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CRITICAL EVALUATION OF CASE STUDY
The outcome of this project was mixed. On the posi-
tive side, we were able to demonstrate to a planning
authority somewhat unfamiliar with the potential
of the charrette process just how much more could
be achieved that with the conventional drip-feed
‘one meeting a month’ planning process. Another
substantial achievement was the illustration of the
CHAPTER EIGHT
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THE CITY
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opportunities for medium to high-density transit vil-
lages at the train stations locations, as opposed to the
previously rather minimal vision of simple park and
ride facilities put forth as the first stage by the TTA.
In doing so we were able to build some bridges
between the transportation planners of the transit
authority and the city land use planners.
Our biggest regret with this project was not being
able to create any strategies for implementing the
plan other than the urban design guidelines that only
applied to the proposed transit villages. With so
many different players operating at so many different
scales, a prioritized list of actions could have commit-
ted the parties to build on the collaborative success of
the plan’s vision. As a result, even though the plan
was adopted enthusiastically by the city of Raleigh,
and received the political backing of two elected offi-
cials who represented the area, it functioned purely as
a vision document. The plan stood alone, with no
reinforcement in the form of new design-based zon-
ing codes for the project area or even recommenda-
tions for changes to the existing zoning classifications
to bring them in line with the plan vision.
However, the plan withstood its first big test
(more or less) with the proposed development of
the 159-acre site. Planning staff worked long and
hard with the developer and the community to
achieve an acceptable design, and while the devel-
opment wasn’t as good as the planners themselves
would have liked, it was a lot better than average
because of the master plan. We can only imagine
how many further improvements could have been
achieved with design-based zoning regulations in
place. Like many American cities of its size and
type, Raleigh has talented planners but a very com-
plex and unwieldy zoning code, assembled bit by bit
over many years, and we sensed resistance to major
changes in the document. There is no doubt the
process to affect changes on a citywide basis would
be complex and highly politicized. However, to
adopt zoning amendments keyed directly to a local
plan everyone supported should not have been too
difficult. But large cities are like supertankers; they
have a lot of momentum and can’t easily change
course to a dramatic new heading. Smaller towns
are different. They are politically more flexible and
mobile, and the weakness evident in this second
case study was avoided by the commitment to
change on the part of a smaller local authority in the
third case study, the town of Mooresville, NC.
DESIGN FIRST: DESIGN-BASED PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES
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