This being the time of year to give thanks, I must acknowledge how grateful I am to my children, both of whom inherited their father’s lawyer gene, for the training they put me through during their teenage years. If I had not had those years of intensive practice asking laser-like questions to get to the […]
All posts in category Land Use
Ask a planner
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 24, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/11/24/ask-a-planner/
Downside of up-zoning
I give credit to Arctic explorer Robert Peary for words that have been guiding principles in my life: “Find a way, or make one,” and, more frequently, “Do it now.” So I share the impatience of many residents of Rogers Road who want water and sewer service extended to that area, like we promised we’d […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 29, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/29/downside-of-up-zoning/
Courtyards dissed
What do some members of Town Council have against the 20 percent of Chapel Hill residents who are at least 55 years old? Last Monday night, the developers of Courtyards at Homestead presented their proposal for an age-restricted community of 63 moderately priced one-level cottages clustered on 18 acres that back up to Carolina North […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 22, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/22/courtyards-dissed/
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 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 8, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/08/who-wins/
Hurry up and wait
Whether you’re building a multistory apartment complex or adding a deck to your home, your budget and timetable hinge on the Inspections Department. The mayor would have us believe the SUP process is responsible for the high cost of development in Chapel Hill. Builders will tell you the cost impact of the Inspections bottleneck. The […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 1, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/09/01/hurry-up-and-wait/
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 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 25, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/25/dhic-project-doa-for-now/
Road noise
You don’t see this every day: Roger Perry ceding to “a small group of people who make noise about everything.” What his phrasing lacked in graciousness, his gesture made up for in integrity. Perry said he’d pay for the street that connects his proposed apartment complex to Elliott Road, a road that from the onset […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 21, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/07/21/road-noise/
Is the thrill gone?
I had a conversation not long ago with a musician, a mixed-race man in his mid-20s working a day job unrelated to music as he got his career started. At one point he asked where I was from, and I told him I lived in Chapel Hill. His eyes lit up. “I call it Chapel […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 23, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/23/is-the-thrill-gone/
Breaking inauspicious
You know how you approached the start of every episode of “Breaking Bad” with the feeling that something was going to happen that you didn’t want to know about, but you watched it anyway? I get that feeling lately when I turn on the TV to watch a Town Council meeting. “Breaking Bad,” said to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 16, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/16/breaking-inauspicious/
Keeping pace with community
Ed Harrison understands that you can’t be a leader without followers. And if you get too far ahead of your followers, your nothing more than a guy on a road by himself shouting, “This way, really, I know what I’m doing.” At Town Council’s May 12 meeting, Harrison was one of three council members to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 19, 2014
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/05/19/keeping-pace-with-followers/