Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Development

[BHennington 9]

Started a thread to discuss information and share pictures related to the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral development. Other discussion boards throughout the internet have become pretty disgusting with commentary on the new Cathedral and I hope this thread will be heavily monitored to keep that sort of dialogue away. 

 

 

Here are a few pictures of the rendering for the Cathedral:

 

 

 

 

 

[Jones_ 494]

Well I think I prefer the low intensity use here to the Mission Valley #2 that was in the works 10 years ago or so. There is still a huge herd of deer roaming ITB from Lake Johnson to South Saunders St so keeping all the uses in the area park like is appropriate for this area. I realize its a huge cathedral and there is a lot of parking, but it's no shopping center. Plus I like Mission Valley being an important player in the area commercially and the original proposal would have been a big undercutting of it.

Also I am ready to see Centennial Campus better connected to, well, anything. As I said in the other thread, a straight shot up to Hillsborough will be great and I hope bikes and pedestrians get a fair shake in the design. 

[ctl 208]

The cathedral project was scaled back considerably from the original plan in 2011. 

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/06/3840397_catholic-diocese-of-raleigh-unveils.html?rh=1

[rooster8 15]

Here is the original plan for the sake of comparison :

http://www.mccreryarchitects.com/portfolio/liturgical/cathedral-holy-name-jesus/

[DanRNC 53]

Essentially this thing is miles of surface parking ala strip mall. At least the original added some aesthetic elements but this new version is a mess. 

[ctl 208]

Seating capacity in the scaled-back plan remains 2000, unchanged from the original plan. When the diocese couldn't raise $100 million for the original plan, they dropped the parking deck to reduce project cost. They have owned the property all along and it's their right to use it for surface parking if they choose; my question (and probably the City's question too) is how they will handle runoff. 

[Jones_ 494]

The City and State via NC State invested a good deal in de-channelizing Rocky Branch along its various segments. It'd be a shame to culvert 10 acres (knee jerk guess) of impervious runoff strait into it. I am not sure when certain things kick in, but am thinking at least a permanent sedimentation basin would be required at the low corner of the development, rather than sluice it all down the Pullen extension curbs, gutters and inlets to the creek. Its a fairly steep basin for Raleigh so the speed of flow over even pervious terrain would involve more runoff even (slower moving water seeps in more once it has an option to do so) if the parking lots just discharged its culverts into level spreaders (wide mouthed structures that spread out and as a result slow water after exiting a pipe or channel). 

[ctl 208]

The site plan has a public hearing at the Planning Commission on Tuesday. City staff say it's compliant provided specified conditions are met.