New homes on teardown sites are often bigger

Construction in established areas has residents abuzz

RALEIGH -- Since January 2002, 588 homes have been built on land where a single-family home or duplex was torn down, according to a city report released Friday.

The report is the first phase of the city's analysis of teardowns, the trend of razing older homes and building new, often larger, ones.

The construction accounts for less than 3 percent of the houses built in Raleigh since 2002. About 22,500 homes were built in the city during the same period.

But it is creating big debate in the neighborhoods where it's happening. Some bemoan the loss of old homes, shade trees and the character of established neighborhoods. Others support it for bringing modern homes and higher property values to them.

The City Council and Planning Commission are holding a public hearing Tuesday on one proposal to rezone 140 properties in the Five Points and Fallon Park area in an attempt to limit the size of the new homes being built.

In June, the City Council authorized a new city planner position to study the trend. But Mitchell Silver, the city's planning director, said Friday he didn't want to wait until the planner was hired to get started on the study.

"I know this is a very, very important topic to the city," he said.

Silver's department, along with the group Preservation North Carolina, hired interns this summer to research the issue.

The city found that 48 percent of the new homes were larger than 4,000 gross square feet, which includes nonheated spaces such as garages, porches and basements.

Silver said the city needs to do more work to determine the difference in size between the old and new houses, and whether the new homes fit into the neighborhoods. The planning department's work also will include public meetings.

That work will start once the new city planner is hired within the next couple of months. Interviews for the job, which will cost the city about $60,000 in salary, benefits and other costs, will start this month.

A formal report will be presented to the City Council and Planning Commission next spring.

Preservation North Carolina's work this summer will help the city's analysis. The group asked an intern to study how other communities have regulated teardowns and document new homes in Raleigh and the old homes they replaced.

The group found that other communities use tools to limit height, lot coverage and building mass, or require design reviews for certain kinds of houses in existing neighborhoods.

"It confirms, in essence, what we all thought was going on," said Myrick Howard, president of Preservation North Carolina, of both reports. "It's an issue of whether there is the political will to deal with it. There are plenty of tools to strike moderation."

Jim Baker, a developer and former Planning Commission chairman, said the city just needs to be careful as it looks at any new regulations.

Baker said much of the teardown activity is happening because, right now, the city's regulations make it easier to raze an old home and build a new one, rather than chopping up a larger vacant lot and building several homes.

In many cases, he said, older homes are too small, outdated or in bad shape, and need to be torn down and replaced.

And, he said, the city needs to be careful that it doesn't quash the creativity of developers and builders.

"You need to come up with standard rules and predictability," Baker said. "Predictability is key."