“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com.
Chaphazard Downhill
A perspective from Breckany Teal Eckhardt
In 2017, after saving for years I was elated to buy my first home in Colony Woods. It’s an older established neighborhood where I could watch my neighbors’ kids grow up, host “taco and board game” nights for them, and enjoy the accessibility of getting around town easily to run errands. I walk my dogs almost daily at Legion Park. It’s still a great home base. I also expected that our highly educated, progressive college town would have ample greenways, community groups, casual bicycle clubs, walkable restaurants/bars, and dating events for the 30+ crowd.
Unfortunately, I found myself spending my free time and money in Durham and Raleigh because there is simply more to do. Their taxes are being invested into creating a quality of life with expanding parks, thriving local arts and music scene, dating events, great restaurants, and outdoor Meetup groups. Thus, they are some of the hottest places to visit and relocate in the southeast.
Today Chapel Hill has not significantly improved its quality of life or economy but has created ceaseless construction and traffic congestion paired with monolithic apartment monopolies and dwindling green space. Since 2021, the town council’s rash decisions (except for Adam Searing), have been driven by feelings, not facts, uninventive solutions, and the deep pockets of unethical corporate developers, meanwhile steamrolling its property owners with an 11% increase.
Affordable housing has been replaced by thousands of jam-packed exorbitant rentals such as those across from Eastgate. The council refuses to acknowledge the environmental and human injustice in relocating these units to a drained pond at Legion Park and a coal ash dump next to a railroad. The recent rezoning decisions, in particular allowing 3,000 sq. ft duplexes in small single-family neighborhoods, have no impact on the high-end legally protected areas most of the council lives in but will increase housing prices, especially for first-time homebuyers.
Growth is possible, but “building to build” without proactive planning results in ‘wild-west’ rampant construction paired with chaotic, claustrophobic, car-centric and carbon-dependent centers. We all lose with poor planning and a lack of data-driven decisions.
Activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali stated, “There are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.” I was tired of being silent, so I spoke up. I pleaded to the town council in email and in person to save our parks, stop the demolition of affordable housing, and incentivize mixed-use housing with retail/flex event spaces. I asked that infrastructure and transit receive proactive attention. I shared that millions spent on consultants could be saved with the talent at UNC. With quality planning, we get quality of life with less concrete and community conflict as well as better control of our budget.
So, yes, I spoke up, but I was disregarded and ignored.
Now, I act.
The current town council has changed the town. It’s changed me enough to deeply consider running in this year’s election.
Join me in bettering the quality of life in Chapel Hill this November 7th.
Sincerely, Breckany Teal Eckhardt, MS, PMP
“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.
An excellent assessment of what has happened recently in Chapel Hill. A Town Council majority that governs as trustees “who know best”, rather than as delegates that respect and listen to constituents. Citizen petitions with a thousand signatures each to save Legion Park and to stop the rezoning of single family neighborhoods had no impact whatsoever. The rezoning text amendments were passed without an economic impact analysis and reasonable guardrails, concerns that the Council majority assured would be “fixed as we go”. This is the Blue Hill form-based code process all over again. There were numerous flaws in the code that were never fixed. We never got the 20% affordable housing or 40% commercial development that was planned. Instead, taxpayers funded the road that serves that Hartley Apartments, which displaced 200 affordable units. We do indeed new voices on the Council and a new direction for Chapel Hill.
This starts to sound like a “I have a secret way to do everything better” campaign. The last thing we need is another “throw it all out and start over” elected official. These issues have been at the fore of Town policy for literally three decades. Take the time to learn the significance of what has been accomplished and why before offering up the old “I have a magic wand”. I’d rather hear what you think you can ADD to what has been accomplished rather than another “they do everything wrong” speech. To do that you are gonna need to do a LOT of homework.
It is pretty well spelled out in the public record the pros and cons of the various decisions that past elected officials have made. There is a long long arc of history surrounding all these issues…decades long. We dont each have to like every decision made to acknowledge there was a lot of discussion and a lot of weighing of options. The “they are elites” or “they are in bed with the developers” are both old tropes that get trotted out when there isnt much in the way of positive contributions being offered. We have never been short of critics in this Town; critics and leaders are two different things. If there are actual, real, specific good ideas, lets hear them. But its a contradiction to say how cool all the “other” built up communities around us are but then bash the denser areas of chapel hill. Those “other” communities have hip, thriving neighborhoods BECAUSE they are denser.
Good for you, Breckany! You spoke up! I hope this election will help make a difference!