The big news for tonight’s Town Council business meeting could be the town’s financial/economic update, presented by town manager Roger Stancil. It holds the No. 1 spot on the agenda, with no accompanying documentation to give us a clue as to what the presentation will reveal. Our prediction? The address will be short, as in, “We’re all good. Nothing to see here. Move along, everyone, move along.”

One of the oddities in the consent agenda is the town’s plan for traffic calming devices: Gimghoul Road, a dead-end street of stately, old-money homes, will get two speed cushions, at a cost of $9,000. I can see the need for two speed cushions on Sedgefield Drive: East Chapel Hill High students who oversleep use the winding cut-through as their own personal closed speedway, parked cars, dog walkers and sanitation workers be damned. But Gimghoul Road? Even if every resident along that wide straightaway has a lead foot, you wouldn’t think there would be enough cars to constitute a hazard. Maybe Jim Heavner, whose mansion caps the end of the street, has an army of assistants always under the gun. You’d think the problem could be solved through the neighborhood Listserv, without involving taxpayer dollars.

Also on the consent agenda, the town wants to officially designate 200 pieces of public art it has paid for over the years as a Permanent Collection. It’s a step toward transparency, so we must applaud it.

Council will also have a chance to approve a modified special use permit application in what must surely be a record 5 weeks. Town planners told Altridge Group that its application for a modified SUP for the long-vacant sorority house at 420 Hillsborough Street would take a year and a half. We’ll check out the reserved parking spaces before the meeting to see whether any government officials are driving brand-new fancy cars.
– Nancy Oates

I spent last week at my brother’s house, on an acreage on the edge of the Iowa town where I grew up. He lives at the end of a narrow tarmac road that barely allows two cars to pass one another and still keep all eight wheels on impervious surface. The population of the town hasn’t grown that much in the decades since I left home. But evidently residents’ need and ability to shop and go out to eat has. The week before last, a traffic light was installed where my brother’s tarmac road meets the four-lane.

From the looks of things, my home town’s development strategy must be something along the lines of “Approve any commercial project as long as the parking lots are contiguous.”

I don’t think my home town’s leaders meant for what has grown into a thriving commercial area to be as unattractive as it is. But I wish members of Chapel Hill’s Town Council could see it before they throw any more money or encouragement toward developing Obey Creek.

Yes, Chapel Hill needs more commercial space to shift the tax burden from homeowners. Yes, commercial development needs to be convenient to get to. Yes, clustering can result in more efficient shopping. But do we really want that section of U.S. 15-501 South to emulate the intersection of U.S. 15-501 North at Mount Moriah Road? They don’t call it No Hope Commons without reason.

Chapel Hill’s mayor and at least one council member ran on a platform of preserving Chapel Hill’s small-town image. Are contiguous parking lots broken only by traffic jams really how we want to say “Welcome to Chapel Hill”?
– Nancy Oates

Neighbors for Responsible Growth must have been giddy with the comments they heard Town Council members make at Monday’s public hearing. The feedback council members delivered to Capstone Co. as its representative presented a revised concept plan for The Cottages proposed for a 33-acre parcel along Homestead Road across from the recently approved Bridgepoint mixed-use development.

“I’m uncomfortable with this incredible density.”

“Without a grocery store, you’ll force students to get in their cars and drive.”

“Homestead Road will be a disaster to get in and out of.”

NRG scored points by airing Jim Ward’s condemnation of a proposal on the Obey Creek site years earlier. Monday night’s meeting gave NRG even more fodder.

The sentiments voiced by many council members might just as easily apply to the proposed development of Obey Creek, a significantly more dense project on land zoned for much lower density. Yet during the discussion of Obey Creek a couple of weeks ago, some council members not only seemed oblivious to density issues developing Obey Creek would cause, they were eager to fork over $30,000 to developer Roger Perry to help him come up with a plan that would win quick approval.

So why the antipathy toward The Cottages? Was it because the apartments were geared for providing off-campus housing for undergraduate students? Or was it because there was no plan for a grocery store or other commercial space?

Granted, even the scaled-back plan presented Monday night would add to the traffic along Homestead. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt pointed out that there would always be one car per student, meaning an extra 900 cars at least. And that’s not counting any guests, which Penny Rich assured council there would be plenty of, judging by what she remembers from her college experience, she said.

Capstone was sent back to the drawing board, and without $30,000 to spend on a consultant to speed through approval. Before it puts any more time and money in The Cottages, Capstone might want to spend $30 on taking Roger Perry to lunch to listen to what he recommends.
– Nancy Oates

I never thought I’d quote Richard Nixon, but let me make one thing perfectly clear: UNC at Chapel Hill Foundation does not own the land all the way back to Cameron Avenue.

John McColl, executive vice president at Cousins Properties, the company redeveloping University Square, repeatedly told council members during his concept plan presentation Monday night that even though cutting a street all the way through from West Franklin Street to Cameron Avenue might be a good idea, he couldn’t make it happen. Because someone else owns those parcels along Cameron Avenue.

Cousins Properties has gone to great lengths to involve the community to ensure that the redevelopment will become what townfolk – the project’s future customers – want. Cousins has had multiple meetings to hear from the community and a suggestion box in the form of an interactive website. Cousins took to heart that feedback, and the resulting plan did an excellent job of incorporating those ideas.

Yet council members weren’t happy. McColl showed infinite patience in fielding their comments. A major concern pre-plan was that University Square was too far back from the street – a missing tooth, Penny Rich called it. Yet when McColl’s plan showed two buildings close to the street, akin to the approved 140 West Franklin project across the street, Gene Pease criticized the buildings for being too close to the street. (140 West was approved before he was on the council, he noted, and he would have voted against it.) The green space was too far back from the street, Jim Ward said, and wondered if grass could even grow in the shadow of tall buildings.

Sally Greene worried that the public wouldn’t feel welcome in green space that was so far from the street. But before the night was over, she was backing a suggestion for a permit to keep the space public lest tenants, feeling overwhelmed by the public using the space, try to limit access.

Rich wanted to know how much the parking would cost, as if an extra 25 cents an hour might be a deal-breaker. And would there be affordable housing? (The project is not required to provide affordable units.)

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt wondered who would want to live behind Big Fraternity Court. (That might solve Rich’s concern about affordable housing. Recall that parking for the affordable units at 140 West Franklin was planned to be a couple blocks away from the parking for tenants paying market rate. Why not have 123’s affordable units overlook Big Fraternity Court’s parking lot?)

McColl didn’t once bang his head against the wall. He remained professional throughout. Council members would do well to remember that his company has significant skin in this game. It’s not going to build something that the community will reject. It’s fine to look critically at a plan and ask questions about details, but please people, pay attention.
– Nancy Oates

The Cottages of Chapel Hill are back on the agenda for tonight’s Town Council meeting. In May, Capstone Co. of Birmingham, Ala., proposed a complex of townhomes and apartments along the south side of Homestead Road, near the intersection with Weaver Dairy Extension. The original plan, given a thumbs down by council members, consisted of an entirely residential project with a mix of 57 two-story cottage homes, 60 two-story townhouse units (15 buildings with four units per building) and 213 apartments divided among 71 three-story buildings. The units ranged from one to five bedrooms, and the complex included a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse and indoor and outdoor recreation areas, as well as 1,175 parking spaces.

The revised plan that Capstone will present at the concept plan review has sliced the number of residences by a third – 188 in the revised plan, compared to 300 in the original. Rather than 137 two- and three-story buildings, the new plan calls for 119 two-story only buildings. Parking spaces have been reduced from 1,175 to 898.

At least one nearby homeowner has objected to even the scaled-back version, pointing out that as construction of Chapel Hill North has been put on hold and The Cottages is marketing to students, there is no need to build the complex at present.

We are sympathetic to the development threats that property owners along Homestead Road have endured. At the same time, once Chapel Hill North is built, there will be a need for more living quarters for students. We would be inclined to leave it to the developer to decide when it makes economic sense to start development, just as RAM has with 140 West Franklin. Despite RAM’s updates on groundbreaking – remember when it was September, for sure? – Lot 5 is still Lot 5, and will remain so until the economy and a wave of buyers catch up.
– Nancy Oates

It boils down to trust, Gene Pease said. And bless their hearts, the other members of Town Council came around.

Two items on last night’s council meeting agenda dealt with Obey Creek. First, the town’s Economic Development Committee asked for $30,000 to guide the developer in coming up with a plan for Obey Creek. Then the town manager proposed using a development agreement, as was used in the development process for Carolina North, as a tool to develop Obey Creek.

Irate citizens filled the auditorium seats to object to the town’s assumption that the property across U.S. 15-501 from Southern Village would be developed into a high-density mixed-use development. When the first few speakers came to the podium objecting to the town spending $30,000 to help a private developer who stood to make millions should the town approve his high-density project on land that the Southern Small Area Plan had deemed would retain its low-density zoning, Jim Ward jumped in and changed the wording of the proposal so that it no longer specified Obey Creek. Rather the money would be spent on unnamed parcels. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt hurriedly gaveled approval of that wording change, steamrolling the budget item through.

But as citizen after citizen came to the podium to express frustration that they had played by the rules and now the town was changing those rules, even Kleinschmidt, who had defended the idea of a development agreement, backed down. One citizen told of following procedure to file a protest petition, only to be told he couldn’t because no application for a project had been submitted. He was assured that he and his neighbors would be kept apprised of any developments, yet no one in his neighborhood had been given notice that the issue would be taken up at last night’s meeting. A well-spoken architect noted that the developer was advertising on the Internet for joint venture partners in an Obey Creek development, making it seem like a done deal, she said.

Donna Bell tried to defend the use of a development agreement, but her comments only solidified the impression that the town intended to approve a high-density development, despite assurances years earlier that if Southern Village were approved, the surrounding land would remain low density.

That’s when Pease brought up the matter of trust between town government and its citizens. Ed Harrison and Jim Ward agreed. Laurin Easthom had earlier supported citizens in objecting to $30,000 being spent under the assumption that Obey Creek would result in a dense development. Matt Czajkowski missed the meeting as he was in Haiti, volunteering his time and talents to help its beleaguered citizens.

Council members shelved the idea of a development agreement and asked town staff for input on reworking the Comprehensive Plan.
– Nancy Oates

At various times in my life, I’ve been comforted to remember that most of the problems I’ve faced so far have been ones that could be solved by money.

The Town of Chapel Hill, on the other hand, seems comforted by the thought that, no matter the problem, it can be solved by consultants. Which, of course, cost money.

At tonight’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt will present the town’s initiatives to support the economic development strategy adopted in June 2008. The strategy was to increase the town’s non-residential tax base.

First up is a plan to absorb an additional 30,000 square feet of office space from that currently on the market. Succeeding in that goal, according to the staff memorandum, “will work to change perceptions of Chapel Hill to being business friendly … .” The cost? A mere $70,000. Another $30,000 is earmarked for guiding retail development in Obey Creek and along Eubanks Road.

Well-intended goals, indeed. But a couple of easy ways to change perceptions of Chapel Hill to being business friendly would be to actually be business friendly. I walked through Amber Alley the other day and saw that no work has begun on the restoration of the Rathskeller. A group of investors has plans to bring back the popular restaurant. Customers are waiting in the wings. The project first needs a green light from the town.

Altridge Group stands ready to open the doors to a new business incubator and reception space in the former sorority house at 420 Hillsborough Road that has been empty for years. All it needs is the town’s approval for a modification of the special use permit.

Franklin West, a group of developers, has plans to pump new life into The Courtyard on West Franklin Street, just as soon as it receives expedited approval for a modification of that special use permit.

Those three projects together make up about 30,000 square feet. The town could hit its absorption goal by the end of the year. In this age of viral marketing, saying yes to these three projects would be a cost-effective way of changing Chapel Hill’s business-unfriendly image and increasing economic development at the same time.
– Nancy Oates