Council receives Reflecting Raleigh civic‑assembly recommendations for the comprehensive plan

The Raleigh City Council received a final report from the Reflecting Raleigh civic assembly on Wednesday and instructed planning staff to carry forward recommendations that align with the next comprehensive plan.

Sarah Shaughnessy of planning and development summarized the assembly’s process — 40 residents selected through sortition participated in six sessions and produced 29 recommendations across themes including housing, multimodal connectivity, green spaces and protecting neighborhood character. Shaughnessy told the council that staff identified which recommendations map directly to comprehensive‑plan policies, which align with current budget priorities, and which may require additional operational work.

Lucia Phillips, a civic‑assembly participant, said the group prioritized keeping long‑time residents in Raleigh and protecting green spaces: “Our residents wanna stay in Raleigh,” she said, summarizing the assembly’s focus on affordability, neighborhood character and environmental stewardship.

Councilors asked staff to clarify how the assembly defined terms such as gentrification and displacement and how recommendations would be implemented — by zoning changes, capital improvement programming or separate department initiatives. Shaughnessy said items included in the final report received at least 75% support from assembly members and that staff would provide a mapping of recommendations to implementation pathways.

Council moved to receive and acknowledge the civic assembly report and to direct staff to carry forward the comp‑plan‑relevant recommendations; the motion passed by voice vote.

Next steps: staff will prepare more detailed analysis showing which recommendations translate into land‑use policy, budget priorities or other departmental actions, and will return to council with implementation options.