The Chapel Hill Town Council voted 5-3 to approve the conditional zoning request for the Aura development at a special meeting Monday night.
This vote comes after the town council chose to delay its second reading of the Aura development last week – after the initial vote on June 16 did not achieve the two-third majority needed to approve or reject the proposal.
Now, the high-profile, mixed-use development project is set to be constructed on 16 acres of land at the corner of Estes Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Councilmembers Michael Parker, Amy Ryan, Tai Huynh, Jessica Anderson and Karen Stegman voted in favor of the project, while councilmembers Hongbin Gu, Allen Buansi and Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger voted against.
While councilmembers voted the same as they did during their first reading June 16, at the second reading Monday night, only five councilmembers needed to vote in favor of the project for it to pass.
Currently, the Aura site plan includes approximately 419 apartment units and townhomes and 650 total parking spots. The applicant, Trinsic Development Services, said the project also includes about 15,000 square feet of commercial space.
An overhead of the Aura development site plans, which was adapted by the applicant following public comment and town requests. (Photo via Trinsic Residential Services.)
Prior to passing, a revised stipulation was added to the ordinance, detailing advanced tree planting along the frontages of the project that will better allow existing foliage to “thrive.”
The only clarifying questions came from councilmember Hongbin Gu, who wanted to make sure the project’s stormwater runoff volumes over the next 100 years were in accordance with town ordinances.
Ahead of project development, the town government plans to implement several changes to Estes Drive for pedestrian safety in the coming months – including a multi-modal path and a potential new traffic signal at Somerset and Estes Drive. Town staff said all traffic improvements for Estes Drive would be completed before the residential units in Aura are occupied.
At the town council meeting Monday night, Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said certain councilmembers have received hateful and threatening emails from the public stemming from the Aura project. She said, “I hope we can all agree to disagree respectfully” as the project moves forward.
Shame, shame, shame. Our town is wide-open for developers thanks to the almighty dollar and decisions of previous councils to keep our tax base low simply to “save” the small businesses along Franklin Street and elsewhere from the “Big Box Stores.” We’ve lived here for more than 25 years watching each different council sell our souls down stream. Too bad Chapel Hill – this morass of decision making can only lead to a conglomerate of large buildings (that look like the apartments
our daughter lived as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine). There are still two questions to be answered: what has the council done since the fiasco of the mobile home bargain with the company who held us hostage a few months ago….AND, what’s the occupancy percentage of these pop up “mixed use” communities and the other “luxury apartment homes” constructed within our borders? I won’t hold my breath waiting for answers – because all representatives will begin their well earned summer vacations.
Totally disappointed in our town council. They continue to support developers while ignoring the voice of the community. How many apartments and office buildings do we really need? We sacrifice our trees and natural areas for more concrete structures that become obsolete quickly. Then what? We just tear down more trees for shiny new concrete structures…
I, personally, will not vote for those who keep allowing this to happen.
I support the development. There are tens of thousands of individuals moving to the Triangle every year. People need a place to live. We can either increase local density near rapid transit and close to major employment hubs in developments like AURA or we can send people to live out in Alamance County and commute 30-40-50 miles each way twice per day and get just as much local traffic. If we are serious about global warming, then we need to be serious about increasing density near employment hubs.
I haven’t seen or heard any updates on this project for a while – does anyone know the latest? I live in the neighborhood and am hoping it still happens…
Shame, shame, shame. Our town is wide-open for developers thanks to the almighty dollar and decisions of previous councils to keep our tax base low simply to “save” the small businesses along Franklin Street and elsewhere from the “Big Box Stores.” We’ve lived here for more than 25 years watching each different council sell our souls down stream. Too bad Chapel Hill – this morass of decision making can only lead to a conglomerate of large buildings (that look like the apartments
our daughter lived as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine). There are still two questions to be answered: what has the council done since the fiasco of the mobile home bargain with the company who held us hostage a few months ago….AND, what’s the occupancy percentage of these pop up “mixed use” communities and the other “luxury apartment homes” constructed within our borders? I won’t hold my breath waiting for answers – because all representatives will begin their well earned summer vacations.
Totally disappointed in our town council. They continue to support developers while ignoring the voice of the community. How many apartments and office buildings do we really need? We sacrifice our trees and natural areas for more concrete structures that become obsolete quickly. Then what? We just tear down more trees for shiny new concrete structures…
I, personally, will not vote for those who keep allowing this to happen.
I support the development. There are tens of thousands of individuals moving to the Triangle every year. People need a place to live. We can either increase local density near rapid transit and close to major employment hubs in developments like AURA or we can send people to live out in Alamance County and commute 30-40-50 miles each way twice per day and get just as much local traffic. If we are serious about global warming, then we need to be serious about increasing density near employment hubs.
I haven’t seen or heard any updates on this project for a while – does anyone know the latest? I live in the neighborhood and am hoping it still happens…