When I read the editorial by Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce head Aaron Nelson proposing what he called “master leasing” as a solution for high housing prices, I had to double-check the byline. Was this the same Aaron Nelson who stood before Town Council in 2014 swearing that Berkshire Apartments (then called Alexan) would be […]
All posts in category Housing
Master Fleecing
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 2, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/04/02/master-fleecing/
Guidelines Matter
In its quest to increase the commercial tax base, the Town Council in 2014 approved form-based code for the Ephesus-Fordham, now Blue Hill, district. FBC shifted approval for development projects from council to the town manager in that defined area around Rams and Village plazas and Eastgate. Council drew up some guidelines about maximum building […]
Posted by NancyDon on March 26, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/03/26/guidelines-matter/
Joint Investment
Let me see whether I have this right – a developer can come into town, get town approval to build a project of high-end apartments and condos that displaces residents who have trouble affording living here, and we as taxpayers have to pay to make housing available to the displaced residents? That’s pretty much what […]
Posted by Don Evans on March 19, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/03/19/joint-investment/
Noisy Neighbors
Chapel Hill’s noise ordinance aims to ensure reasonable peace and quiet for residents in their homes. Typically, people use the law to rein in loud parties or construction projects that go on into the wee hours of the morning. Does that mean people who work from home or cover night shifts and sleep during the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 12, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/03/12/noisy-neighbors/
Move in
At last Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, the town’s Housing & Community staff presented an innovative plan to encourage municipal employees to live in Chapel Hill. Stronger communities result when people live in the town where they work, and work in the town where they live. Not to mention the improved functioning of the town in […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 26, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/02/26/move-in/
Our chance at the gold — gone
Chapel Hill should bid on hosting a Winter Olympics. Sure, we’d need to build a couple of ski slopes, one with fancy rails and jumps. We would have to retrofit the Dean Dome into an ice-skating rink. And we’d need to build a housing complex for the athletes, though we could repurpose it into affordable […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 19, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/02/19/our-chance-at-the-gold-gone/
At what price?
When has Chapel Hill ever forced an entire neighborhood to pack up and move away? When has the town ever told more than 100 of its residents they must leave their homes en masse and find other housing? It sure looks like that’s about to happen to the Lakeview mobile home community in north Chapel […]
Posted by Don Evans on January 29, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/29/at-what-price/
What’s worth preserving
Would a time traveler from the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, walking through one of Chapel Hill’s historic districts, recognize the neighborhood? Amber Kidd, a preservationist with the N.C. Historic Preservation Office who advises local governments on how to set up and run a Historic District Commission, put that question to Chapel […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 22, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/22/whats-worth-preserving/
Happier New Year
We started a new tradition this New Year’s Eve – we wrote all the bad things that happened in 2017 on little slips of paper, then tossed them into the fireplace. It was not as big of a bonfire as I expected, given the national politics and ripples into global and state affairs. And it […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 1, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/01/happier-new-year/
Park, Housing: Not an Either-Or
In 2003, as a taxpayer I voted against spending more than $16 million to expand and renovate the Chapel Hill Public Library. The town had a small but functional library, surrounded by the woods and trails of Pritchard Park, and while the demand would only grow as the town grew, it seemed to me we […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 4, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/12/04/park-housing-not-an-either-or/