Update on the Battle to Save Hayes Barton (908 Williamson Administative Appeal) - Friday the 18th 8am is the hearing!
Here's a timeline of the battle of Hayes Barton vs. the developers of 908 Williamson Dr. and an updated on where we are - critical BOA hearing 7/18/25!!
Greetings Hayes Barton neighbors!
This sign went up on the Williamson side of 908 either Thursday (7/11) or Friday (7/12)→
This is a good time to update you on the 908 Williamson side of the two-front battle we’re waging agains the City of Raleigh. The 908 Williamson battle is through an administrative appeal process, while the battle on zoning changes vs. the City of Raleigh is through a lawsuit. Note, the next update will be an update on the larger battle against the overall zoning changes, the lawsuit, this update is focused on the administrative appeal.
In this update:
Summary timeline of the 908 battle history and where we are today to get you up to speed
Next steps in the 908 battle including details of the 7/18/25 hearing - spoiler alert, we need a big group there!
Key People and businesses on both sides of the battle
Alphabet soup - where I keep track of all the acronyms used in this part of the law.
Summary of the 908 Battle (Admin Appeal) and Where We are as of 7/11/25
As I’ve come up to speed on everything, I’ve found a timeline format to be the most helpful format for understanding ‘how did we get here and where are we going’.
For the sake of brevity I’m going to focus most of this update on the current phase of the battle, but I thought it would be helpful to share my notes on how I’ve pieced together the big phases of this battle and the key events in those phases. In future posts, I will refer back to this post and be updating the timeline of Phase IV as it plays out.
Phase I: City adopts Missing middle text changes: 2021-May 2022
3/27/02 - Posts acquire 1527 Iredell
3/19/21 - Solic’s acquire 912 Williamson from Nathan Singerman
7/6/21 - City Council adopts Text Change TC‑5‑20 (“Missing Middle 1.0”)
5/10/22 - Council adopts TC‑20‑21 (“Missing Middle 2.0”), *effective 8/8/22*
Phase II: First site plan and first appeal: May 2022 - Sept 2023
5/16/22 - Concept8 Holdings submits prelim plans for SUB‑0045‑2022 - a 17 townhome development on 908 Williamson. Updates happen on 9/6/22 and 11/23/22
7/15/22 - Bennetts acquire 1517 Iredell
12/13/22 - Rebecca Thompson sells 908 Williamson to “908 Williamson LLC”, John Chappell of Compass is the buyer agent. Shawn Donovan is both president of Concept Eight and 908 Williamson LLC. Nathan Singerman is his partner in the LLC. (Details on these gentlemen in the ‘Players’ section). Recorded as $3.75m
12/30/22 - Administrative approval by Director Dan Stagall (City BOA approves)
1/24/23 - Appeal filed by Solic’s (912 Williamson), Bennetts (1517 Iredell) and Posts (1527 Iredell) - docketed as BOA-0011-2023 **Note This is the beginning of our administrative appeal - the first shots fired in the Battle for 908.
5/8/23 - 8/9/23 - Board of Appeals (BOA) hearings (4 sessions)
8/14/23 - BOA votes 3-2 to affirm City staff and re-issues the permit
9/1/23 - Hayes Barton Neighbors seek judicial review
Phase III: Superior Court Proceedings and Remand (2024 activities)
7/8/24 - Judge Bryan Collins releases Memo of Opinion, announcing intent to revoke permit for failure to provide the required protective yard.
9/23/24 - Judge Collins releases final order, vacates SUB-045-2022, gives developer 6 months to file compliant plan, remands back to BOA
10/14/24 - BOA enters Collins’ order, formally revokes permit
Phase IV: Revised Plan and Second Appeal (2025, current day)
2/14/25 - Developer files updated plan SUB-0045-2022 -adding a 25ft perimeter attempting to satisfy Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) section 2.3.1(C).
2/21/25 - City immediately approves (all evidence points to the city being very eager for this project to proceed 🤔).
4/18/25 - BOA-0036-2025 appeal is filed by our Hayes Barton neighbors the Solics and Bennetts
7/18/25 - BOA has scheduled a special meeting meeting solely to review BOA-0036-2025
Next Steps in 908 Battle
For next steps:
The BOA meeting Friday 18th of July will be held at 8am in the City Council Chambers of the Avery Upchurch municipal Building at 222 West Hargett Street. Where the BOA will decided if the revised plan (SUB-0045-2022) is compliant with the UDO. I plan on being there for the first 2hrs of the meeting, I’m new to this so I don’t know how long they go, but I want to see what these BOA meetings look like and make sure the BOA sees there are concerned neighbors. I hope to see all 200+ of you there. Note a list of the BOA members is provided in the Players section along with the other representatives of the City that seem intent on pushing this through.
Whoever loses this BOA vote, will certainly file an appeal to the Wake Superior court and potentially NC Court of appeals. I don’t know how it works and if it goes back to the same judge (Collins) or it’s a complete restart.
The presence of LOTS of concerned Hayes Barton citizens at the hearing will show the BOA that we are engaged and willing to continue to fight this development as long as it takes to win.
Details of the July 18 Hearing
Note: You can find all of this on the BOA website here, it’s a bit tedious to find everything, so I’ve included the relevant PDFs here for your convenience.
Here’s the latest/current administrative appeal the Solics and Bennetts filed:
and if you want it here’s the updated plan the developers submitted after losing the last appeal.
To summarize all this for you (this is my laymans summary), refer to the documents above for full details:
The second/current administrative appeal surfaces four areas where the developer’s updated plan continues to not meet the UDO requirements:
Open Space Requirements Not Met: The project was approved as a compact development under UDO Section 2.3.1B, which requires at least 1 acre or 20% of open space, with qualifying open space meeting minimum width and contiguity standards (50 feet wide and 60% contiguous). The appeal shows that the project does not provide the necessary contiguous or adequately-sized open space. You can look at the plan and see that it’s basically 17 townhomes and asphalt edge-to-edge.
Protective Yard Violation: The development must have a transitional protective yard (TPY) conforming to Sec. 7.2.4D—no building or structure should be within 10 feet of a protective yard, and no buildings or other structures except certain screening walls should be within the TPY. The appeal points out that the project's internal road is too close to the TPY, and retaining walls are built in or within 10 feet of the TPY, violating this code section.
Retaining Wall Height and Placement Issues: Even if a retaining wall were allowed in the TPY, the appeal assert that the plans show varying wall heights that exceed the 8-foot maximum permitted in both the TPY and in the rear setback area (Sec. 7.2.4D2a and Sec. 7.2.8.B.9).
Parking Not Demonstrated: Under Sec. 7.1.2C, sufficient on-site parking (including bicycle parking) must be provided for multi-unit projects. The appeal shows that the submitted plans do not show adequate parking or space for it.
Participants in the Battle to save Hayes Barton
Let’s start with the ‘good guys’ - the folks fighting every day to Save Hayes Barton, the Tip of our Spear:
Frank Gordon - Hayes Barton neighbor that lives at 802 Williamson, and is the main contact for the Hayes Barton Legal Fund. Think of Frank as the Quarterback of both the 908 administrative appeal and the zoning law suit.
Craig Justus - Attorney who specializes in the area of real estate and zoning litigation representing Hayes Barton in both the law suite and administrative appeal battles.
Solics - John and Samantha Solic are at 912 Williamson Dr. (Adjacent to 908 on the Williamson side) and filed the first and second appeal.
Bennetts - Marvin (Bob) and Rebecca Bennett are at 1517 Iredell (Adjacent to 908 on the Iredell side) and filed the first and second appeal.
Posts - Reside at 1527 Iredell Dr. and filed the first appeal.
Neutral Party:
Wake County Board of Appeals
Judge Bryan Collins - Wake County Superior Court - revoked the first permit 9/24
Hayes Barton Opponents:
908 Williamson Developers
Concept Eight - Based in Apex and led by Shawn Donovan, Concept Eight is a developer that takes a relatively small piece of property and jams as many tightly packed modern $2m+ townhomes in as possible (example above). They are tightly affiliated with Chappell.
908 Williamson Dr. LLC - An LLC formed by Shawn Donovan and Nathan Singerman to buy and develop 908 Williamson
Shawn Donovan - Owner of Concept eight, resident of Apex in a non-townhome single-family house that sits on a .45 acred wooded lot.
Nathan Singerman - Director of marketing at Pfizer for their Chantix/Champix (smoking cessation drugs). He acquired 912 Williamson in 2015, then sold it in March 2021 to the Solics. Months later the City changed the zoning laws, Singerman facilitated the sale of 908 and the attempted building of 17 townhomes jammed into the lot right next store to the home he sold. 🤦♂️ Mr. Singerman now resides in Wrightsville Beach in the Shore Acres neighborhood. Shore Acres is strictly zoned for residential (R-1/R-2) and is a very high-end area of Wrightsville.
Johnny Chappell - NC LIC #267248 - Real estate broker, has his on firm called Chappell. He represented the builders on 908 as a buyer agent. The way they continue to be involved, my speculation is they are counting on being the agent for the multi-million dollar townhomes that hopefully won’t be built.
Maggie Sparling - She works with John Chappell and and publicly posts frequently on LinkedIn like this trying to connect the 17 multi-million townhome project to affordable housing 🤣
Longleaf law partners - this is the law firm representing the developers. Specifically Michael Birch and Sam Morris.
City of Raleigh
Daniel Stegall - Land Development Manager - has testified on behalf of City at previous BOA meetings regarding 908 Williamson
Justin Rametta - Zoning administrator whose 12/30/22 approval triggered the first appeal
Keegan McDonald - the current Land Development Manager for City of Raleigh (Daniel Stegall was previous)
City attorneys office - Robin Tatum (resigned) and Catherine Hill have been in previous BOA hearings. The new city attorney is Karen McDonald (lives in Fayetteville)
Janet Cowell - Raleigh Major who was elected in 2024, replacing Mary Anne Baldwin
Board of Appeals members
You can learn more here. On the site, the BOA is described as a ‘quasi-judicial body appointed by city council that reviews zoning variances, special use permits and appeals for City of Raleigh.
Rodney Swink - Chair - Seems to be a landscaping and environmental person that was in the NCSU college of design.
Cathy Rudisill - Vice Chair - Commercial Real Estate and Finance Member at Rudisill PLLC
Marvin Butler - County - no information found other than he is also on a extraterritorial jurisdiction board.
Suzanne Prince - City - Senior Consultant at SVP Inc - seems as if she’s a real estate broker that specializes in helping people navigate the permitting/zoning process.
Ryan Torrey - City - Director of Legal, Privacy and Compliance at Trupanion.
Kay Crowder - City alt - former member of City Council (Dist D, 2014-2020)
Antione Terrell Midgett - County alt - not much is available online about this BOA member. On LinkedIn he says he is with ‘Raleigh Raised Development’ and is COO of a Chicago based pool company called Mega Pools, Inc.
Keith Satisky - City alt - Attorney at Satisky + Silverstein LLP
Misc
Rebecca Thompson - Sold 908 Williamson to the developers
Alphabet Soup
To help keep track of all the acronyms:
BOA - Board of appeals- a quasi-judicial board that is part of the City that hears appeals.
UDO - Unified Development Ordinances -outside of Zoning, these are the rules that govern developments in Raleigh. The builders and city seem hellbent on ignoring these rules now that they have essentially eliminated zoning.
TPY - transitional protective yard - specified by the City of Raleigh UDO and not honored by the Developer’s proposed 17 townhome project.
Up next…
That’s it for today’s update, I hope to see you all there on the 18th. Up next - an update on the lawsuit and our big fundraising kick-off.
Excellent update- clear and helpful for understanding all the moving parts. Thank you!