At their respective meetings Tuesday and Wednesday night, the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro approved an Interlocal Agreement regarding the current and future use of the jointly owned Greene Tract.
Since the Greene Tract was purchased in 1984, the three government entities have continually debated the rights and usage of the 164 acres of land.
Originally purchased for $608,000 dollars for use as a future landfill, allocation of Greene Tract land has been under consideration by Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County since the landfill’s closure in 2013. The three parties jointly own the property, with Orange County and Chapel Hill each having a 43 percent interest and the Town of Carrboro having a 14 percent interest in 104 acres of the land.
Orange County owns the remaining 60 acres, which currently make up the Headwaters Preserve.
In January 2020, Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County passed legislation to prepare for an environmental assessment of the land. Following review of the Environmental Assessment Report, the three parties agreed the 60 acres currently owned by Orange County should be reconfigured to preserve the most environmentally sensitive areas.
Since then, the three local governments have been fine-tuning their Interlocal Agreement or MOU – short for Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU outlines how the three governments work together and what the process will look like when they agree and disagree.
Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said the previous MOU was last updated in 2002. According to her, that document lacked the clarity needed for successful collaboration.
“When you have any property that is owned by three different partners who are actually governmental boards, it takes a while to move together,” Hemminger said. “We’re taking pragmatic steps towards the goal of getting more affordable housing and community development in this area but also preserving some very sensitive, environmental spaces as well.”
In the newly approved MOU, the three local governments agreed that 66 acres of the Greene Tract will be dedicated to the development of affordable and mixed income housing.
Additionally, approximately 16 acres of the property will be reserved for a future public-school site with public recreation. Another 22 acres of the property will be set aside for the preservation of environmentally sensitive areas in addition to the current Headwaters Preserve.
Moving forward, Hemminger said the towns and county government will work together to draft connectivity plans – including vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian, public transportation, and utilities.
“We’ve done the work now and so this is to get us to the next step which will be the road network and connectivity, i.e. greenways, and then we start looking about how we figure out what works for the school site and how we figure out what works for creating neighborhoods and community,” Hemminger said.
In light of a new Interlocal Agreement, Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Renee Price said what needs to come next is more community outreach and feedback – especially now that local residents are getting vaccinated and in-person meetings are becoming possible again.
“I know right now that some people are going to be disappointed and other people are going to be absolutely ecstatic as to what happens in that area,” Price said. “I do believe that we have to consider the wishes of the neighborhood as well as think about – overall in our county – what some of the needs are.”
According to the MOU, the final number of intended uses of the Greene Tract have not been finalized and are still subject to change.
Lead photo courtesy of the Town of Chapel Hill.
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