[Person Street]

Just got an email from someone in the know in my CAC about the project:

At the Planning Commission public hearing last Tuesday, city staff recommended that the Commission should deny approval for the Franklin/Person street plaza project. The reason given was that their objections required such a complete redesign that there was no point in passing this to committee. The weight of staff's case seemed to shift away from the egress/ingress issue to their desire to widen Franklin Street to accommodate more parking, which would require a significant reduction in the footprint of the project...The neighborhood presence made an obvious impact on the commission and some commission members noted that there was ample precedent for outdated ordinances to be waived where necessary. The Commission referred the case to the Committee of the Whole and it is on the agenda for the meeting at 10:00 am on Tuesday, February 7.

However, at this stage it is probably best for supporters of the project to keep their powder dry. While the developer's representatives will monitor the Committee meeting, they write that they "do not anticipate the need to request neighborhood support on Tuesday. Of course any who would like to come should feel free to attend. There will definitely be a need for support in the future, both in person and by letter, fax and/or e-mail."

There is now more involved in this case than first indicated by city planning staff. The goal post has been moved. At the meeting, City staff stated that, "the City's 'Street, Sidewalk and Driveway Access Handbook' calls for an additional 7.5' right-of-way and construction of a wider street along Franklin." The proposed widening of Franklin Street is a surprise since the architect's plan involved the exact opposite. The architect's plan restores Franklin (a street which you may remember now leads nowhere) into the quiet residential street it once was, envisaging it as a pedestrian-focused adjunct to the retail/restaurant area, parking for which is within.

How much sense does this make to anyone? There is no parking shortage on Person Street, and the project sets aside space for parking. So what's the problem? Bueller?

[Person Street]

Does anyone know what action the planning commission made? Approve? Deny? Conditional approval? City and/or developer postponed to get more information?

I just found out that the project has been sent to the Committee of the Whole; thus, it's still alive. What does this mean, though? Does this just mean that the council is going to keep discussing this, or is this some sort of advance in the process?

[Person Street]

If this Person/Franklin project does well, I wonder if there's any way another cool business (like Conti's) could locate on Person St. I really like how pedestrian-friendly Person Street is in that area.

[Person Street]

Who is the no hand king? Also, i thought that they were supposed to tear down that gov't parking log on Peace/Person and put up condos in about 3-4 years...is that no longer the case?

[Seaboard Station]

Received an email from the Mordecai CAC....Santa's sleigh arriving, beer tasting, wine tasting....

http://www.capitalcitygrocery.com

Anybody know how business has been?

[Person Street]

Since we're talking about Wilmington Street and the need to reviatlize it, I wanted to comment on Person Street's potential. First, on the south end, you have Shaw University, the mother of African-American colleges in North Carolina. I had noticed a new building or two (maybe a student center/library?) had popped up across Person Street from the main dorm. Is this part of any larger program by Shaw to revamp some of its facilities? I think that those buildings do alot for the area, and it would be great for the University if it could kind of make that area its own, rather than having to run a barbed wire fence around its perimeter. When you combine this with the Moore Square/City Market area, the Oakwood area, and the Conti's/Mordecai Bridal area, I think that the potential is obvious. I think that, with Glenwood South sort of "expanding" downtown on the west end, we can set up Person as the unofficial eastern boundary of downtown, blending nicely into one of Raleigh's oldest and most beautiful neighborhoods (Oakwood.)

I know that the Blount Street Revitilization is going to take care of that ugly parking lot across Peace from the Krispy Kreme (check out RaleighMSA's "New Projects--Downtown Raleigh" section.) I also know that they're supposed to be getting rid of that horrendous block where the Megabyte and the dry cleaner used to be. Anyway, i just wanted to see what other people thought of this, and if anyone knows of any new projects on Person Street in particular.