Judge Blocks Construction of Luxury Townhome Development in Hayes Barton Neighborhood—For Now

In the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit against a local developer and the City of Raleigh, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of six homeowners in the Hayes Barton neighborhood.

Last August, the city’s Board of Adjustment (BOA) voted to allow a local developer, 908 Williamson LLC, to build 17 townhomes on a 2.4-acre lot at 908 Williamson Drive in Hayes Barton. But earlier this month, Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins issued a memo that suggests that Collins is primed to reverse the BOA’s decision and stop the development in its tracks—for now.

The project has become a flashpoint in the debate surrounding Raleigh’s missing middle housing program, and the program’s critics are celebrating this ruling as a win. But the developers see the judge’s decision as a setback, not a death blow.

Collins found that the BOA had failed to apply a section of the city’s Unified Development Ordinance when it reviewed 908 Williamson LLC’ss plans for the townhome development. The code requires that any compact subdivision be surrounded by a 20- to 35-foot deep “transitional protective yard” or by wide “perimeter lots.” Since the developer didn’t meet those specifications, Collins indicated in his memo that he would revoke the approval of their site plans.

In his memo, Collins writes that the townhome site plan meets “all the requirements for a compact development … with the exception of the requirement for a transitional protective yard.” 

Johnny Chappell, a member of the development team, told the INDY that the team will adjust its plans according to the ruling and move forward with the development.

“We feel pretty good that the ruling was so narrow,” Chappell says. “It gives us specific feedback about the one issue the judge had with our development, so that we can address that issue.”

The attorney for the Hayes Barton homeowners, Frank Gordon, told the INDY in a statement that the ruling was “favorable” for his clients.

The ruling isn’t set in stone until Collins issues a final order, which is expected later this month or in early August. 

The dispute over the Williamson Drive property is part of a wider debate about Raleigh’s “missing middle” zoning rules, which the city council adopted in 2021 to encourage the development of higher-density residences such as townhomes, duplexes, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in neighborhoods previously filled mostly with single-family homes. 

At a city council meeting in June, Raleigh planning and development director Pat Young reported that the city’s missing middle housing program has led to the construction of more than 2,800 units of housing since 2021—including about 2,400 new townhouses, 180 duplexes, and about 150 ADUs. Of those units, 203 are considered affordable. 

Part of Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin’s pitch for the program was that it would create more affordable housing options, but some opponents of the policy have pointed out that a more varied housing stock doesn’t guarantee greater affordability. The Hayes Barton townhomes, for instance, would sell for $2 million apiece. On the other hand, proponents of the development note that it would create 17 units of housing where there was previously only one, combating urban sprawl.

In 2023, a group of Hayes Barton residents sued the city and the developer, insisting that Raleigh’s missing middle zoning was illegal—which would make the planned townhome development in their neighborhood illegal, too. Their lawsuit claims that the zoning changes should have been enacted as zoning map amendments, which involve a lengthy approval process with neighborhood meetings, instead of text changes, which require much less public engagement to be passed. The City of Raleigh’s attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

In April, a superior court judge ordered the homeowners to pay $28,000 in legal fees to Chappell and his partners as, the judge found, they had no role in creating the city’s missing middle policy. 

Judge Collins’s recent memo only addresses the specific case of 908 Williamson Drive, and  does not address the underlying debate about the legality of missing middle zoning. That lawsuit is still pending.

Read the judge’s memo below.

Reach Reporter Chloe Courtney Bohl at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].