My immediate concern is the water. That entire slope leading down from Five Points has massive runoff issues during our summer thunderstorms. If they clear that lot and pave it over for parking and a large building footprint, they are going to redirect hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater. The existing grading and storm sewers down there cannot handle that kind of volume without flooding the lower residential yards.

Aaron is spot on. High runoff means a rising water table for the surrounding properties. When the red clay gets saturated and has nowhere to drain, that moisture migrates right into your crawlspace. I have seen beautiful historic homes in that area suffer from rotted sills and buckling hardwoods because of poor development drainage nearby.

They will also likely clear out those beautiful mature oak trees on the property. Those trees act as a natural windbreak during hurricane season and soak up a massive amount of groundwater. If they do cut them down, I hope they hire proper arborists to protect the root zones of the neighboring trees.

I watched them tear down several historic structures on the other side of Glenwood years ago, and the character of that stretch has never quite recovered. We need to preserve the architectural heritage of these neighborhoods, not turn them into generic concrete boxes.

The planning commission public hearing is scheduled for next month.

Please keep in mind that any developer will have to submit a very detailed stormwater management plan to the city before any permits are issued. Raleigh has strict regulations regarding runoff retention, and they will likely be required to install underground cisterns or sand filters to keep the runoff rate at pre-development levels.

I appreciate that insight, Marla. My worry is that while they might meet the technical requirements of the building code, the sheer visual impact and the transition from commercial to residential scale is often poorly managed by these generic developers.

Paper plans are great, but in the middle of a July cloudburst, gravity wins. If the grading is off by even a few inches, that water is going to find its way into the crawlspaces of those older homes on the low side of the street.