The New York design firm hired to review the Research Triangle Park's master plan has begun interviewing people as part of its year-long assignment.

Officials with Cooper, Robertson & Partners began their work Sept. 1. They are currently in the early stages of a discovery phase that will involve talking to hundreds of property owners in the park, relocation experts, developers and officials with companies that have left the park.

The goal is to learn more about what makes RTP attractive and where things could be improved.

Rick Weddle, chief executive of the Research Triangle Foundation, which runs the park, reiterated today that the review is meant to reinvent the park for the next 50 years in a "transformational" way.

"Plan B has to be as dramatic as Plan A," he said. 

RTP's 7,000 acres are home to more than 170 companies, government agencies and other tenants that employ 42,000 workers and 10,000 contractors.
 

Raleigh’s planning director, Mitch Silver, is one of the co-editors of a new version of a popular planning text book. The book, “Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice,” may be of interest to Raleigh residents because it includes a critique of the city by Silver, who was hired to be the planning director in 2005. (Please don't confuse our Mitch with all those other authors named Mitch Silver.)

Silver said he wrote the piece about Raleigh in late 2006 or early 2007. It follows an approach he uses called “The Anatomy and Soul of a Place.” Silver describes the approach as being part detective, part evangelical and part doctor. He takes in the physical composition of a city, looks for clues like a detective to identify the invisible and spiritual aspect of a city and then makes a diagnosis.

So what was his view on Raleigh after about a year of living here?

“It’s part of the New South but it has roots in the traditional South,” Silver said of Raleigh.
He used the term “rural urbanism” to describe the city and its healthy tree canopy. He said Raleigh is a medium-sized city that still has the qualities of a small town. Most people give directions based on physical landmarks, not streets, for example.

Although Silver has used this approach in all his previous planning work, the text book was the first time he’d put it in writing.

Author and land use strategist Christopher Leinberger said last night that although this was his first time in Raleigh, he was pleasantly surprised by the changes occurring in the city, and that Raleigh is well positioned to benefit from the ongoing shift to more urban and walkable neighborhoods.

Leinberger spoke at the Fletcher Opera Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Raleigh Planning Department’s “Designing a 21st Century City” lecture series.  

Much of Leinberger’s talk focused on the history of city building going back 5,500 years. Leinberger said up until the middle of the 20th century cities were built to be dense and walkable. It was only after World War II that the United States embraced with gusto the drivable, suburban model. (Leinberger argued that the major tipping point was at the 1939-40 World’s Fair in New York, where General Motors sponsored an exhibit called “Futurama” that enthralled attendees with models of the vehicle-centric cities of the future.)

Leinberger said the migration to the suburbs was the largest social engineering effort in United States history, with massive subsidies given to build the infrastructure necessary to make suburbia a reality. A developer himself, Leinberger said the mixed-use projects he’s proposed in recent years have all been illegal under existing land-use rules that were designed to promote drivable, suburban developments.

Only in the mid-1990s, Leinberger said, did the pendulum begin to swing back towards more walkable and urban communities. Now there is a pent up demand for such communities, which is causing land and housing prices in those areas to rise significantly (think inside the Beltline here in Raleigh). Leinberger used Washington D.C. as the model 21st Century city, noting that it has a vibrant downtown and a growing number of urban centers on its outskirts that are accessible by public transit.

Among the most interesting aspects of Leinberger’s talk was the economic impact of the shift towards urban, walkable living. The average U.S. household spends 19 percent of its budget on transportation. If they live in a suburb that percentage rises to 25 percent, while in a walkable, urban community the figure is just 9 percent. “That’s a huge amount of money,” Leinberger noted. He argues that many--not all--suburban communities at the fringes of cities will become slums and that the current move to bail out homeowners is in some ways a bail out of sprawl.

So what can we here in Raleigh and the Triangle take away from all of Leinberger’s interesting insights? As he acknowledged, building urban, walkable communities is a lot harder and more complex than building suburbs. But there’s clearly a demand for such product, and getting more of it built will require changes in land-use rules so that they promote mixed-use development and allow for public transit. (Leinberger said he'd be surprised if 5 percent of Raleigh's housing stock was in walkable, urban areas.)

A lot will depend on how quickly Raleigh and the rest of the Triangle adjusts to the shifting pendulum. We are not Atlanta, but we are also not Washington D.C. or even Charlotte when it comes to embracing this shift.

Drivers one day might be asked to pay tolls on the northern 540 Outer Loop after all — but not, as some folks in southern Wake County propose, to help build the loop’s southern arc.

A new $13.4 billion long-range transportation plan for the Wake area, approved Wednesday evening, says toll collections are the most likely funding source for extra lanes that will be needed on 540 to reduce congestion levels expected a decade from now. (See story with comments.) ... [MORE]

Day 2 of Cary's annual council-staff retreat began with a slightly different agenda than Day 1. Much of the first day was spent discussing largely philosophical ideals on how the council could work together as a team -- along with town employees, of course -- and identifying strengths and weaknesses within the town's overall governmental operations.

The second full day was spent in part on more meat-and-bones issues. Interim Town Manager Ben Shivar helped walk the Town Council and Cary's staff through a series of agenda items discussed at last year's retreat in Southern Pines. Shivar and other staff members provided updates on various projects and asked the Town Council to identify those the board would like to focus on in the coming year.

A few highlights:

*Find a downtown development manager. Council member Erv Portman likened the position to the kind of work a mall manager might perform, but added that anyone selected to fill such a post would need to strike a balance between the public and private sectors.

Council member Jennifer Robinson said she envisioned the manager perhaps working alongside officials at the Cary Chamber of Commerce to draw new business downtown. Interim Town Manager Ben Shivar, who will temporarily fill the role, said it was an important role.

"We need someone who can bring focus to that area and direct competing interests," he said.

*Begin planning for a new business park. Interim Town Manager Ben Shivar said that he, along with Cary's economic development manager, would likely meet with staff in Chatham County in coming weeks to discuss an idea to build a new business park that would provide economic benefits to both parties.

Some on the council liked the idea in theory. "I don't think there's anything better we can do from an economic development standpoint than to make sure this is built," Council member Erv Portman said of the concept. "It's a relatively cheap economic stimulus initiative."

But Julie Robison and Jennifer Robinson were among those on the board who urged caution in moving forward with the idea of building in a neighboring county. Both Robison and Robinson suggested as an alternative that the Town Council might want to also explore development near the NW Cary rail station or in downtown.

*Continue promoting 'green' practices. Mayor Harold Weinbrecht expressed a dissatisfaction with the amount of litter he sees along Interstate 40 and suggested an anti-litter campaign as a means of raising awareness of environmental issues.

Ideas proposed for such an initiative included Julie Robison's idea of sponsoring a cleanup day through the Haw River Assembly, a non-profit group helping to protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake. Also, Erv Portman proposed conducting an anti-litter campaign to coincide with Earth Day in April.

As it begins to shape its vision for, well, shaping its vision, the Town Council turned today to leaders in two other growing communities for insight.

Council specifically sought information about the reasons that the communities sought input from their citizens. They also wanted to know how town leaders in Columbus, Ohio and Franklin, Tenn., accomplished that task, the costs associated with the process and the ways in which the results helped redefine those towns.

Dan Klatt, an alderman in Franklin, and Vince Papsidero, planning administrator in Columbus, spoke to council today even as Cary tries to decide how to shape its own vision for the future.

Last year, town officials sought proposals from contractors interested in helping Cary through its visioning process. The town received 26 proposals, from which it hopes to choose one by the end of March. Work on the vision project could begin by April 15, according to Jeff Ulma, Cary's planning director.

Perhaps most notable in the presentations by Klatt and Papsidero were the reasons they gave for their own towns' efforts to define a vision. Klatt said Franklin spent more than $150,000 and received almost matching funds from the community for its project, which he said was partly a response to development in the growing town.

(According to Klatt, Franklin's population exploded in the 1990s. The town's current population of 60,000 is expected to reach 90,000 residents by the year 2020, he said.)

"Early in 2000, our community leaders felt that the grade and type of development could degrade our quality of life," Klatt said. "We wanted to create a vision for the future rather than just letting things happen and then reacting."

Papsidero said his hometown took on the task of defining a vision at the behest of Mayor Michael Coleman, who Papsidero said hoped to see the project completed before the city's bicentennial celebration in 2012. He said Columbus spent more than $350,000 on a massive outreach effort to the community. About 6,000 residents participated in the process.

"We put it out there to people and said 'This is your chance to speak out on the future of your community," Papsidero said.

WhetherCary will expend those kinds of resources remains to be seen. In their own discussions today, council members seemed to struggle at times to explain the need for third-party involvement in the process and define the scope of the project. Ultimately, no clear decisions were made, but the council seemed pleased with the discussion of the project.

"Leadership is supposed to be challenging and make you feel on the edge," said Council member Gayle Adcock, speaking on the topic of seeking public and private input. "It's a gutsy thing to do to ask people what their opinions are. But then it's also going to take some guts on the back end to say, 'Yes, we will' or 'No, we won't' to certain things."

A few other quotes of the day:

"I think there's a demand to live in Cary. We're going to have increases in our population, and now we're reaching our boundaries. And our core is getting older. Those are the three things in my mind as to why we need to think about how we're growing."
--Mayor Harold Weinbrecht

"I think there's consensus on what we don't want. We don't want something where we frame it so much that we know what they're [citizens] going to tell us or so broad that it doesn't provide any definition."
--Council member Erv Portman, on the idea of surveying citizens about a vision for Cary's future

In his own words, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht opened the Cary Town Council's annual retreat today by putting into perspective the year 2008 -- the second year of his first term in office.

"It's been better than I ever could have expected," he said.

But that doesn't mean he didn't expect more. The same could be said of his fellow council members, who, along with Weinbrecht, reflected on their expectations of the governing body and by defining the degree to which the Town Council has met those expectations.

Led by Phil Boyle, an independent consultant with Carrboro-based Leading and Governing Associates Inc., the councl reviews a list of 20 expectations. As a group, the council members chose from the list a few expectations they felt had been met or exceeded:

*Recognizing and respecting the need for council members to take different positions on different issues
*Respecting different perspectives
*Getting things done
*Striving for excellence

The town council also chose from the list three expectation that had perhaps not been met to their satisfaction, or in other wods, areas in which the Town Council could improve its performance:

*Coordinating communication with constituents
*Remaining supportive of council decisions that deviate from one's personal ideology
*Doing great things

Town employees were also given a chance to weigh in on the their expectations of the Town Council. Cary's staff offered up the following as its perceived strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths -- supporting staff in public, only criticizing in private; communicating the values on which decisions are based; trusting, recognizing and respecting staff; showing a willingness to consider multiple alternatives

Weaknesses -- identifying problems instead of solutions; raising concerns in advance; setting priorities.

Council member Julie Robison expressed her appreciation for and satisfaction with the team-building exercise. "It's reaffirming," she said. "These are the kinds of things I would hope our council would exhibit. I would be disappointed if we didn't connect ourselves in these ways."

Wendell Town Commissioners made it abundantly clear last night that they were uninterested in annexing property that leaves out some of the property, yet brings the rest into the town limits.

The Anderson family heirs were asking to do just that last night. They want to annex a big chunk of their property on Battle Bridge Road, but they are not asking to annex a nine-acre section in the center of the property where the old home place sits.

David Anderson, one of the heirs, has recently returned to this area from California and he told the Planning Board a couple weeks ago that he wants to restore the homeplace, which dates to the 1830s, but to do it, he needs the cash that would come from developing the rest of the property.

Commissioner Ronald Thompson correctly pointed out last night that annexing the section with the homeplace along with the rest of the property wouldn't prevent Anderson from doing just what he wants.

David Lasley, the Anderson family's representative, said his clients had hoped to be able to restore the property without the undue burden of additional taxes.

In other words, they don't want to pay town taxes.

Lasley was sent away from last night's meeting with a clear message for his clients. Whether they will accept the board's position remains to be seen. The matter was delayed until later this month to give the family time to consider the town's position.

But the Anderson issue aside, the idea of doughnut holes in the town limits is an interesting one.

A review of town GIS maps, shows eight existing doughtnut holes, some as small as a single lot. Two or three other places are nearly complete doughnut holes.

So, it's not unprecedented that the town would allow such an annexation, but this board, at least, seems pretty set on not letting it happen again.

He's on vacation this week. Otherwise, you can be sure Eric Ferreri would post here about his interesting and entertaining story on street names that appears in today's N&O.

So please take this opportunity to tell us about street names in Durham that strike your fancy. Have you ever noticed the little slice of Greece right off N.C. 55? Athens Avenue is right next to Crete Drive. I've also always been tickled by Riddle Road.

As noted in this 2005 column by Durham historian (and Durham News columnist) Jim Wise, some folks even use street names to send a little message — as in Trinity Park, when Brodie Leonidas Duke, son of Washington Duke, named what is now known as Gregson Street "Hated" to take a stab at rival George Washington Watts.

Reading street maps from east to west, you learned that "Watts Hated Duke."

Durham citizens complain the city-county planning-review process is impenetrable to the average Joe and Josephine. Durham developers complain the city-county planning process is labyrinthine and slow. Both sides agree, though, that it's confusing.

There can be yes, there can be no, and there can be yes and no at the same time.

Take the cases of Boulder/NC 54, which came before the Durham Planning Commission last week.