by Mary-Ann Baldwin | Feb 4, 2019 | Buzz, February 2019
The Raleigh City Council is known for taking its time making decisions, but there’s a lot of talk in the community about the need to move forward on issues such as housing, infrastructure, innovation and big thinking. People are watching and waiting. Here are some thoughts on the five things the City Council must do in 2019:
1. Approve the Dix Park Master Plan.
After a two-year planning process, the master plan for the park has been unveiled. More than 73,000 people have participated in public meetings and events, and more than 14,000 comments have been generated on the online tool, Neighborland.
Michael Van Valkenburg Associates in New York, a nationally recognized parks planner, was hired to create a space unique to Raleigh, building consensus on a multi-generational plan and a way to pay for it. But before the plan was released, controversy ensued.
The Council has a history of asking for public input and then ignoring it. This is a legacy moment. The big question is: Will the Council honor a two-year public process that involved tens of thousands of participants, leadership from national experts and hundreds of thousands of dollars?
2. Housing Affordability and Supply.
During a Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Inter-city Visit to Seattle last April (attended by all council members), elected officials and experts told us to act with urgency on housing. To avoid their plight (the average price of a home in Seattle is $820,000), they urged us to encourage accessory dwelling units, and upzone property along transit corridors to create density and supply. In Minneapolis, officials just made it easier to build “missing middle” housing throughout the city—townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, quads and ADUs.
Raleigh, however, punted on missing middle housing, sending the discussion from the Healthy Neighborhoods Committee to staff. And the Planning Commission took an unprecedented step, voting against a City Council-initiated overlay district governing ADUs, which would make them just about impossible to build.
ADUs already exist in some of Raleigh’s most desirable neighborhoods (Councilor Russ Stephenson has three on his property) as do missing middle housing options. It’s time to stop talking about affordability. The Council must get serious about increasing housing supply and helping our residents build equity. It’s not an either/or answer. City Council needs to act on all of the above.
3. Transit and Mobility.
Transit is closely tied to housing. When I was first elected to the Raleigh City Council 11 years ago, people were vocal about sprawl. Now we have residents and Councilors opposed to density. You can’t have it both ways. A great case in point is Hillsborough Street. After a multi-year citizen engagement process, consensus formed around five-story zoning on Hillsborough Street, one of the city’s most active transit areas. Guess what? The Council opted to limit density to three stories.
The Council is already behind on upzoning potential Bus Rapid Transit Corridors, moving forward on protected bike lanes and connecting land use and transit to build healthy, walkable communities. None of this is easy. But our residents deserve to know how this Council will move forward to address these critical sustainability concerns.
4. Innovation and Big Ideas.
The City’s Vision Statement once started with these words: “We are a 21st century city of innovation…” What happened? Last year, Raleigh took some of the most aggressive steps against scooter companies in the country, charging $300 per scooter (most cities charge $50 to $100) and limiting each company to 500. Simply put, scooters are giving young people, women and people of color greater accessibility to downtown. That’s what mobility options are supposed to do. Sure, the Council should create rules (for example, don’t ride on the sidewalks in the central downtown core) and enforce them. But why stifle a last-mile mobility choice?
The same can be said for short-term rentals like Airbnb. This has been debated ad nauseum for four years. It appears that the Council is getting ready to initiate a home stay ordinance that would prohibit someone from renting their full house and requiring them to be home if they rent out a room. This, despite the fact that complaints are minimal—and the Council ignored the recommendations made by a Short-Term Rental Task Force. What’s up with the over regulation? It’s time to embrace new ideas and move our city forward.
5. Adhere to the Council’s Code of Ethics.
This is City Government 101. Yet some Council members can’t resist attacking staff at public forums, contacting them directly with instructions or insulting them at Council meetings. We have a Code of Ethics to prevent this from happening. Why is this important?
First, the role of City Council is that of a Board of Directors. Members set policy; they don’t manage staff. The City Manager actually runs the City. This has worked well in North Carolina for years. It ensures that government is professionally managed and not politically managed. Second, how would you like it if your boss’s bosses attacked you in public? Wouldn’t that impact your ability to do your job?
The City of Raleigh has an incredibly talented staff. The Council needs to let them do their jobs and respect and encourage them—not criticize or intimidate them. Some Council members need to re-read the Code of Ethics and follow it.
Mary-Ann Baldwin is Executive Director of the Holt Brothers Foundation and co-founder of Innovate Raleigh, a nonprofit that supports the city’s budding entrepreneurs. A 30-year resident of Raleigh, Baldwin served on the City Council for five terms before retiring in 2017.
by Mary-Ann Baldwin | Jan 31, 2018 | Buzz, February 2018
After three years of meetings, attended by hundreds of people, with ideas and proposals debated over and over, I just have this to say: Enough is enough.
I’m talking about how long it has taken the Raleigh City Council to act on regulations for the short-term rental industry, better known as Airbnb and VRBO. More than three years ago, a complaint was filed against Five Points resident Gregg Stebben for renting out a room in a basement apartment on Airbnb. (In Raleigh, it’s not legal but the city has not enforced the rules while it considered new regulations.)
After the original complaint, we brought forward a proposal from the Law & Public Safety Committee, which I chaired. We spent hours, weeks and months coming up with what we believed to be a fair compromise. It was dismissed by some members of the Council and never got a hearing.
When we reached another stalemate last year, the City Council appointed a task force made up of citizens with different perspectives and backgrounds. The regulations they suggested were more stringent than I was comfortable with, but in the interest of compromise, I voted yes. Again, another 4-4 tie vote.
What is the problem with short-term rentals? Councilor Russ Stephenson says at every turn that he loves Airbnb and stays in short-term rentals whenever he travels. But he has a problem approving them here. Why? I have never heard a specific concern, only general comments about what could happen.
But let’s look at some data points. In a city of 460,000 people, Raleigh has just 400 hosts and there are only 28 listings for full house rentals. The city is the third largest market for Airbnb in North Carolina. Half of the hosts are over age 50 – a pretty responsible group, I dare say. And in the three years since Stebben was cited, there have been just 15 complaints – several legitimate and dealt with promptly, and at least one unfounded. What does this tell you? It tells me that we’re creating an issue that doesn’t exist.
Short-term rentals give the average homeowner the opportunity to be an entrepreneur and to leverage their greatest asset – their home. It provides options to people traveling here for work or play. Some rent with their families when they come to the Bluegrass Festival. It’s an affordable alternative to a hotel. Entrepreneurs tell me that their next hire from out of town will stay in a short-term rental to check out the area and live like a local. They want to know what Raleigh is all about before making a commitment. Empty nesters rent out a room because they like the company and they can make a little money. One young woman testified at a public hearing that it was a way for her to keep her home after suffering an injury that kept her out of work.
If you’ve ever rented a room or a home on Airbnb or VRBO, you know there is self-policing. You rank the quality of the home and the homeowner ranks you as a guest. If you’re not a good guest, no one is going to rent to you. And if you’re not a quality host, no one will rent your place. It’s as simple as that.
It’s time for the Raleigh City Council to embrace the sharing economy, let people use their homes to benefit them and our community, and to actually embrace our motto, which states, “We are a 21st century city of innovation.” It is also time to listen to the solutions brought forward by citizens after years of hard work. And finally, I’d love to know how many city council members have stayed in an Airbnb or VRBO. My guess is the majority. I don’t think any harm was caused, and I don’t believe our community will be harmed, either.
The Short-term Rental Task Force came up with sensible rules and regulations. It’s time to approve them. Council members can always ask staff for a report in six months and then in a year, and add new rules or make adjustments if necessary. But this much is clear – it is time to act based on facts and data, and not with emotion and fear. We have a reputation as a progressive, forward-thinking community that embraces innovation and entrepreneurship. Let’s not jeopardize it.
Asheville Bans More Airbnbs
Raleigh isn’t the only North Carolina city grappling with what to do about short-term rentals. Last month, Asheville’s City Council voted to ban all new vacation rentals in its booming downtown area.
The mountain city’s downtown is a vibrant entertainment hub, with a medley of quirky, independently-owned boutiques, shops, galleries and world-class eateries and breweries that have cemented its reputation as an international travel destination. Its tourism-driven economy has seen a proliferation of short-term rental units on services such as Airbnb and VRBO.
But recently, locals have complained of being unable to find stable housing, with more and more property owners converting their dwelling units to short-term rentals and more developers building units with that specific purpose in mind.
Under the ban, only existing rentals with valid city permits will be allowed to continue to operate as short-term rentals in downtown Asheville. Property owners who want to rent out their condos, apartments, rooms and whole houses for periods of less than 30 days will now have to obtain special permission from the city council.
The move brings Asheville’s downtown business district in line with most other residential areas of the city where short-term rentals are illegal. It comes two years after the city council decided to crack down on vacation rentals, increasing enforcement measures and fines from $200 to $500. Proponents of the ban say it will help curb the loss of downtown dwelling units that are increasingly being converted to short-term rental properties.
“This is about stemming the tide of lost housing,” said Asheville Councilwoman Julie Mayfield, as quoted in Asheville’s Citizen-Times.
Property owners, on the other hand, are miffed about losing the opportunity to earn some extra income and the ability to provide homey, more personal experiences to tourists and visitors.
Keith Young, the Asheville City Council member who cast the lone vote against the ban on the seven-person board, told the Citizen-Times that he felt that property rights arguments for owners were worth considering.
“This process seemed to move so quickly we seemed to omit a lot of that,” he told the paper.
Short-term rentals—and their effect on Raleigh’s housing stock—is a conversation city leaders seem poised to return to in the coming months. Asheville’s move to ban them doesn’t appear to bode well for Airbnb proponents.
-Jan Porter
