Ridgewood residents fight for voice in changes to Raleigh neighborhood

It started when Jean Williams died last spring.

By summer, a builder had bought Williams’ ranch-style home on Bradley Place in the Ridgewood community, tore it down and replaced it with a 4,000-square-foot house that is on the market for $1.1 million.

Neighbors weren’t thrilled with the change. Some put signs in their yards calling for the protection of homes’ unique architectural character in Ridgewood, an inside-the-Beltline community nestled off Wade Avenue.

Williams was the first and only owner of her home, said neighbor Bill Finger. When the house was demolished, it was a clear sign to some that Ridgewood could become Raleigh’s latest destination for homebuilders looking to put up large, expensive houses.

Many other neighborhoods near downtown have seen major changes as older homes are torn down to make way for new ones.

Ridgewood is a community of mostly one-story homes built in the mid-1950s. Few of the homes are larger than 2,500 square feet, and most are valued between $300,000 and $400,000.

Instead of sitting on the sidelines as their neighborhood begins to change, three Ridgewood residents have come together in an effort to work with homebuilders to ensure new construction complements existing homes.

Finger, Greg Kelly and Don Moody started keeping an eye on homes that go up for sale in Ridgewood, and they meet with developers as a proactive measure.

“You blink and (the houses are) gone, and you wish you hadn’t blinked,” Kelly said.

Kelly and Finger are the closest neighbors to Williams’ old property. Using Raleigh’s unified development ordinance and Ridgewood’s old neighborhood covenants, they worked with the builder, Cary-based Gray Line Builders, to adjust the design and size of the new house to make it more consistent with surrounding homes.

Kelly said the revised design was a “home run.” The new house was built deeper into the lot, so most of the home isn’t visible from the road.

Williams’ house was not the first teardown in the neighborhood, but it came at a time when several other neighbors were preparing to sell their homes. And the Ridgewood community was already on the cusp of big changes.

In April, developers presented plans for a mixed-use building near the Ridgewood Shopping Center on Wade Avenue. The project would include 150 apartments and replace Tripps Restaurant and Bruegger’s Bagels.

It would be the first taste of high-density development in the neighborhood.

Options for protection

Infill development isn’t always bad for older neighborhoods, said Alan Hill, owner of Gray Line Builders. Often, new construction can increase property values and attract new residents.

The company is involved with several infill projects inside the Beltline and in Cary.

In Cary, homeowner associations often enforce strict design rules through covenants. In older neighborhoods like Ridgewood, there usually aren’t groups that can legally enforce design standards, Hill said.

Ridgewood does not have a homeowners association or an architectural committee, which could also enforce design rules. The neighborhood had an architectural committee in the early 1950s, according to its covenants, but it’s not clear when it dissolved.

Kelly discovered the covenants, which call for harmonious designs. The rules also banned basements and on-street parking.

Hill said it’s tough to design a home that every neighbor likes, especially without a homeowners association.

In Ridgewood, Hill had to work within the confines of the city’s rules. He designed the new home to abide by some of the old neighborhood covenants, although he didn’t have to.

“We understand that some people prefer a homogeneous look and feel to a community,” Hill said in an email. “However, we believe more character and value are created when homes that are big, small, new and old are combined to create a diverse, charming streetscape.”

Kelly, Moody and Finger don’t have plans to create a homeowners association or architectural committee. Instead, they hope Ridgewood will be designated by the city as a historic overlay district. That would require developers to go through a year-long process before tearing down homes, among other protections.

The Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood, near the Glenwood Avenue and Peace Street corridor, is going through the process. Kelly said they’d like to see how it works for that neighborhood before doing the same for Ridgewood.

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Ridgewood residents fight for voice in changes to Raleigh neighborhood."