Crowder draws opposition for Raleigh council

RALEIGH -- The City Council already has two architects among its eight members, and now a third wants to replace one of them.

Ted Van Dyk, a principal with Raleigh architecture firm New City Design Group, plans to run for the District D seat held by Thomas Crowder, founder of Architektur.

Van Dyk's entrance into the race means Crowder will have an opponent for the first time since 2003, when he became southwest Raleigh's representative.

The filing period begins July 3. Van Dyk formed a campaign committee last week. He and Crowder are Democrats.

Van Dyk said if elected he intends to build consensus on issues including public transit, improving the city's development approval process and working with the state on the future of the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus.

On transit, Van Dyk said if the city is going to expand its bus service, it needs to have the stops and transfer centers to handle the increased ridership. He said Raleigh first should work with the state to come up with a plan for turning only a piece of Dix's 306-acre campus into a park for now.

He also said the city should draw up plans to revitalize the southwestern edge of District D.

"There are massive areas of worn-out housing stock," said Van Dyk, 48. "We need to re-imagine that part of the city. The solution is not just to persecute slumlords, but to incentivize redevelopment."

Van Dyk lives in Cameron Park with his wife and two children. He sits on the Raleigh Appearance Commission and the Hillsborough Street Partnership Executive Committee and is involved with the Urban Land Institute's Triangle Chapter.

Van Dyk started New City Design in 1996. The firm's projects include the Solace restaurant in Raleigh's Glenwood South district and the recent expansion of Crabtree Valley Mall.

Van Dyk said he disagreed with Crowder's opposition to two projects in District D that the council approved in October.

One was Capstone Development's plan to build a private, 10-story apartment building and parking deck off Hillsborough Street for N.C. State University students. The other was Crescent Resources' request to rezone 2.7 acres at Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road in the Cameron Village shopping center to allow taller buildings.

Van Dyk said he felt that in both cases the dialogue between developers and neighbors had produced good projects. He said he's concerned that Crowder has been critiquing the designs of projects instead of working to find compromises.

"I understand the difference between public service and private practice," Van Dyk said.

Crowder said he voted no in the Capstone and Crescent cases because the projects violated the city's small-area plans, which are meant to guide land uses. He said all the small-area plans were adopted after extensive dialogue and compromise between residents and property owners.

"I represent all the citizens, and when I look at these cases I look at the small-area plans," Crowder said. "That should be the benchmark, because that's where the compromise was made."