Someone needs to tell the town’s Planning Department staff that Chapel Hill already has an ordinance that governs bed-and-breakfasts. Oh, wait. Someone already has. Several someones, in fact — the former director of planning, the town attorney and multiple people in the community, including Chapel Hill Watch — going back more than 15 years. And […]
All posts in category Lifestyle
Ask, and get real answers
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 5, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/10/05/what-problem-is-solved/
How about yours?
Community members at last Monday’s Town Council meeting turned the “not in my backyard” philosophy on its head, asking instead, “Why not your backyard?” At the Sept. 21 meeting, developers presented their proposed plan for Amity Station, a tall apartment building on West Rosemary Street where Breadman’s sits now. The parcel is in the Northside […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 28, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/09/28/how-about-yours/
Putting B&B’s to rest
When I read town staff’s original proposal for an ordinance to allow bed-and-breakfasts in the historic district, my first thought was: We’re eating our seed corn. In August, town staff unveiled a plan to allow homes in the historic district to convert to B&B’s of up to 12 bedrooms and as many as 25 guests […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 7, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/09/07/putting-bbs-to-rest/
Eat local — downtown
After the Friends of Downtown meeting held last month at Greenbridge condos, I met a friend for lunch at Roots Bakery, Bistro and Bar that had opened recently on East Franklin Street. I had one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten since moving to Chapel Hill nearly 20 years ago. Yet during the hour-plus […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 6, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/07/06/eat-local-downtown/
Off the radar?
My daughter and I set up our beach chairs on the top of the Wallace Parking Deck last Thursday night, nervously, given the lightning that flashed all around us. Meg McGurk, director of the Downtown Partnership, assured all of us who had gathered to watch “Wall-E” that staff had been monitoring the storm cells on […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 22, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/22/off-the-radar/
Just because they can
Last week a man carried a loaded assault rifle into the Atlanta airport while he dropped off his daughter for her flight. Georgia passed a law last year that allows permitted gun owners to carry loaded weapons in an airport, as long as they don’t go through the TSA security checkpoint. The man said he […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 8, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/06/08/just-because-they-can/
Aspiring to be what we’re not?
Krispy Kreme closed its Franklin Street shop earlier this month after less than 5 years. A few doors away, Cold Stone shut down two months earlier. Farther west along Franklin, GiGi’s Cupcakes left town at the end of last year. But locally owned Sugarland still plies its pastries and gelato after nigh on eight years. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 25, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/05/25/aspiring-to-be-what-were-not/
Smart shoppers
As a value shopper, I perked up my ears at economist David Shreve’s message that we should choose new development projects because we want what they will bring to the town, not because we mistakenly think they will bring in additional revenue. Shreve, president of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population and a former professor […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 4, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/05/04/smart-shoppers/
Wasteful spending
No one wants their legacy to be trash, Maria Palmer told her colleagues at the April 8 Town Council meeting. Yet the time, effort and budget commitment for upgrading the solid waste convenience centers in Orange County and mandated curbside recycling lead voters to think otherwise. At the Assembly of Governments meeting on March 26, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 20, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/04/20/wasteful-spending/
Saving grace
On a recent Friday, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt tweeted that UNC was poised to make a Big Announcement about Northside, leaving us on tenterhooks all weekend. On Monday, the mayor and UNC Chancellor Carol Folt, along with some neighborhood and nonprofit dignitaries, took the stage and said UNC would lend $3 million interest-free for 10 years […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 16, 2015
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/03/16/saving-grace/