When Chapel Hill’s American Legion Post 6 announced they were selling their land on Legion Road to Woodfield Properties, who plans to build apartment homes and offices for young professionals on the site, the same gaggle of people who have invested decades in opposing changes to Chapel Hill’s landscape predictably rose up to protest this one.

Matt Bailey

Matt Bailey

As a part of their campaign to block the project, they’ve been drumming up support for the idea that if we simply get the town council to refuse to rezone the property, Chapel Hill can itself buy the American Legion and build a new park on the site instead. Better still, they argue, the town can buy the land from the American Legion for less than half of the $10-million that Woodfield Properties has agreed to pay for it, since denying the rezoning would make the property worth less money.

There are two details opponents of the Legion Road project conveniently are failing to tell you when they pitch the idea of a park.

First, Woodfield has already agreed to build a park on the eastern portion of the property that the entire community could use.  So, it’s not a choice between “luxury apartments” or a park.  It’s a chance to have homes for young professionals and a great new park, a park that would come at no cost to Chapel Hill taxpayers.

But there’s an even bigger little secret Chapel Hill’s anti-growth advocates don’t want you to discover: The American Legion’s property is already zoned for residential construction of 144 single family homes.  That means if the American Legion gets tired of town leaders dragging their feet on Woodfield’ proposal and simply want to cash out now, they could sell their land to a different developer to build 144 single family homes on the site, no rezoning required.

Do you think that new developer is going to build cute little starter homes for us working families?  Don’t count on it.  They’ll build 144 McMansions, homes that could easily cost half a million dollars each given the dynamics of the Chapel Hill housing market.

Unlike the apartments and offices Woodfield has in mind, those 144 McMansions won’t pay commercial property tax.  In fact, single-family suburban homes are the most expensive style of homes a town can have with the least value in return.  Sustainable Prosperity estimates each single family home costs a city two and a half times more in services such as water and sewer, roads and public transportation, police and fire services, libraries and schools, than do the city-styled multi-family homes Woodfield has in mind.

Unlike the young professionals Woodfield’s homes and office space would bring back to Chapel Hill, those 144 McMansions would attract wealthy families, probably right before their kids start kindergarten.  Good luck finding room for all those new trailers at Ephesus Elementary. (For the record, the school system prefers to call them “cabins.”)

Worst of all, for my neighbors who are genuinely excited by the prospect of a new park on Legion Road, town leaders won’t have the leverage to demand the public park that Woodfield has already said they’d give us for free, since those 144 McMansions won’t require rezoning.

For the record, I am neither for nor against Woodfield Property’s proposed project for the American Legion site.  Given that they haven’t submitted an application to the town at the time, there’s not yet a proposal to support or oppose. What I do oppose are efforts to mislead my neighbors about the best way we can get a new park simply because being “pro-park” sounds better than being “anti-apartment.” The fact is, our best shot at getting more park space on our side of town is to encourage town leaders to work collaboratively with Woodfield Properties to create the park they’ve already promised to create.

When someone tells you we have a choice between “luxury apartments” or a new public park, remember the real choice Chapel Hill faces:  We could have much needed homes and offices for young professionals and a great new park, or we could have 144 Luxury McMansions and no park at all.

The choice is yours, Chapel Hill.

 

— Matt Bailey