The Town of Chapel Hill is looking to create more affordable housing adjacent to the town’s historic Northside Neighborhood. Some residents, however, are concerned about the impact the proposed development would have on the surrounding community.
The proposed Jay Street Apartments would create 48 to 52 affordable rental units.
The applicant, Taft‐Mills Group, aims to develop a three-story affordable housing complex to serve households earning from 30 to 80 percent of the Area Median Income. In Chapel Hill, that would serve households earning between $18,000 and $70,000 a year.
The apartments will range from one-bedroom to three-bedroom units and include a community building, playground and picnic shelter.
To create these units, the Town of Chapel Hill intends to clear 7.5 acres of wooded land at the Tanyard Branch Trail leading to Umstead Park – approximately 1.9 acres of which are part of the town’s Resource Conservation District.
Not all of the site acreage will be cleared, however. The applicant is proposing development that would impact less than 50 percent of the wooded land and not cause any disturbance to the conservation district.
A preliminary sketch illustrates how the town’s planned affordable housing project on Jay Street, between Estes Drive Apartments and Village West, could look after it’s built (Photo via Town of Chapel Hill)
At the first concept plan review of the Jay Street Apartments on June 21, the town council heard a presentation from the applicant and received a flood of comments and concerns from the public.
Some of the most prominent concerns were regarding the potential of increased water runoff into Bolin Creek and increased traffic congestion on Estes and Umstead Drive.
Margaret Widener said she is apprehensive about how the project will interact with the existing community and add to what is already a traffic-congested area – especially with only a single access point to the proposed complex.
“What concerned me most was that the only point of ingress and egress was going to be Jay Street,” Widener said. “That’s too much for a high-density development. This area cannot take that much more development and have only one way in and out.”
During its meeting, the Chapel Hill Town Council also took note of two petitions from residents opposing the development, one of which comes from the neighbors of Village West, a townhome community just north of the proposed Jay Street Apartments.
Trisha Lester, a Village West resident of 26 years, said while she was excited about the prospect of more affordable housing, she thinks the development would create too many hazards for pedestrians.
“The traffic entering and exiting Jay Street is already a slow-moving game of chicken,” Lester said. “Walkers, joggers, bikers, Amazon trucks, trash collection – you know, only one car at a time can go into or out of that entrance and it narrows as you get further down the road.”
Overview of land map for proposed Jay Street Apartments (photo via Town of Chapel Hill)
Rachel Gray, another Village West resident, said the town needs to work towards home ownership instead of building more apartment complexes. She said Chapel Hill should consider increasing the required percentage of affordable housing for already-approved developments, like Aura.
“I have lived in affordable housing apartments in other U.S. states, and being a low-income resident myself, earning way under the AMI, building more low-income apartments for rent feels like putting a Band-Aid on an issue that needs surgery,” Gray said. “Rentals don’t increase the quality of life. I would encourage other solutions to be considered, including helping people buy properties, to build wealth through ownership and to help give the stability and sense of home and community ownership brings. This is the option I’ve always wanted.”
Multiple members of the public and councilmembers also expressed concern over the future residents of the site not having easy access to bus routes and public transportation, despite the development’s close proximity to a bus stop. The closest bus stop is located on Village Drive, 400 feet, or 0.075 miles, from the site.
Following the concept plan review in June, the applicant will submit a formal development application to the town council after its summer hiatus. Once a site plan is finalized, the developer said they hope to submit a conditional zoning application by or before fall 2021.
The Town of Chapel Hill recently approved passed the 2200 Homestead Road project in May, paving the way for more affordable housing in the community.
Lead photo via Town of Chapel Hill/Taft-Mills Group.
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Chapel Hill Town council doesn’t actually care about low income, homeless, housing insecure, or rent burdened households. They are focusing on building houses for mid level professionals and excusing it by calling it affordable in relation to a ridiculously high and unattainable AMI. They know it and they don’t even care. Look at Karen Stegman’s Viewpoint from the other day. It was condescending and lacked reflection on the root causes she said she wants to focus on. Besides increasing the requirement for developers to dedicate portions to affordable housing, they need to redefine affordable to refer to the 58% of residents who spend more than 50% of their income on rent. Or, stop. They can just stop these developments and build for co-ops. This expensive non consensual housing model only harms the people they pretend to serve.
It looks like they are trying to squeeze way more into a tiny piece of land than should be. Plus plopping down low income housing with no access to public transportation, and no employers within walking distance. This is just another developer walking away with millions in taxpayer dollars to throw up cheap apartments that will look like Cabrini Green in five years. It is the same failed policies over and over again.
Haha, I love when the liberals balk at affordable housing in their own community. So, er, rich of them. Lol.
disgusting. 64,000 a year too poor and troublesome for these disgusting duplicitous filthy snowflakes. They all dear long naked and broke tied to the town clock.