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Council OKs deal on street

By SARAH LINDENFELD HALL, Staff Writer

RALEIGH - The new City Council didn't waste any time making policy Monday, brokering a deal on a neighborhood fight in Harrington Grove, putting a recently ousted Planning Commission member back on the board and agreeing to look at Mayor Charles Meeker's 34-item work plan.

The deal between the city, developer Stephen Eastman and Harrington Grove residents appears to work out most of the outstanding questions on the extension of North Exeter Way, the subject of a dispute that started in early fall and became a campaign issue.

"The Harrington Grove situation had been pending for several months, and it needed to be resolved," Meeker said after the meeting. During the campaign, he called the situation a case study of what was wrong with City Hall's growth policies.

As part of its policy to connect the city's street network, the city approved work to connect North Exeter Way to Eastman's new subdivision across Sycamore Creek. Residents argued that the extension is damaging the creek and is trespassing partly on land owned by their homeowners association. State environmental officials found some of the work violated Eastman's permit.

Eastman's attorney, Tom Worth, said the developer was doing the work only because the city required it, not because he needed the connection. All he needs from the neighborhood is an easement so he can connect sewer, water and gas lines to his neighborhood.

In October, residents met with former Mayor Paul Coble and council member John Odom, but, frustrated with the outcome, some started campaigning for Meeker. In the November runoff, he won the precinct where the neighborhood votes.

Meeker led Monday's discussion and negotiated a handful of rapid-fire decisions. The neighborhood will give Eastman access to its property for water, sewer and gas lines, and Eastman will pay to remove the four 72-inch, 100-foot- long culverts placed in the middle of the stream and to repair the creek banks to state and federal standards. Eastman will post a $50,000 bond or letter of credit to ensure that the work is done properly. If it isn't, the city will use the money to make sure it is.

The group also agreed that in nine months to a year after another road, Leesville Boulevard, is connected through Harrington Grove, the neighborhood will recommend whether it believes North Exeter Way needs to be extended. Meeker wanted the neighborhood to decide, but the council accepted the alternative offered by council member Kieran Shanahan. The city will then decide whether the road should be extended. If it is, the city would pay for the crossing over the creek.

The new council also made architect Thomas Crowder's hiatus from the Planning Commission a brief one. He lost his seat to construction executive Scott Cutler about two weeks ago, at the previous council's last meeting, after several deadlocked votes this fall.

But Monday, the council had an open commission seat, vacated last week by new council member Neal Hunt. Meeker, Hunt, Benson Kirkman, James West and Janet Cowell all nominated Crowder.

The council voted 5-2 to suspend the usual rules for appointing a commission member, then voted 5-2 again to appoint Crowder. Shanahan and Philip Isley voted against the motions. Shanahan said the council should "stick by the rules."

The new council also placed most of the 34 items in Meeker's "Agenda for a New Era of Cooperation" in council committees or with city staff for further review. His priority list includes new restrictions on tree clearing, more citizen participation in the planning process and more work to improve neighborhoods in central and Southeast Raleigh, including putting more police on the street and restoring or removing abandoned housing.

Meeker said he plans to make a big copy of his agenda and hang it on a wall in his mostly empty mayoral office so he can check off what has passed and what hasn't. He wants it to be a "working document," he said. Hanging it up, he added, will "keep everyone's attention focused."

Meeker told his colleagues he hopes they will listen attentively to people who speak before the council, respect each other and work to find consensus on issues.

"Let's try and avoid a split vote," he said. "We want as often as we can to be unanimous."

Staff writer Sarah Lindenfeld Hall can be reached at 829-8983 or [email protected]

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