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5 Myths About Why We Don’t Need to Rezone
A perspective from Edward Marshall
As a 30 year resident of Chapel Hill, and resident of the Forest Creek Neighborhood Association, the obvious question many of us are asking is why do we need to eliminate R1 residential zoning so that our 247 neighborhoods can be “densified”? There are 5 myths to the Town Council’s position.
Myth #1: We Must Build More Housing: Over the last few years up to the present day, literally hundreds, even thousands of new housing units have been built all over town, with plans to build an additional 5000 units in the next few years. Apparently Chapel Hill’s elected officials have been captured by private developers—and we pay the price: consulting fees from tax dollars, providing public lands for private profit (e.g. Legion Road, Greene Tract), and major disruptions to our quality of life. The reason there is so much resistance to rezoning is because every neighborhood is a target—potentially violating the sanctity of our neighborhoods and why we chose to live in Chapel Hill. We do not need more consultants, housing or subsidies for private developers. We need a government that honors our current quality of life and honors the public trust. The need to reverse course—NOW.
Myth #2: We Must Fill the “Missing Middle”: The argument being made by Karen Stegman, NEXT, and others is there is a “missing middle”, an idea brought by a Toronto-based consultant. Yes, this is an affluent community and housing prices are high. Research has found, though, that some cities who adopted this idea are now backing away from it because the “missing middle” hole has expanded with more high income units. We don’t need Toronto to tell us what to do. Given the housing units already built or under construction, we can solve this problem by requiring these private developers to subsidize 25% of these units for low and moderate income people.
Myth #3: We Need to Have a “Complete” Community: Our town is already “complete”. Our 247 neighborhoods are safe and wonderful places to live. Shopping is available to all. Health care and cultural events are in the center of our town. Who believes our town is “incomplete”? We don’t need high paid outsiders telling us we’re “incomplete”. What we need is common sense, locally controlled smart, green development.
Myth #4: We Must Densify to Protect the Environment: When I first moved here, we used to care about trees—we were called “tree huggers”. No more. All this construction is destroying tree cover—our greatest ally in reducing carbon. It increases greenhouse gases and our flood risks. Aura, Greene Tract, Legion Road, Homewood Road and so on—trees destroyed. These developments violate Chapel Hill’s Climate Action Plan. Last year I provided the Town Council with 24 Green infrastructure options that support the Plan. The Town has not implemented one of them. We don’t need more environmental destruction–we need the Town to require each developer to have 25% green infrastructure; we need more parks where our kids can play and to preserve our forests.
Myth #5: “We Are Listening to the Public”—Faux Democracy: On Tuesday, April 11th, there was a “public hearing” at the library. About 100 people showed up. There was no “hearing”. No questions were permitted. No protest signs were allowed. The crowd was talked at. There is a pattern of conduct by this Mayor and Town Council—they say they are listening, but they are just “checking off the box” and then do what they want to. They have an 8-1 majority. Like the Tennessee Legislature that voted out Justins Jones and Pearson, this supermajority simply does not care about the public’s will. We don’t need faux democracy—a Town Council that is non-responsive to the public. We need a new Mayor and Town Council who will listen—Vote this November.
Edward M. Marshall, Ph.D., PCC
Adjunct Professor, Leadership
Duke University
Resident of Chapel Hill for 30 Years
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
