Granite countertop city

Last week, the mayors of Chapel Hill and Carrboro held a press conference toNancy Oates wring their hands over the affordable housing crisis wrought by owner/investors of workforce apartment complexes no longer accepting Section 8 vouchers because those owner/investors realized they could install granite countertops and double the rent.

While the mayors were pleading with those investor groups to have a heart and save some affordable units, Realtor and former chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Mark Zimmerman was penning his own exhortation, to individual homeowners to renovate or “redevelop” their homes in order to raise the price of residential real estate.

The mayors want a diverse community that has room for people of all income levels. The former chair of the chamber representing both towns wants to keep real estate prices high so the towns reap more property tax revenue.

While we don’t know yet what strategy the mayors have in mind for ensuring that modestly paid residents aren’t forced out of our little burgs, I fear their efforts will be undermined if the 1,300-plus Chamber members and the 500-plus real estate agents work to further Zimmerman’s goals.

Home prices in Chapel Hill have leveled off this year, while prices have increased in surrounding towns. Traditionally, Chapel Hill’s excellent schools, quaint village atmosphere and liberal-minded views of community members looking out for one another brought people to town. Folks were willing to pay more to be part of what makes our community special.

Zimmerman notes that prospective buyers may no longer see the value of living in Chapel Hill. He believes home buyers want only big, new houses with granite countertops. Perhaps that’s true for restless high-income buyers or executives stopping here temporarily on their way up the career ladder. If so, they can find their dream homes in Durham, Chatham County and towns in Wake County for less. Renovating an older home in Chapel Hill and raising the price won’t make us competitive with surrounding towns unless the town of Chapel Hill itself is a draw.

Chapel Hill used to attract people looking not so much for a house but a home. Our town had and still does have a supply of solidly built older homes, functional rather than fancy, affordable to people who chose careers based on priorities other than high pay. And we have a number of residents who don’t believe that quality inventory should be replaced with houses and high-rises sheathed in particle board, constructed of products designed to be replaced frequently, and built by developers who sanction cutting corners to boost their profit margin.

Home buyers can get granite countertops anywhere. An inclusive, caring community that provides a top-notch education to all children is far more rare. Do we want to give that up?
– Nancy Oates

by on August 11, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Economic development, Housing, Lifestyle, Taxes
Tagged ,
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 11, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/11/granite-countertop-city/

Real estate sales 7/28/14-08/01/14

Edward B. and Loren G. Pease bought 606 Aberdeen Drive from Kenji C. and Amanda B. Brantley for $692,500.
Matthew Miele and Nina Bellucci Butler bought 101 Garden Gate Drive from Christopher and Holly Rio for $503,000.
Danai B. Adkisson and Kelsie A. Edwards bought 124 Friar Lane, Carrboro, from Ronnie L. and Maria Clara U. Smith for $108,000.
Li Qiu and Xingmin Cao bought 107 Crane Meadow Place from Patricia J. Dallen for $389,500.
Eric Johnson and September Mihaly bought 915 Edgewater Circle from Mary M. Luke for $420,000.
Jeffrey G. and Patricia H. Zais bought 102 Gristmill Lane from Sidney E. Hill and Walter L. Turpin for $162,000.
Peter Tillers bought 110 Standish Drive from Ilga T. and Kurt V. Blankmeyer for $174,000.
Malcolm Shupeck and Neena Sodhi bought 103 Columbia Place Drive from Heather A. Williams for $267,000.
Christopher and Victoria Weiler bought 106 Fern Lane from William Gardner and Linda Hochstetler-Gardner for $375,000.
Yuan Wang bought 218 St. Andrews Road from Megan Di Maio for $137,000.
Marjorie Carol Jones bought 107 Essex Drive from John V. Houston for $215,000.
Carrie Lyn Dickinson bought 192 Ridge Trail from Andrew William Smith for $180,000.
Hanna Kiros Tesfasvone bought 110-B Weatherstone Drive from Marie Liang Chiu for $87,000.
Mark Langley and Lior Vered bought 204 Barrington Hill Road from Joanne S. Harrell for $230,000.
Clare Elizabeth Alexander and Adam Blair Clarricoates bought 403 Lonebrook Drive from Yunfei Wang and Liping Song for $409,000.
Michael E. and Katherine Vest Ogle bought 121 S. Merritt Mill Road from Joseph Patrick Tighe and Marie Andrea Sanchez Ong for $278,000.
Bruce and Susan Modarai bought 125 Mallard Court from Ann Waldo and Douglas Peddicord for $219,000.
Roxanna Terz bought 136 Berry Patch Lane from Christine and James W. Grace for $144,500.
Mark W. and Vicki L. Burton bought 521 Ives Court from Michael A. and Diane Pikos, Lindsey Pikos and Sam Rosati for $175,000.
Karen M. Anderson bought 1002 Willow Drive, Unit 28, from Rebecca Young-Marquardt and Mark Marquardt for $125,000.
Richard Alan Faldowski and Gui-Young Hong bought 203 Parkside Circle from Stephen G. and Karen A. Graham for $486,000.
Robert H. Morgan Jr. and Patricia M.A. Pinto bought 105 Juniper Court from Kyle E. and Georgia B. Kuplic and Judy Kuplic for $130,000.
Eric Michael and Yvette Elizabeth Thompson bought 100 Palmyra Place from Christopher C. and Terry T. Woodfin for $850,000.
Kara L. Pittman bought 136 Weaver Dairy Road from Tevan Alexander for $157,000.
Jason and Carrie Schreiber bought 1102 Burning Tree Drive from Marin and Nicola Gafinowitz for $942,500.
Tracy A. Manuck and Bradley Aaron Williams bought 408 Hogan Woods Circle from Ranabir and Mei Z. Dey for $625,000.
Roberta H. and Randall C. Marshall bought 217 Haddon Hall Circle from Daniel Elliott and Ingrid D. Harper for $240,000.
Srinivas Naga Radha and Jyothi Karedla bought 200 Charleston Lane from Carl C. and Kathleen P. Hoffman for $255,000.
Paul B. and Ann Elizabeth Clark bought 307 Sunset Creek Circle from Karin A. Clode for $396,000.
Jinge Su and Fang Wang bought 227 Summerwalk Circle from Leland L. and Joanne M. Jones for $121,000.
Jennifer L. Womack and Sallie L. Wintz bought 106 Rose Walk Lane, Carrboro, from Joel F. and Rebecca B. Wright for $220,000.
Lynne Louise Reid and Andrew Young bought 600 Emory Drive from Hugh C. and Amineh H. Stevenson for $320,000.
Christopher Slydel and Denise Todloski bought 2007 Ivey Road from Kevin R. Lloyd Jr. and Ashley N. Crews-Lloyd for $225,000.
Alan R. and Kathleen S. Swendiman bought 409 W. Cameron Ave. from F. Edwin and Mary Ann Lambert Adkins for $715,000.
Timothy Clement O’Brien and Mindy Louise Douglas bought 528 Copperline Drive from Joyce H. Hendrix for $348,500.
Hunter William Heniser and Erica Anne Ponski bought 206 Davie Road, Carrboro, from Alison P. Sanders for $305,000.
Michael J. and Sarah L. Sapeta bought 109 Palmyra Place from Todd M. Lapidus and Stephanie J. Lerner-Lapidus for $735,000.
Maria I. Ramos bought 1002 Willow Drive, Unit 44, from Julia Ann Stephens and Amelia K. Strope for $92,000.
Benjamin Horner and Sarah Blackman bought 400 Davie Road, Unit 67, Carrboro, from Joe C. Rees for $115,000.
Amy C. and Thaddeus D. King bought 113 Glade St. from Aysenil Belger and Murat Arcasoy for $633,000.
Brian Scanlon and Jennifer Kigin bought 407 Landerwood Drive from William C. and Katherine W. Hill for $301,000.

by on August 8, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Housing
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 8, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/08/real-estate-sales-72814-080114/

Real estate sales, 7/14/14-7/25/14

Elke Bachmann bought 106 Baywood Place from Jennifer Elizabeth Spratt for $210,000.
Kevin and Jennifer Krueger bought 18 Balsam Court from Thomas H. and Carol H. Kawula for $400,000.
Susan A. McGovern bought 112 Wolf’s Trail from Bertram Joseph and Melina M. Furey for $520,000.
William Gustavo and Natalie Gott Vizuete bought 202 Oak Glen Place from Mary M. Crowson and Eric W. Pommerer for $392,000.
John Terry Clapacs III and Ayesha Kahtoon Chaudhary bought 2005 N. Lakeshore Drive from Eleanor M. Tucker for $432,000.
Faith Brianne Buchanan and Michael C. Kalavsky bought 238 Stable Road in Carrboro from Erin G. Carlston for $407,000.
James Edward and Kari Elizabeth Castleberry bought 201 Huntington Drive from Barry M. Popkin for $535,000.
Carla Valetich and Andrew Leeb bought 1503 Arboretum Drive from David W. and Deborah S. Threadgill for $460,000.
John H. and Angela S. Ireland bought 2106 Markham Drive from Xin Wung and Bo Hong for $360,000.
Kerri L. Petrin and Aaron E. Klemm bought 8116 N. Hound Court from Lynda G. Johnson for $265,000.
Kerry and Ruth Hubbard and Devin Hubbard bought 2815 Gait Way from Earl W. McCollum Jr. and Ruby J. McCollum for $338,000.
Alexander Rubin and Julia Kuznetsova bought 512 Red Bud Road from Reid Michael and Catherine Luden Benton Lerner for $565,000.
Robert Thur bought 116 Braswell Road from Alok and Karuna Uppal and Abhineet Uppal and Jennie Jie Bao for $288,500.
Tao Bian and Hongxia Yan bought 1002 Willow Drive, Unit 93, from Adam Martin for $88,500.
Yuming Hu bought 250 Estes Drive, Unit 82, from Louis E. and Nancy Albaladejo for $106,000.
James and Rebecca Ortega bought 510 Red Bud Road from Robert S. Headon for $533,000.
Mahsa Parvisi bought 212 Standish Drive from Helene and Reynold Mangones for $158,000.
Tyler and Heather Nagle bought 103 Oak Tree Drive from Virginia Bell Vanstory for $140,000.
Thai T. and Lo T. Thon and Thomas J. and Yenha Sidor bought 2425 Rosewood Court from Marilyn B. Vance for $260,000.
Huali Wu and Xin Ming bought 321 Sylvan Way from Ebi G. and Vincetha Joelin for $365,000.
Jennifer and Daniel Costello bought 917 Edgewater Circle from Robert E. and Natalie B. Peterson for $435,000.
David Laskey bought 103 Presque Isle Lane from Lawrence E. and Mary H. Sidwell for $250,000.
Elizabeth P. Hahn and Robert E. Daniels bought 1515 E. Franklin St., #1B, from Jose J. and Rosa T. Terz and Roxanna Terz for $175,000.
Joseph C. and Lynda S. Zengerle bought 801 W. Rosemary St., Unit 703, from Greenbridge Condos for $400,000.
John M. Reardon and Robin A. Smith bought 29 Rogerson Drive from Mary L. Dexter for $175,000.
Thomas D. Blue Jr. and Teresa R. Blue bought 1540 Fountain Ridge Road from Charles C. Antle Jr. and Margaret M. Antle for $315,000.
John C. Opfer III and Linda Bates Opfer bought 619 Greenwood Drive from John Ben and Karen Wren Devette for $595,000.
Jesus O. and Rosa I. Bravo bought 512 Birnamwood Drive from Patricia Sexton Stockton and Winfred B. Bierley Jr. for $150,000.
Takahiro Soda and Paola Giuati bought 501 Sharon Road from David G. and Susan O. Klapper for $296,000.
Wynne and Mark Miller bought 911 N. Columbia Place from Michael W. Henson for $290,000.
Robert Earl and Natalie Bowen Peterson bought 302 Rossburn Way from Craig and Amy Samuels for $569,000.
Keith H. and Kristen E. Parietti bought 2212 Winterberry Drive from Stephanie R. Bohling and Brian Allen for $235,000.
Matthew P. Walker and Elizabeth L. Pultorak bought 717 Tinkerbell Road from Francis S. and Sarah H. Binkowski for $281,000.
Sean and Kathryn O’Mara bought 303 Granville Road from John A. and Carol Kline for $314,000.
Pamela Stephens and Victor Matsuo bought 407 Rockgarden Road from Simon Anthony James and Eleanor Jane Warner for $447,500.
James Arthur and Donna Mary Raleigh bought 9406 Coach Way from Nancy Jean Kennedy for $138,500.
Lewis W. Krehnbrink Jr. and Pamela P. Krehnbrink and Matthew J. and Kari L. Marvin bought 642 Cedar Brook Way from John P. and Glynda D. Allen for $532,500.
Joseph A. Stiff III and Nia N. Williams bought 109 Greenmeadow Lane from Matthew J. and Kari L. Marvin for $164,000.
Michele S. Hansen bought 220 Elizabeth St., Unit E1, from Mary J. Donnally for $109,000.
Stephen R. and Patty R. Dischinger bought 117 Creel Street from Jeffrey M. Cohen and Jill Abelson for $170,000.
David R. Gadea and Giovanna L. Mollinedo bought 8903 Laurel Springs Drive from Martin L. and Teresa M. Etscovitz for $380,000.
Wilma Rivera bought 317 St. Thomas Drive from Tsun Yan Lee and Si Yan Lee for $185,000.
Larry Stephen Forrest and Valerie Elizabeth Ebert bought 322 Circle Park Place from Suzanne Lagina for $950,000.

by on August 8, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Housing
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 8, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/08/real-estate-sales-71414-72514/

Escape hatch

When Jim Ward asked Roger Stancil why renovations to Town Hall toted up to Nancy Oates$1.2 million dollars — recall this was work that began as repairing water damage after council chambers and the ground floor of Town Hall flooded last year during a torrential downpour — Stancil said it was to remake the ground floor into a one-stop permitting center (though developers who needed a consult with Engineering would be out of luck).

What Stancil didn’t mention was the extensive “Life Safety Plan” that provides a special exit behind the dais and a bridge that shunts escapees from council chambers out to Stephens Street.

The project include a special curtain to hide the door, presumably so that during council meetings the illuminated word “Exit” doesn’t shine over the mayor’s head and send a subliminal message.

Other safety measures include Kevlar or other “bullet-retardant” reinforcement of the dais, said former police department attorney Matt Sullivan, now the town’s emergency management coordinator. He said the state building code requires a documented Life Safety Plan for every commercial building.

We are all too aware that shooting rampages do happen; in recent years, town council meetings in Pennsylvania and St. Louis have been disrupted by deadly citizen gunfire. Certainly, we can’t begrudge council members wanting extra protection. But the Life Safety Plan didn’t originate with council members; in fact, they didn’t even know about it. Sullivan expects Stancil will brief them once they return in September.

Renovations to the first floor should be completed later this month. Inspections, Plan Review and Permits will be grouped together, along with Code Enforcement, Revenue Collections and, at some point, said town communications manager Catherine Lazorko, staff from the Orange County Tax Assessors office. But Engineering has been moved out to the Town Operations Center off Eubanks Road, a locked facility not open to the public.

That should have been sufficient, but Stancil, perhaps in a plaster dust high, ordered the renovation of the west wing of the top floor and moved his office there, along with that of the attorney and the mayor (who has a full-time job on Franklin Street and rarely uses an office at Town Hall). Rumor has it that Stancil made the move to shield town execs from the general public, but Lazorko said the west wing will remain open to the public. Sullivan said he couldn’t confirm that off the top of his head.

Jim Ward said while he supports efforts to proactively think through scenarios to maximize public safety, his support “is not a blank check.” Let’s hope he receives an itemized bill from Stancil to explain the unusually pricey renovations.

And for people who watch council meetings in the flesh: Should the main entryway into council chambers be blocked, head for the dais and the perhaps unmarked door that will lead everyone to safety.
– Nancy Oates

by on August 4, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Council Members, Spending, Taxes, Town staff
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 4, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/08/04/escape-hatch/

Waldon’s world

Chapel Hill has the potential to be someplace really special, if we could onlyNancy Oates articulate it. The town’s former planning director, Roger Waldon, who now makes his living guiding developers through the town’s rezoning and special use permit approval process, discovered that the articulation part is harder than it looks.

In an editorial published last week, Waldon wrote glowingly and in broad terms about development decisions Town Council made, work the staff has done, and what he referred to vaguely as the town’s “unique character.”

But nowhere in the piece did he provide specific examples to back up his opinion, and when I asked him last week to come up with some, he said he wasn’t going to go into any details.

No details on what part of Chapel Hill’s character he feels is being preserved by development plans for Ephesus-Fordham, Central West and Obey Creek. No specifics on what “emerging conditions” need to be dealt with or how they are being handled. No example of when “arguments in opposition to change” have won.

As far as identifying areas of town to be preserved, he cited campus (the town has no say in development on campus), historic districts (though by approving Lux apartments, council has changed the ambiance and quality of life in the Franklin-Rosemary historic district) and the rural buffer (which has been eaten away by Obey Creek and proposals north of Eubanks Road).

Waldon declined to name an established neighborhood that has not been changed by development or which council decisions he endorses.

All of those non-answers sounded like a man preparing to run for office, so I asked him whether he aimed to seek a seat on council. “Maybe I should consider it,” he said.

But first he’ll need a vision. Then he’ll have to be able to tell voters what it is.

Few council members have said what they want Chapel Hill to become, and even those have been known to vote counter to their professed vision. Some lament the loss of the town’s diversity, even as they vote approvals to ordinances and developments that will make our town less inclusive. Town manager Roger Stancil apparently wants Chapel Hill to become the next Greenwich, Conn., a place where wealthy social climbers can drop their town’s name to impress those to whom they feel inadequate and distance themselves from those to whom they feel superior.

Chapel Hill used to be special in its ordinariness. That’s no longer good enough for Roger Waldon, apparently. He has a year to figure out what he wants Chapel Hill to be and find the words to explain it to voters.
– Nancy Oates

by on July 28, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Council Members, Elections, Lifestyle
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 28, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/07/28/waldons-world/

Real estate sales

Home sales in Chapel Hill and Carrboro during the first 2 weeks in July:
Marcus L. Brown bought 124 Mallard Court from J. Patrick Hall and Laura Bennett for $190,000.
Dennis Paul Pechinski bought 6413 Alexander Drive from Carl Wayne Marks for $93,500.
Claus J. and Jeanne O. Jepsen bought 102 Forest Ridge Drive from Oscar A. Barbarin for $440,000.
Michele McCarthy bought 1610 High School Road, Unit B from Gary F. and Barbara B. Fadden for $155,000.
Georges Casimir and Pamela Weeks-Casimir bought 237 Knollwood Drive from Ann T. Cole for $400,000.
Lindsey Hoffer bought 347 Carlton Drive from Alicia M. Greenwalt for $153,000.
Pamela A. Claxton-Moffatt bought 119 Fidelity St. in Carrboro from Gregory Mavraganis for $129,000.
Garland Thomas Hattman bought 36 Oakwood Drive from Georges Casimir and Pamela Weeks-Casimir for $288,000.
David C. and Tammy L. Kenney bought 405 Landerwood Lane from Hanna Gustafsson and Marcus and Diana Shineman Gustafsson for $325,000.
Melissa Troester and David Pirone bought 705 Bolin Creek Drive in Carrboro from Tabitha Peck and David Borland for $389,000.
Hemanth A. Baboolal bought 404 Manor Ridge Drive from Nicholas J. Allen and Louise J. Kidney for $225,000.
Brian Andrew Willard and Kara Jane LaFleur bought 106 Melba Circle in Carrboro from James Bulbrook and Whitney W. Long for $400,000.
Jason Thomas and Anna Vergun Cuomo bought 804 Old Mill Road from Garland Hattman for $620,000.
Sean M. Werley and Deborah L. Young bought 120 Richardson Lane from Jeffrey B. and Rebecca L. Mebel for $514,000.
Raymond G. Makhoul and Kelli Massey-Makhoul bought 133 Mallard Court from Catherine M. Colmar and Jeffrey Rupkalvis for $240,000.
Donald J. and Mary K. Skiba bought 102 Painted Turtle Lane from Joe D. and Karen L. Styres for $777,000.
Suzanne and Andrew Roth bought 108 Thetford Court from Elman and Janese Frantz for $600,000.
Howard and Melanie H. Levinson bought 3525 Forest Oaks from David T. and Linda E. Servoss for $910,000.
Anne E. and Thomas M. Belote bought 1313 Arboretum Drive from Gabriela Ines Rozenberg and Scott William John McPhee for $298,000.
Andrea Lenore Rosenberg bought 502 W/ Poplar Ave. in Carrboro from Sarah B. Andrews and David Huppert for $145,000.
Mark F. and Sara M. Vandegrift bought 202 Wyndham Drive from Edward C. and Patricia H. Lewis for $467,500.
Chris G. and Abayomi A. Adigun bought 102 Arlen Park Drive from John and Clariza Krachenfels for $541,000.
Daniel T. and Kimberly A. Daum bought 407 Brookgreen Drive from Catherine N. Stratton for $500,000.
Tara Lynn House bought 411 Fairoaks Circle from Brent and Cecilia Stonebraker for $172,000.
Jaimee Lee Watts and Willis Batts Isley bought 710 Bradley Road from James Michael Baxter for $190,000.
Paul John and Kristin Margaret Ruiter bought 129 Shadow Ridge Place from Nancy R. Greenberg for $520,000.
Ricardo DiFranco and Gabriella M. de Ocampo bought 302 Plum Lane from George S. and Pamela De. Leight for $238,000.
William G. and Catherine L. Rudolph bought 234 Standish Drive from James E. and Paulette D. Brown for $156,000.
Albert J. Naftel IV and Katharine R. Naftel bought 407 Parkview Crescent from Joseph M. and Wendy L. Cook for $506,000.
Ping Yang and Shutang Zhou bought 103 Stewart Lane, Unit A, from Janet D. Klausner-Wise and Jeremy Wise and Brooke and Victor DeMarco for $195,500.
Mannur J. and Vasanthy R. and Shirish J. Sundaresan bought 131 Mallard Court from Shenan and Philip Bradshaw for $214,500.
Min Zhang and Eva Y. Tu and Christiana J. and Sophia D. Change bought 1532 Providence Glen from Marilyn S. and Daniel C. Stempkowski for $184,000.
Kenneth Wayland Nowell and Kendra Claire Knowles bought 207 Oleander Road in Carrboro from Deidre A. Thompson for $233,000.
Carlos Alberto and Ronit Kedem Dedesma bought 208 Cobble Ridge Drive from Kevin M. and Carol D. Gillespie for $415,000.
Lwin Phyoe and Thanthan Htway bought 106 Milton Drive, Apt. A, in Carrboro from Mary R. Campbell for $101,000.

by on July 25, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Housing
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 25, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/07/25/real-estate-sales/

Road noise

You don’t see this every day: Roger Perry ceding to “a small group of people Nancy Oateswho 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 the town expected the developer to pay for.

All along, that segment of road, shown as a dotted red line and marked as “by others” on the town’s plan, was not part of the $8.8 million the town had budgeted for road improvements in the Ephesus-Fordham area. But somewhere along the line, it got shifted to the taxpayers’ tab, even though town staff did not know how much it would cost. Town staff and some elected officials embarrassed themselves in trying to defend their stumble with a lame “I meant to do that” excuse.

The map had other red-dotted lines, including one cutting through Rams Plaza, and another along the northern edge of Village Plaza that would connect Franklin to Elliott, running alongside the creek.

The creekside road in Village Plaza would require joint permission from Regency Centers and East West Partners. Each owns a strip of land on which the 26-foot-wide road would be built. Paul Munana, senior leasing officer at Regency Centers, clarified that his company would not expect to donate the land to the town. Regency Centers would expect to be compensated for giving up the land for the road the town would pay to build. He is in active conversation with East West Partners and town officials about the issue. He further clarified that as landlord to multiple commercial tenants, his company must honor its obligation under those existing leases to not make any changes that could harm business for those tenants.

Across the highway, Rams Plaza is in a different position. The proposed road would divide the property, making it less valuable for resale if the town owned that swath of land. Ted Barnes of August Development, which manages the property for owner Kalikow Group, said that his understanding was that if the red-dotted line is turned into a road, Rams Plaza’s owner would pay for it, maintain it and retain ownership of it. Rams Plaza’s owner would decide how long to keep the road open, and if Kalikow sold the property, the new owner would not be under obligation to keep the road open.

Meanwhile, Dwight Bassett shifted responsibility to Town Council. Nothing will occur in the district without council signing off on the right-of-ways town staff recommend and the contracts for road improvements. He said the recently approved form-based code requires developers to contribute right-of-way for a public street prior to the developer applying for a form-based code permit. Barnes said the right-of-way discussions he is having with Bassett involve land along the property’s edge, which the town has to have before it can apply for a grant to make improvements to the merge of Fordham Boulevard and Franklin Street. Bassett said the town does have the authority to seize land for roads by eminent domain.

Perry, by agreeing to pay for the road (the announcement left unclear whether he would retain the land or cede it to the town), was not throwing in the towel as much as positioning himself as magnanimous, perhaps hoping the town would feel it owed him one. After all, Obey Creek discussions resume soon.
– Nancy Oates

by on July 21, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Land Use, Roads, Town staff
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 21, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/07/21/road-noise/

Weekly’s end

On June 30, The Weekly announced that its June 26 issue had been its last. TheNancy Oates news came totally by surprise — Shannon Publishing shows no sign of struggling financially, and readership was high. Still, the break-up had that sort of it’s-not-you-it’s-me feel to it, and I’m mourning the loss. There were times when writing my column for The Weekly was the only fun thing I did that week. And I’ll miss the people I interacted with at The Weekly: Dan Shannon, Andrea Griffith Cash and Matt Dees — all whip-smart and with razor sharp wits well-armed with black humor. We had so many easy laughs when we got together. Meetings with them were more entertaining than TV.

From a broader perspective, we have one less source of community information. Not that The Weekly published breaking news, though occasionally it broke a story before the twice-weekly newspaper in town did. But it ran opinion columns and covered school news, local crimes and entertainment. It also published information that other local newspapers did not: business openings and closings and public record information of births, marriages and home sales.

To pick up some of the slack, Chapel Hill Watch will publish real estate transactions, as time permits. It won’t be an exhaustive list: no foreclosures nor sales between family members or divorcing couples. But we’ll print enough to give people an idea of what it costs to buy a home in town or nearby in Carrboro. I remember during the failed Aydan Court SUP process Ed Harrison dismissing out of hand that a home marketed to middle-income buyers would be priced about $400,000. According to market data collected by Trulia, an online real estate listing service, the price-per-square-foot average of a 3-bedroom home in Chapel Hill is $190, and the average price of a 4-bedroom home in town is more than $600,000.

So I’ll channel my sadness over the loss of The Weekly into the tedious task of pulling relevant real estate sales from Orange County deed filings. Here are some from the final two weeks of June:
Brian W. Johnson bought 204 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro from Benjamin Rowell Daniels and Elizabeth Edwards for $144,000.
John Edward Smith bought 300 Old Franklin Grove from Philip R. Costanza and Susan H. Roth for $633,000.
Rohit Ramaswamy and Sheila M. Pottebaum bought 501 Rosemary St., #317, from Greenbridge condos for $410,000.
Bong Sik Lee bought 124 Schultz St. from Kate L. White for $92,000.
Ricardo P. and Flavia Rocha Fonseca Teles bought 100 Redfoot Run Road from Michael J. Ramos and Joelle Miller for $600,000.
Weidong Xu and Nan Li bought 117 Cross Creek Drive from Duncan Jamie and Lorna J. Macdonald for $992,000.
Frank Goheen Bradley bought 103 Forest Court in Carrboro from Arlie Takahashi for $169,000.
Jennifer and Ryan Cook bought 112 Garden Gate Drive from Thomas M. and Diana J. Dalsimer for $450,000.
Matthew Dalva and Traci Baird bought 117 Edmister Lane from Maureen P. and Joseph M. Stavas for $820,000.
Lucas Church and Emily Kader bought 15 South Circle Drive from Christopher John Slydel for $223,000.
Julie Shulman and Ben Hannam bought 105 Steeplechase Road from David Dean and Rebecca Hamilton Brown Korman for $467,000.
Miriam Emily Crystal bought 239 Sweet Bay Place in Carrboro from Travis Friedrich and Jennifer McDaneld for $315,000.
Eunjoo Chung bought 601 Rosemary St., #712, from Greenbridge condos for $340,000.
Justin T. Bailey and Katherine E. Leslie bought 102 Red Sunset Place in Carrboro from Elaine W. Raines and Alexander N. and Elizabeth H.F. Raines for $358,000.
Christopher P. and Paula A. Ambrozic bought 104 Suffolk Place from Edward R. and Carole E. Wilson for $560,000.
David Scarlett bought 333 Rose Walk Lane in Carrboro from Arnold D. Chung for $190,000.
Chad A. and Allison M. Ellis bought 213 Rhododendron Drive from Michael and Susan Pearce for $765,000.
David Michael and Darcy O’Brien Alban bought 409 Hogan Woods Circle from Janet Marie and Donald Scott Guthmiller for $610,000.
Stephen Courtney and Jane Harrison McGarry bought 906 Edgewater Circle from Tamara A. Nimkoff for $265,000.
Dong Yan and Yunruo Yang bought 226 Huntington Drive from David T. Robinson and Laura L. Kline for $620,000.
Gregory Eugene McAvoy and Susan Bickford bought 44 Oakwood Drive from Angela Frizzell and Thomas L. Carson for $314,500.
Theodore Jack Humphrey III and Anna Wood Humphrey bought 111 Gurnsey Trail from Robert J. and Vanessa V. Tinsley for $945,000.
Andrew Glenn and Christina Soonkyung Pomykal bought 120 Partin St. from Alex J. and Sarah B. Barker for $365,000.
Andrew Reiners bought 321 W. University Drive from Christopher Robert and Jennifer Jane Browning for $625,000.
Lawrence W. and Susan D. Farmer bought 531 W. Barbee Chapel Road from Robert and Carol Chase Orlowski for $525,000.
Hua Li and Ying Zhu bought 100 San Miguel Place from R. Duane Davis Jr. and Suzette Casal for $768,500.
Amarendra B. and Kiron Reddy bought 334 Providence Glenn Drive from William A. and Karen P. Anderson for $185,500.
Laura Zimmerman Whayne bought 1 Deerwood Court from Barry M. and Donnabeth C. Leffler for $387,000.
Jason T. and Margaret M. Grasso bought 1902 N. Hawick Court from John D. and Christen E. Holly for $494,000.
Elizabeth Leone and Pearl E. Leone bought 1423 Gray Bluff Trail from M. Craig and Cecilia S. McKay for $537,000.
Yu Tong and Degang Chen bought 205 St. Thomas Drive from Rodion and Marija Panasevica Kornienko for $260,000.
Fernando Alberto and Gabriela Buzon de la Serna bought 512 Ives Court from Emily M. Tseng and Eduardo Martinez for $164,000.
Gianmarco Pinton and Marie Muller bought 706A Greenwood Drive from Michael Rankow for $740,000.
Scott A. and Angela S. Meller bought 332 Sunset Creek Circle from Daniel Stevens and Diana Severynse-Stevens for $488,000.
Kiyoaki and Keiko Yokoyama bought 212 Chateau Place from David N. Woodbury and Ellen L. Mir for $277,000.
Marie E. and Steven W. Hemelt bought 101 Amber Court in Carrboro from Melissa A. Troester and Jason Pirone for $320,000.
Susana L. Dancy and James M. Rogalski bought 105 Parkview Crescent from Mical Heyman Schneider for $220,000.
Norina R. Cowles bought 35 South Circle Drive from Anthony John and Mary Radcliffe Vogt for $189,000.
Kevin Pearlstein and Michelle Vernali bought 909 Edgewater Circle from Ross nd Jennifer Hunter for $425,000.
Rajasekhar and Divija Pulikal bought 1632 Providence Glen Drive from Michael T. and Brenda J. Goodman for $167,000.
John B. and Elizabeth W. Sprow bought 102 Sundance Place from Bradley D. Kohn and Jacqueline R. Sparks for $975,000.
Robert and Julie Berkowitz bought 408 Stony Hill Road from Lauryl Reed-Chrostowski for $465,000.
Joonhyung F. Cho and Desiree Rene Cho bought 106 Deerfield Trail from Seth W. Kullman and Theresa Menz for $274,000.
Hans M. and Ursula E. Wuerth bought 128 Essex Drive from Elizabeth Ann Brinson and Scott A. Ragland for $220,000.
James Patrick and Laura Thompson Griffin bought 3 Sycamore Drive from William George Fick III and Kristin Marie Hondros for $635,000.
John D. Kelly and Caroline S. Mullin bought 118 Mallard Court from Edwin and Carolyn Brookes for $225,000.
John and Margit Lanze and Elaine Lanze bought 130 Beechwood Drive in Carrboro from Courtney B. Buley and Brian K. Plaster for $125,000.
Mathew L. and Lydia Dill bought 108 Alder Place from John M. and Katherine A. Latimer for $725,000.
David N. Woodbury and Ellen Laura Mir bought 130 Shadow Ridge Place from John Logan Martin and Mary Knight-Martin for $440,000.
Samuel P. Sellers bought 121 Westview Drive, #50, in Carrboro from Steven G. and Susan M. Isaacs for $115,000.
Xiuwu Zhang and Chunxiang HH bought 142 Vintage Drive from Xiaoli Tang and Philip Russell for $282,000.

by on July 14, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Housing
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 14, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/07/14/weeklys-end/

Money talks

Council sank to a new low Wednesday night in its decision to sell 523 E. Nancy OatesFranklin St. to the UNC College of Arts & Sciences Foundation, not because of who council sold it to but why. The foundation’s bid was the lowest and the only one of the three bids that would keep the property off the tax rolls. The foundation plans to rezone the historic building to use it for offices.

The shame came in most council members caving to opposition from a handful of wealthy neighbors, people who can and do give to local political campaigns.

Goodness knows, Matt Czajkowski tried to point out to his colleagues what they were doing — nearly every real estate project that comes before council has some neighborhood objection — and he even tried to broker a “good neighbor plan” such as IFC has with the neighbors of its planned shelter on Homestead Road. But the historic district residents would have none of it.

Czajkowski also challenged the town overspending taxpayer money on a broker commission. The town agreed to sell the building to Preservation North Carolina who agreed to re-sell it to whomever the council designated. When the building was assessed at $747,000, PNC said it would take a commission of $5,000. But when bids came in more than twice that high, PNC got dollar signs in its eyes and upped its commission to 2.5 percent, which, had the building gone to the highest bidder, would have been $45,000.

Think of what that extra $40,000 would mean to the town, Czajkowski said. Some years back, Council said it couldn’t afford to spend $30,000 to keep the Chapel Hill Museum open when it rented that building. And last month, Empowerment came begging for $50,000, which council authorized Roger Stancil to take from somewhere else in the budget. But other council members, flush with the prospect of getting so much more for the building than they originally thought, acted as though they’d won the pot in Vegas and suddenly turned into big tippers.

Finally, Czajkowski pointed out that the difference between the highest bid — Chabad’s $1.8 million, plus paying property taxes on its new value after renovation — and the foundation’s $1.25 million was equivalent to a 1-cent tax rate increase. But the die was cast before the meeting even began. The only emails in council members’ packets were from foundation supporters. When one woman in the audience who supported another bid said her email was not included, Mark Kleinschmidt tried to brush her off saying those were late submissions, but he was left with egg on his face when she said the other emails had been sent in before hers.

Donna Bell, who called for a vote before discussion, totally missing the point that a discussion allows room for people to learn and change their minds, washed her hands of the mess and said at the get-go she wouldn’t make a choice but would vote with the council majority. In the end, having done all he could to save taxpayers money and council members their reputations, Czajkowski voted with the majority, too. There is only so much one man can do.
– Nancy Oates

by on July 7, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Council Members, Downtown Chapel Hill, Ethics, Museum, Politics, Taxes, UNC
Tagged
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 7, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/07/07/money-talks/

A peek behind the curtain

You’d think with all the 5-hour-plus meetings Town Council has racked up lately, and the Nancy Oatesabstruse decisions that have come out of them, somewhere in there council members would have explained why they voted the way they did. Instead, we’ve watched council members pass over professionals with strong expertise for advisory board positions in favor of neophytes with little knowledge of the field. We’ve heard them espouse easing pressure on residential taxpayers and claim to support workforce housing, then make decisions that achieve neither. And we’ve seen them give more decision-making authority to a town manager and staff who are playing fast and loose with taxpayer funds and can’t get their stories straight in trying to cover their tracks.

No wonder community distrust of town government is at an all-time high.

So I was surprised to hear at the Friends of Downtown meeting last Thursday morning George Cianciolo sprinkle his talk about his first six months in office with moments of candor. He explained a couple of his votes and he shed some light on why council members sometimes seem lost amidst all the stipulations and motions.

Council members receive their packet of materials Thursday night before a Monday night meeting. Packets for the last two council meetings were 650 pages and 950 pages long each. Council members, all of whom have day jobs, must absorb what they can and send their questions to staff in hopes of getting a response before the meeting starts. Because the material for SUPs and rezonings is available well in advance and the agenda is set far in advance, it comes across as somewhat manipulative that staff wait until Thursday night to send materials to council members to review.

Cianciolo elaborated on voting in favor of Ephesus-Fordham, even though developers plan only high-end residential buildings that cost taxpayers money in services for the foreseeable future. He said no retail stores would be interested in the area until plenty of potential customers lived there. During discussions on the dais, the majority of council members denied that the apartments-first scenario would delay producing revenue.

And on his advisory board votes, Cianciolo opted for inexperienced candidates over seasoned professionals because he wants to add the voices of young people to advisory board discussions.

The implication is that Cianciolo wants to draw more free-spending young people to town, which might help the town fiscally more than creating space for residents on a budget.

I don’t agree with Cianciolo’s rationale, but I felt better hearing it. Council members need to share their thinking honestly behind their votes. Transparency would be a good first step to rebuilding trust.
— Nancy Oates

by on June 30, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Council Members
Tagged , , ,
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 30, 2014

https://chapelhillwatch.com/2014/06/30/a-peek-behind-the-curtain/

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