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 […]
All posts in category Land Use
Happier New Year
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 1, 2018
https://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
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/12/04/park-housing-not-an-either-or/
Will we always have Paris?
Maybe Town Council’s next intercity visit should be to Paris, a city that Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane cited as her favorite because of its low buildings. At council’s Nov. 15 meeting, we reviewed a concept plan for a 5-story building of apartments, offices and retail, with 68 parking spaces on less than 4 acres at […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 27, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/11/27/will-we-always-have-paris/
Growth on what conditions
For 10 years before becoming Chapel Hill’s planning director, Ben Hitchings held the comparable role in Morrisville. There, he used a process called “conditional zoning” to develop and redevelop parcels to spur growth. At council’s Nov. 15 meeting, we heard a staff proposal to add conditional zoning to our Land Use Management Ordinance. CZ makes […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 20, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/11/20/growth-on-what-conditions/
Opportunity cloaked in petulance
For 15 years, UNC has lobbied to close Horace Williams Airport, but the tiny landing strip at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive Extension has amazing staying power. Now, with the help of a petulant board of governors, UNC may get its wish. Built in 1928 in what was then […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 25, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/09/25/opportunity-cloaked-in-petulance/
Season Premiere
Some of the candidates for Town Council attended our season opener on Wednesday. I hope those who stayed through the development agreement discussion do not rue their decision to run. The Sept. 6 council meeting gave candidates an accurate picture of some of the tortuous discussions we get ourselves into. Council is beta testing holding […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 11, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/09/11/season-premiere/
High-Rent District
I sat on the stoop of my 1940 Cape Cod and surveyed the view — one-bedroom brick-ranch duplexes and frumpy 1930s bungalows, SUVs spilling off gravel driveways onto lawns of hard-packed red clay tufted with weeds — and thought, “Wow, I’ve made it. I now live in the high-rent section of town.” According to a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 17, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/07/17/high-rent-district/
Fitting in our dreams
Chapel Hillians tend to go big or go home, and that proved true in feedback we got after Town Council authorized buying the American Legion property. When we asked residents how to use the 36-acre parcel (only about 23 acres of which are developable, due to topography, stream buffers and resource conservation regulations), we received […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 19, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/06/19/fitting-in-our-dreams/
If we build it, they will park
We walked to our downtown E. Franklin Street church Easter morning to avoid a lengthy search for parking. The Morehead lot fills up quickly, as does Lot 2 on the corner of E. Rosemary and Columbia streets on a typical Sunday morning. Sometimes the Wallace Deck has no room, either. Bub O’Malley’s gravel lot used […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 17, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/04/17/if-we-build-it-they-will-park/
Chapel Hill’s Central Park?
Dream first; set your sights; then figure out what you have to do to get there. That philosophy has worked for me over the years, and town staff used it, too, last Saturday by hosting a charrette to find out what value taxpayers believe the 36-acre parcel we bought from the American Legion could add […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 10, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/04/10/chapel-hills-central-park/