q1 2026, raleigh city council meetings summary
I’m back with updates from our Raleigh City Council meetings in January, February, and March, 2026.
We approved a rezoning for North Hills, allowing increased building heights on the remaining undeveloped areas of the former mall. Notably, the case did not request additional entitlement. This means, they were not asking to build more “stuff” they were just asking to build exactly what they could have already built, just taller. Without the rezoning, or even if the rezoning were denied, they could have built approximately 2,500 residential units, 1.7 million square feet of office space, and 260k square feet of retail space in buildings 7-12 stories tall. With the rezoning, they are limited, legally, to the same amount of “stuff” (2,500 residential units, 1.7 million square feet of office space, and 260k square feet of retail space) but now in buildings 12-30+ stories tall. In consideration for the increased height, they committed to making a contribution to our affordable housing fund and fire department, restricting car traffic through the surrounding residential neighborhood, and more green and open spaces on the ground floor of the new development. This change allows for the new development to take up less ground floor space, leaving a lot more space open for people and activities. I believe denying the case would have resulted in a worse outcome for the city and this area, and I was happy to support a more sustainable development.
We revised on non-smoking ordinance to include e-cigarettes/vapes. Now, our existing non-smoking rules also apply to these electronic devices. All tobacco products are now banned in city buildings, parks, and enclosed public spaces within the city.
We increased our council contingency fund by a cumulative $48,000 to help meet the increased needs of our nonprofit community. The council contingency fund is a discretionary fund allocated to the City Council each fiscal year, typically $150k total allocated in 8 equal amounts to each Council Member. It is used to assist nonprofit organizations with qualifying, one-time expenses that would not normally fall within any other city funding mechanism. I led the Council in a collective effort to allocate a portion of this funding, a total of $20,000, to the LGBTQ Center of Raleigh to assist with one-time, unplanned expenses associated with their new community center in downtown Raleigh.
We allocated funding to acquire property within the Falls Lake Basin, our primary source of drinking water. Falls Lake is our primary source of water, and while most of the Falls Lake watershed is not in Wake County, Raleigh and Wake County have coordinated efforts to protect this water source, including strategic land acquisitions to prevent overdevelopment of the area around Falls Lake. With this most recent acquisition, we protected another 277 acres.
We approved more projects to receive Hospitality Tax Funding. In the 1990s, the General Assembly created a special fund from sales tax generated by tourism (hotels and restaurants). The funds from this tax can only be used on new tourism-generating projects. Funding is allocated periodically, you may recall we made a large allocation in 2024 for the Carolina Hurricanes and redevelopment of the Lenovo Center. This time, in partnership with Wake County, we approved allocation of $15.5 million for 9 projects, including the Triangle Aquatic Center, NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and the Carolina Ballet.
We acquired an additional property adjacent to Moore Square for future development. The city now owns most of the mostly vacant block near Moore Square. This addition makes the site easier to develop. You may have read, we had plans for a new affordable housing development on a portion of this block which fell through; however, we are actively working to secure a new affordable housing developer to complete this vision, and the additional property we just acquired will help transform this area.
We approved our Short Session Legislative Agenda. As the NC General Assembly returns for the short session, our goal is to provide clear direction to our city’s lobbyist on our priorities this short session. We approved the following legislative priorities:
Increase opportunities for local governments to purchase, lease, or otherwise use underutilized county or state-owned parcels for private or commercial development.
Modify the State building code to facilitate the creation of townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, and other forms of missing middle housing.
Partner with county, state, and local transportation authorities to assess the feasibility of pursuing a comprehensive transportation plan.
Invest in policies, programs, and strategies that help residents and small businesses remain in neighborhoods that are experiencing growth.
Our next Raleigh City Council meetings are Tuesday, April 7, 2026. We will also be traveling to Phoenix, Arizona this month with the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce for our annual inter-city visit. jonathan.lambert-melton@raleighnc.gov
