment to measurable goals and a public data dashboard; staff reported more than 2,000 engagements to date and surveys open through June.
Sarah Shaughnessy, project manager in Raleigh Planning and Development, told council the city has launched a comprehensive-plan update — called Reflecting Raleigh — designed to guide land use and infrastructure through 2050 and to be shorter and more implementation-focused than the city’s 2009 plan.
Shaughnessy said the process will span about two-and-a-half years in five phases: Phase 1 (public engagement and inventory), Phase 2 (content development with technical teams and a citizen assembly), Phase 3 (plan drafting), Phase 4 (public review of the draft) and Phase 5 (adoption). She told the council the project will emphasize a concise land-use guide that connects with transportation, housing, natural resources and infrastructure and will include “smart, measurable” goals.
Planning staff reported a broad outreach effort already under way. Shaughnessy said the project team has hosted community conversations on affordable housing, transportation, stormwater and other themes, presented to boards and commissions, attended community events, and run four online surveys; overall the team has recorded more than 2,000 touchpoints to date. She said online survey demographic responses skew toward 25–35-year-old, white, middle-to-high income homeowners but stressed that in-person events and targeted outreach are being used to reach underrepresented neighborhoods. She said online surveys will stay open through June and that staff plan a public data dashboard and a summary engagement report at the end of phase 1.
On participation methods, Shaughnessy described the citizen assembly as a 50-person body designed to mirror Raleigh’s demographics so that deliberations are representative and less polarized than open public comment. Staff said they will solicit a consultant to design and facilitate the assembly and technical working groups. Shaughnessy also said staff are developing a community inventory, a market analysis, a capital needs assessment and other quantitative materials to help frame trade-offs for the public — for example, questions about where to accommodate growth, where to prioritize infrastructure, and where to focus preservation.
Councilors asked that staff clearly present the city’s constraints — including land and water limits, infrastructure capacity and affordability trade-offs — so public input can weigh trade-offs against those constraints. Shaughnessy and others confirmed that a data dashboard and a community-inventory report will provide those facts and that the plan will aim to attach clear performance metrics to policies. The project timeline projects a final plan brought forward for adoption in 2027.
