With the UNC men’s basketball playing the Sweet 16 game of the NCAA tournament at the same time as the Assembly of Governments meeting on March 26, ours may not have been the only household fighting over who would get the TV. If you were disappointed in the outcome of the game, boost your spirits […]
Skip this ad
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/04/06/skip-this-ad/
Listen up!
What a blessing to all of us that I stayed home to watch the town’s affordable housing seminar on my computer instead of sitting in the audience at Town Hall. Had I been there in person, I might not have been able to contain myself after Robert Hickey from the Center for Housing Policy in […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/02/16/listen-up/
Is Southpoint our hero?
I write a business column for a print publication in which I report on new businesses coming to town and those that leave. For the most recent issue, I had to dance around a bit, because the only business news I could dig up was businesses that had closed downtown. Gigi’s Cupcakes; Caribou Coffee; Top […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/02/09/is-southpoint-our-hero/
The price of doing right
Art Pope tried to buy his way into the university and failed. So Pope, the Dick Cheney of the McCrory administration, took another tack: He pressed the N.C. General Assembly, which has appointed several Republican cronies to the UNC System Board of Governors, to push out the system president, a man revered for his integrity, […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/19/the-price-of-doing-right/
Roj Mahal
On Thursday, town manager Roger Stancil stamped his approval to Village Plaza Apartments, thus setting in motion what one wag refers to as “Roj Mahal.” Historically, Town Council has had the authority to approve or deny development. But with form-based code rezoning in the Ephesus-Fordham area, Stancil has the final say of what goes up. […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2015/01/12/roj-mahal/
Council must govern
Form-based code — it’s everywhere in Chapel Hill these days. First, Town Council approved it for 190 acres in the Ephesus-Fordham area. Currently, Northwood Ravin is trying to get the same liberties offered by form-based code, though it hasn’t used the highly charged term, in its proposed mixed-use development The Edge, at the corner of […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/12/08/council-must-govern/
Which workforce?
In an email to Town Council last month, Lee Perry, a principal of East West Partners, referred to Village Plaza Apartments as “workforce housing.” Perry, whose company is building the 266-unit apartment building in the vacant lot that used to be the site of a movie theater, explained that his rents, starting at $1,150 a […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/11/17/which-workforce/
Who wins?
You can’t make this stuff up. The Urban Land Institute of the Triangle lists Timber Hollow Apartments as a nominee to win an award for affordable housing. Ron Strom of Blue Heron Asset Management self-nominated his project, which Blue Heron sold to Eller Capital (after pocketing nearly $6 million profit from his $12.6 million investment […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/08/who-wins/
DHIC project DOA for now
Last week, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency announced its list of tax credit winners for affordable housing projects. DHIC was not on it. Recall that Town Council had agreed to sell 8.5 acres of vacant cemetery land to DHIC for $100 if the nonprofit would build workforce and affordable senior apartments there. DHIC said it […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/25/dhic-project-doa-for-now/
Section 8 crisis
The old joke goes that former first lady Nancy Reagan followed up her “Just Say No” drug abuse prevention program by tackling homelessness, with “Just Get a House.” Making decent housing available to people even in the lowest socio-economic categories has no simple solutions. Earlier this month the mayors of Chapel Hill and Carrboro staged […]
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/18/section-8-crisis/