The city of Raleigh held a public work session in Talley Ballroom Monday night to gain input from students and members of the surrounding community regarding new developments and construction coming to Hillsborough Street.
During the workshop session, nearly 30 students discussed their hopes for the future of Hillsborough Street, which included wider sidewalks and increased safety measures for bikers and pedestrians.
A number of Raleigh city councilors attended the meeting, which garnered public opinions through a series of interactive workshops asking community members to provide input about which areas of Hillsborough Street need the most improvement.
“We’re looking to gather some community perspective on what level of density is appropriate for these developments,” said city council member Bonner Gaylord. “It’s going to vary, but I’m excited to learn and listen.”
The workshop encouraged the nearly 30 students in attendance to offer ideas and opinions to the city of Raleigh facilitators who lead the workshop.
“It’s being held on campus because that’s the foundation of Hillsborough Street,” said Jeff Murrison, executive director of Hillsborough Street Community Service Corporation, also known as Live it Up on Hillsborough Street. “Student input is important.”
Student concerns covered a number of topics, including safety and accessibility concerns for Hillsborough Street-going pedestrians, bikers and drivers.
“Lighting on Hillsborough Street, especially near areas like Pullen Park and Saxbys, needs to be improved,” said Shivani Gujare, a freshman studying electrical and computer engineering. “It can be very scary to walk in these areas at night because it’s pitch black.”
Students also brought up concerns with sidewalk width, which can hinder pedestrian traffic and cause problems for pedestrians.
“You know there is a problem when two people can barely walk together on the sidewalk,” Gujare said. “It’s too narrow.”
Senior planner Bynum Walter said this workshop was planned to gain commentary from the community as part of the city’s urban design plan.
A similar workshop was held earlier this year to discuss the development of the area surrounding Cameron Village.
“People from that workshop identified a wide variety of ideas on how to improve the area,” Walter said. “That’s how we get a range of community ideas—from the community.”
The City of Raleigh is split up into districts, and each workshop discusses a different district. Monday’s workshop offered students a chance to give input regarding the central part of Hillsborough Street, from the Bell Tower to the developing area past Zaxby’s and Daisy Street near the future Stanhope apartments.
“There are a number of new housing projects in the works, which is creating a lot of new residential option for students, adults in the community, as well as commercial space for merchants,” Murrison said.
Monday night’s workshop is just the first part of the Hillsborough Street district development plan. There will be open studio hours on Tuesday and Wednesday morning at the Raleigh Urban Design Center, where community members can come in to see the different ideas for Hillsborough Street.
Facilitators will present at the Design Center to discuss the workshop and the different types of input they received.
“It’s about getting in front of development and change and making this a really desirable place,” said Stanford Harvey, the principal planner of the City of Raleigh.
An official presentation of the workshop’s findings will take place Wednesday night in Talley’s Coastal Ballroom.
“We want to see a better diversity of businesses that students can use and benefit from that also supports the local community,” Murrison said.
