The Raleigh City Council on Tuesday approved one traffic-calming project on Glascock Street while altering a similar North Raleigh project that divided neighbors.

Glascock’s $440,000 proposal for a narrower road and more sidewalks had widespread support, but that wasn’t the case on Rainwater Road from Spring Forest Road to Hunting Ridge Road, which serves as a shortcut around Millbrook High School.

The initial petition for $125,000 in curb extensions, mini roundabouts and other efforts to slow traffic on the residential street drew the city-mandated signatures from 75 percent of residents and homeowners. But many said Tuesday that they misunderstood the petition, thinking they were merely expressing interest in traffic calming.

By Tuesday’s hearing, opponents of the plan slightly outnumbered supporters. Some said they’d changed their mind when the design details were released and drawn on the pavement for reference. The neighborhood was divided on the final plan, with opponents wearing red to the city council meeting and supporters sporting green “please slow down” badges.

After a heated 90-minute hearing, Mayor Nancy McFarlane proposed a temporary approach as a compromise solution. The council approved her idea after garnering support from both sides of the debate.

“I would like to see us consider some sort of measure – either stop signs or an installation of signs that say ‘you’re going too fast,’ and see where we are in six months to a year,” McFarlane said. “I think this might be a good interim measure.”

Raleigh Police Officer Timothy Hathaway was the first responder to arrive at a Jan. 25 apartment blaze. He sped to the scene, grabbed a gas mask from his trunk, and headed into the burning building.

He was able to help several residents of the Mission Valley Apartments to safety and knocked on doors to alert others. On Tuesday, Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane read a proclamation honoring Hathaway for bravery.

The blaze broke out amid an ice storm and displaced 36 people in the complex on Avent Ferry Road near N.C. State University. Everyone made it out safely, though Hathaway and five others were taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation.

The Raleigh planning commission on Tuesday approved an apartment complex across from Trader Joe's on Wake Forest Road.

Greenville, S.C., developer Russ Davis wants to build the 243-unit Jones Grant Apartments on the current site of the historic Crabtree Jones House, which will be moved.

It’s among the last undeveloped sites near where Wake Forest Road meets the Beltline. “It is an exceptional urban site for a multifamily development,” Davis said. “It’s a walkable site. People can, from this location, do most of what they do in their daily life on foot.”

Most neighbors are comfortable with apartments next door. But they’re upset about a plan to connect Hines Drive -- the central street through Crabtree Heights -- to Wake Towne Drive at a cluster of hotels. The additional traffic from cars taking a shortcut to Six Forks Road would make the road unsafe for kids, bikers and walkers, they said.

“A cut-through extension of that street would cut through the heart of our neighborhood,” said Jay Mills, who said he was asked to represent fellow homeowners.

Davis doesn’t want to build the road either. He said he intends for his apartment residents to use Wake Towne Drive as an entrance.

Requiring Davis to build the much-maligned shortcut is part of a city development policy designed to create connectivity. Developers have to connect roads where possible to improve traffic flow in an increasingly congested city. City planners also argue that the additional access to the apartments is needed for emergency responders.

Some commission members said they’d like to approve the project with the road connection taken out, but city staff members said that’s not an option for the board. Only the city council could grant a variance for developers to avoid the road requirement.

“The council’s not going to have significantly more freedom with this than you all have,” city attorney Ira Botvinick told the commission.

The commission ultimately voted for the project, with the caveat that the developer help fund traffic calming measures on Hines Drive. Speed bumps and stop signs could make the residential street a less appealing shortcut.

A blighted historic home in Southeast Raleigh narrowly escaped the wrecking ball: it’s under contract and the soon-to-be owner is already making repairs.

Preservation North Carolina – the nonprofit that’s helping save the Villa Florenza house on Poole Road – on Tuesday persuaded the Raleigh City Council to hold off on demolitions for at least four more months. That’s how long the sale process is expected to take.

“It is a great historic residence that I would hate to lose,” Mayor Nancy McFarlane said.

Jason Queen of Preservation North Carolina said the buyer has already made roof repairs and installed a security fence around the back of the house; he’ll spend another $50,000 on repairs after the sale is finalized. The buyer hopes to restore the building as an office building within two years, Queen said.

When William A. Curtis built the house in 1915, the Lincoln Park neighborhood between New Bern Avenue and what’s now Poole Road served as a border between white and black sections of Raleigh at the height of the Jim Crow era.

Curtis drove a delivery wagon, sold produce at City Market and worked at a Blount Street laundry – enough to become relatively wealthy for a black man in the early 20th century. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here's a link to our original article from December: http://www.northraleighnews.com/2012/12/11/21340/historic-southeast-raleigh-house.html

The Raleigh City Council voted 5-3 Tuesday to approve a resolution urging the federal government to cut military spending.

The group Return Our War Dollars brought nearly 100 people to a recent council meeting in support of the resolution. The group’s leaders said $1.75 billion in tax revenues should be spent on domestic projects rather than military efforts.

The council didn’t debate the war in Afghanistan, discussing instead whether the issue merits city leaders’ two cents. Return Our War Dollars members said such resolutions offer a stronger message to federal officials, and city councils in Durham and Burlington have already approved the document.

“I’d rather focus on the things we actually have a say in – how we develop the city,” said Councilman Bonner Gaylord, who voted against the resolution. “Not that I’m against bringing war dollars home – I’m against the principle of voting for foreign policy suggestions from this board.”

The original resolution asks the federal government to “end our military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, bring our troops and war dollars home and use those and other savings in military spending to meet vital human needs” and other domestic priorities.

The city council took out the phrase “our troops” because several military veterans on the board objected to the wording.

“Where I do have an issue is where you bring it on the backs of the guys that are downrange,” Councilman Randy Stagner said. “Do not involve the soldiers.”

But Councilman John Odom said he was against the revised text. "Leaving the troops there and taking the money out creates a problem for me," he said.

The Raleigh City Council is expected to decide Tuesday whether a seven-story building is too tall for Hillsborough Street.

The Stanhope Center is a controversial apartment complex planned for the intersection of Hillsborough and Concord Street, near N.C. State University. The council’s three-member Comprehensive Planning Committee again voted down the developer's request for seven floors last week, saying the project should be limited to five.

After the first rejection last month, developer Val Valentine offered to reduce the building’s overall height to 79 feet. Robin Currin, an attorney for Valentine, said losing two floors would be too costly.

“The difference between five and seven stories is a big financial difference,” she said. “We do not think the internal stories will make a difference visually.”

Councilman Russ Stephenson sided with neighbors, pointing out that allowing seven stories would set a precedent for future developments. Several neighbors expressed their continued opposition to the plans at last week’s meeting.

“Seven stories is just too tall, and it’s too close to the damn street,” said Chuck Grantham, who owns a retail building nearby. He called the visual effect a "royal canyon."

Bonner Gaylord was the only councilman on the committee who supported the proposal. “I feel like it’s reasonable and I’d be prepared to move forward.”

This week's council meeting starts at 1 p.m. at City Hall, 222 W. Hargett St. Also on tap: a possible historic designation for Oberlin Cemetery, a loan for downtown business Trig Modern and a lease agreement for the old Stone's Warehouse property. That's where developers want to build affordable apartments marketed to artists.

In a public appearance tonight at a downtown holiday concert, Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane will offer condolences on behalf of the city to victims of the Connecticut shooting rampage.

McFarlane will also call for action to prevent similar tragedies, according to an advance copy of her comments released today by the city.

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane will chair the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, a bipartisan group representing the mayors of the state’s 28 largest cities. The panel was founded by Gov.-elect Pat McCrory during his tenure as mayor of Charlotte.

The post gives McFarlane a visible statewide role on issues facing North Carolina's urban centers, particularly economic development, taxes, transportation and public safety.

Julian Prosser, the assistant city manager who led Raleigh's nationally recognized sustainability initiatives, announced today that he will retire Dec. 31 after a 32-year career in local government.

But Prosser, 66, will maintain a presence at City Hall. He plans to return in February as a part-time adviser in the city manager's office. The role will be temporary, he said, but there is no timeframe for how long he will stay.

Three nonprofit organizations in the Triangle are distributing free turkeys to families in need, while also calling attention to hunger and poverty at the beginning of the holiday season.

The turkeys, provided through a partnership with Butterball, will go to more than 700 families through the following agencies: Community of Hope in Garner, Interfaith Food Shuttle in Raleigh and Urban Ministries in Durham. Clients received vouchers for the free birds and were scheduled to pick them up Monday and today.