Raleigh leaders want more time and talk before voting on a taller Shaw University
Raleigh leaders want Shaw University and community members to talk more before deciding whether to rezone the historic downtown campus.
The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to continue Tuesday night’s public hearing to May 2 to allow for more comments. Council member Megan Patton was absent and excused from the meeting.
“I think it comes back to both sides being able to come to the table and have a conversation about what they would like to see,” Mayor Pro Tem Corey Branch said. “I understand there might be some mistrust of themes that happened over a number of years, but we’ve got to start at some point and move forward.”
Nearly 150 people signed up to speak Tuesday against Shaw University’s request to build up to 30-story buildings on its downtown Raleigh campus.
But most of the opponents didn’t get to speak. Rezoning hearings give each side just eight minutes to speak.
Seven people, including Shaw University President Paulette Dillard, signed up to speak in support of the rezoning. She said the rezoning would help Shaw secure its future.
“This rezoning plan is the first step in that initiative to leverage our one great asset, and that is the the real estate that Shaw has,” she said, “and so to begin to address that long term sustainability.”
Dillard declined to speak with The News & Observer after the meeting.
Rezoning case
University leaders want to rezone about 26 acres to allow taller, denser buildings in an attempt to “recruit and retain students,” according to its rezoning website.
The campus is currently zoned for three to 12 stories and has portions within historic districts, which would be removed if the rezoning is approved.
“This is a comprehensive effort to look at the university campus as a whole and determine how best to revitalize its historic properties and existing university facilities, develop new university facilities, attract desired amenities (stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, etc.), diversify revenue streams away from just tuition, and stitch the university deeper into the fabric of downtown Raleigh,” the website states.
Some alumni fear developing the campus would gentrify surrounding neighborhoods and push out Shaw University students who live there..
Eugene Myrick, speaking against the rezoning case as a Shaw alumnus, said some alumni don’t trust the university after what they say is years of mismanagement.
The mosque is closed, the radio station has been sold and dorms are sitting empty, he said. Why are developers needed now to come and “save” Shaw, he said.
“Now we’re being told ‘Oh, this is the only way for us to survive,’” Myrick said. “You know, will all due respect, I don’t really get it.”
Some have also said the university is not being transparent about its plans or how the new money generated by redevelopment will support students.
Jenny Harper spoke against the rezoning as a representative of the neighborhood.
“Helping to facilitate Shaw’s success should be a goal for all of us to share, but doing so should not come at the expense of climbing over and subsequently sacrificing thousands of its neighbor,” she said.
Conditions in the rezoning request include preserving Estey Hall, Tupper Memorial Hall, Leonard Hall and Tyler Hall, and the “retention or relocation” of the Charles Frazier House and the Rogers-Bagley-Daniels-Pegues House.
It also requires building heights to be stepped down along some streets and prohibits potential uses like a brewery, nightclub, tavern or lounge.
The city’s Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning. The city’s Historic District Development Commission said members support Shaw University’s mission, but do “not support the rezoning request as currently proposed and recommend denial unless conditions can offer more protection for historic properties.”
Mosque concerns
Some community members have suggested the private university closed its mosque to the public “as a stalling measure while it seeks rezoning to redevelop parts of its historic campus,” The News & Observer previously reported.
Nigel Edwards, an attorney for the mosque’s governing board, spoke against the rezoning and said the community needs to be included in the university’s plans. Many Muslim residents attended Tuesday’s meeting and held iftar, the meal eaten after sunset to break the daily fast during Ramadan, during the City Council meeting.
Shaw University only agreed to a meeting this week about the mosque and after threat of a lawsuit.
The group has also circulated a petition, which has nearly 5,000 signatures.
The mosque was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and, in a statement, Shaw said the mosque was open to students and that “neither the mosque nor the campus chapel is generally open to the public,” The N&O previously reported.
The mosque isn’t mentioned in the rezoning request, and Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin the mosque was a separate issue that the council couldn’t consider as part of the rezoning request.
This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 11:15 AM.
