Public Participation Policy Update
Public Participation Policy Update
We are making a few changes to the way that Raleigh engages with community members to plan new park and greenway projects.
These policy revisions will help us be more flexible, more efficient, and more innovative while developing equitable solutions to park planning issues.
The City of Raleigh is always committed to inclusive, collaborative, and transparent community engagement. We will always take our time to make sure that all voices have been heard, and will provide more opportunities to get involved in ways that are easy, convenient, and hopefully fun for you--our neighbors and our community.
Take a look at the proposed changes below, and then let us know what you think!
The table below summarizes the most substantive revisions we are proposing to this policy.
These revisions will encourage the City to focus on more creative forms of engagement (like pop-up events at supermarkets, online outreach, or hosting fun neighborhood events) and will reduce the number of required standalone, in-person public meetings. This will help us be more creative and more flexible, so we can provide engagement opportunities that are a better fit for each unique community, neighborhood, or group with particular needs.
These revisions would also remove extra steps in our current review & approval process, which can sometimes delay the completion of a project by several months. Under our current policy, it usually takes 16-20 months to complete a park master plan. These revisions will help us complete those projects in a year or less, which means you will see more projects done more quickly!
We won't sacrifice time or depth of community engagement just to finish projects more quickly, though! We will always take as much time as necessary to make sure we've heard from all voices in the communities that would be affected by any of our projects.
If you would like to dig into the details, you can download the draft revised Policy document (revised in 2021) as well as the current Policy document (adopted in 2012). Additionally, the Public Participation Playbook and a visual flowchart of the proposed Park Planning Policy can be downloaded from the sidebar on this page.
