I had forgotten how many, many stars abide in the sky until this past week when I went to a place dark enough to see them. Light pollution wipes them from visibility. When I lived in Manhattan, I never saw a star outside of the planetarium. Over time, light pollution has crept into Chapel Hill, […]
All posts tagged historic districts
Managing growth
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 12, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/08/12/managing-growth/
The New Historic District
As the Town Council’s liaison to the Historic District Commission since the 2015 election, I’ve had a front-row seat to many redevelopment proposals by people who have no clue what value historic neighborhoods add to our community. The presentations follow a form so uniform that it appears to be an Internet download. The presentations apparently […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 13, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/13/the-new-historic-district/
Our tenuous link to history
I haven’t been inside the Cathedral of Notre Dame since I went sightseeing after running the Paris Marathon some 30 years ago. Yet when I heard about the fire that destroyed the ceiling and spire of the 800-year-old church, it felt like a personal loss. In his book Why Old Places Matter, Tom May, the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 22, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/22/our-tenuous-link-to-history/
Losing our towns
When we take road trips, I sometimes like to get off the interstate and drive some state and county roads to see the different Americas in our country. There are so many. Over the decades that I’ve done this, I’ve come to appreciate the stability of life in small and midsize towns, despite the vastly […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 25, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/25/losing-our-towns/
People + Places = Community
I spent last Saturday morning in a workshop sponsored by the Historic District Commission that emphasized the importance of community to our quality of life. I spent the afternoon talking with low-income seniors and people with disabilities about how the town could be more livable for them. The issues they brought up had at their […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 3, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/12/03/people-places-community/
Improving with age
An out-of-state developer recently purchased two houses next door to one another in one of Chapel Hill’s historic districts. The Historic District Commission is bracing for the prospect of demolition applications for the two gracious historic homes. State law, which trumps local laws, does not protect historic properties. If a Historic District Commission denies a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 25, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/11/25/improving-with-age/
How old is too old?
Age discrimination reared its ugly head at last week’s Town Council meeting. And this time, because we were talking about edifices, the youngster took the hit. Staff made two proposals — the first to donate town-owned land to be used to relocate nearly century-old tiny houses to be used for affordable housing; and the second, […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 15, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/15/how-old-is-too-old/
What’s worth preserving
Would a time traveler from the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, walking through one of Chapel Hill’s historic districts, recognize the neighborhood? Amber Kidd, a preservationist with the N.C. Historic Preservation Office who advises local governments on how to set up and run a Historic District Commission, put that question to Chapel […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 22, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/22/whats-worth-preserving/
Sitting on the Historic District Commission
In an interview aired on National Public Radio recently, Magazine Editor Hall-of-Famer Tina Brown described her desk-on-a-treadmill, noting, “Sitting is the new smoking.” That shot a little dart of fear in my heart, because my role as a Town Council member requires me to sit a lot. Council meetings, work sessions, committees, task forces and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 23, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/10/23/sitting-on-the-historic-district-commission/
What makes a house historic?
Last week, the Historic District Commission reluctantly pulled the plug on a house in the Gimghoul Historic District by approving a request by the owners of 704 Gimghoul to demolish the home. The couple had purchased the house in March 2015 and had come to the HDC with a plan to make it live better […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 16, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/05/16/what-makes-a-house-historic/