My wife and I expect to be looking at real estate in the next few months, and stories like this from today’s N&O offer reason enough to consider not buying in Raleigh.

City Councilman Thomas Crowder has … written a new ordinance that, if adopted, would require
thousands of Raleigh residents to get their cars out of the front yard
and possibly spend hundreds of dollars to pave parking areas. …

His proposal would … cap allowable [front-yard]
parking space, not including the driveway, at 330 square feet. That’s
enough room for two parking spaces.

Front yard driveways and
parking areas in new single-family homes would have to be constructed
of surfaces that won’t erode, such as concrete or asphalt, or of gravel
or crushed stone with clearly defined edges.

Existing paved
parking areas would be exempt from the new rules. But owners of all
other parking areas, including gravel and crushed stone, would be given
one year to comply or find alternative parking, such as on the street.

We’re not talking about people leaving rusted-out chassis on cinder blocks in their yards, but parking cars on their own property.

I’ve lived in two subdivisions with really strict, some might say draconian HOAs. But I did so after reading the voluminous rules, so I knew what to expect. Imposing such limits on property owners without their consent citywide is downright Big Brotherish.

The story goes on to say at least one council member opposes the ordinance (Phil Isley, of the “homeowners association on steroids” quote) and two others are skeptical. But if this is any indication of what we’d have to live with in Raleigh, then maybe we’ll look in Apex … or Morrisville. To heck with the commute.