The Chapel Hill Town Council recently reviewed concept plans for two housing developments along Old Durham/Chapel Hill Road in its latest two meetings. Here are details about each project and highlights of the elected officials’ feedback, which the developers will consider before submitting any formal application.
EAST LAKEVIEW RESIDENTIAL
Chapel Hill Town Council shared comments on the concept designs of a project proposed for the intersection of Old Chapel Hill Road and East Lakeview Drive, and unanimously passed them along at a meeting on June 5.
From EB Capital Partners, East Lakeview Residential envisions being a space for community, nature, and families, featuring both 36-50 four-to five-story multifamily apartments and 30-40 for-sale townhomes. The council praised the variety of affordable family units and said it’s what the town needs.
A proposed rendering of East Lakeview Residential. (Photo via E.B. Capital Partners.)
“We’re excited with where you’ve started,” Mayor Jess Anderson told Ernie Brown, the project’s developer. “Making those great urban design spaces and places will be something we’re looking for.”
About 15 percent of the units would serve families earning between 65 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. The proposal features a central multipurpose trail connecting the property to other developments in the area, and each unit style would face its own central greenspace. There could even be a small commercial space at the corner of one.
“There’s a lot of potential,” said council member Amy Ryan. “I think you’ve got something on the corner there that could be really special.”
Ryan said she wants it to be a “people space,” one where parents can gather and watch their children play in the greenspace, and also be one that would draw business to the area.
“Coffee, ice cream, beer, wine, dogs,” Anderson suggested later.
Repeated concerns for the development centered around traffic-flow. The through road has no traffic lights or left turn lane for entering the property. The townhomes would feature two-car garages, and with no current break in traffic and only two street entrances, the council said it might be tricky for residents to drive in and out.
Council member Elizabeth Sharp also emphasized a desire for foot traffic over vehicles. She stressed the importance of keeping trees along Old Durham Chapel Hill Road to make it more walkable to amenities like Wegmans, while also wondering if the various developments in Parkline East Village would put more people in a farther-flung part of town and reliant on cars for daily activities.
“There’s a lot going on in that area that has been developed in a far more suburban mode, and it’s going to take a lot of troubleshooting to get around that,” Sharp said.
The project is one of several developments in the area that would be connected by the central greenway as part of the town’s Complete Communities Framework. Brown said East Lakeview would be a continuation of what they’re already doing down the road.
“I’m on board with how do we bring all this whole little quadrant together to make it not feel like it’s bifurcated development, but it feels like it truly is one master plan,” Brown said.
OLD CHAPEL HILL ROAD APARTMENTS
At a meeting on June 12, Chapel Hill Town Council also unanimously passed along comments for an adjacent development that plans to create a living community “nestled in nature.”
Located along Old Chapel Hill Road and White Oak Drive, Zom Living’s Old Chapel Hill Road Apartments would feature tree-lined streets, internal pedestrian and bike trails, and a central greenspace for around 360 living units.
A proposed rendering of Old Chapel Hill Apartments. (Photo via Zom Living.)
The project seeks to provide more for-rent living options in the area through several multifamily buildings, with the potential for townhomes. The council praised the project for offering housing in a needed area, but suggested incorporating more affordable housing opportunities into the plan.
Currently, only ten percent of the project’s units would serve families earning 80 percent of the Area Median Income, and several council members expressed wanting it to see the percentage at fifteen and with a wider variety of sizes for the affordable units. Council member Karen Stegman said she hopes the team will return with a better affordable housing plan.
“Thinking about your size of units, having smaller units so that there’s more relative affordability,” said Stegman.
Sharp said the living community has the opportunity to be walkable and biodiverse, noting both the multi-use trails connecting the property’s north and south sectors and the small creek that bisects them. The project currently plans to conserve much of the natural tree canopy surrounding the stream and add multi-use trails in order to create a public greenspace. Council member Adam Searing said, however, he wants a more thoughtful plan for the greenspace.
“Rather than just showing us something that says ‘we just can’t build here, but there’s going to be trees here so it’ll be great,” he added.
Repeated concerns from the council also centered around scaling down the size and mass of buildings that line Old Chapel Hill Road. The current plan includes buildings up to six stories, and Anderson suggested placing the taller buildings by the freeway and in the middle of the development, reserving smaller buildings to face the street and surrounding neighborhoods.
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Is this “truly one master plan”?? It looks like more of the same project by project development that the Complete Communities framework was supposed to replace. And how many of the Complete Communities checklist will be realized? Certainly not affordable housing. Where is the commercial sector? Where is the park? How much mature tree canopy will remain? When all is said and done, will this area of town look more like Blue Hill or Southern Village?