“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.
Going Out With a (Big) Bang
A perspective from Terri Buckner
With only two meetings remaining on their calendar, the current Chapel Hill Town Council is planning to go out with a bang, a BIG bang. At the upcoming Monday night work session, the Council will be updated on the land use management ordinance (LUMO) rewrite and the restructuring (elimination?) of long-standing citizen advisory boards.
No details are provided on the advisory board restructuring beyond those addressed in October. At that time, the Council concern was that advisory boards slow down development and take up too much staff time. Taking time to seek citizen input certainly can slow down the development process, but that slow down has improved project after project. The Glen Lennox redevelopment process is the poster child for how citizen engagement helps to achieve the community that WE want rather than what developers want to foist upon us.
Among the eye-popping information provided in the staff report on the LUMO rewrite is the statement that density bonuses don’t work as an affordable housing incentive. Instead, the staff recommend reducing environmental protections, such as steep slope restrictions, stream buffers, landscape buffers, in exchange for affordable housing. Is sacrificing environmental protection the new Chapel Hill Way?
On Wednesday night, the Council will consider a resolution undoing over 40 years of collaborative land use planning by moving the water and sewer boundary (WASMPBA, pronounced Wa-Sam-Ba) from the Southern Village dog park down to the Chatham County line. In 1986, the Town and County along with Carrboro, entered into a collaborative land use planning process called the Joint Planning Agreement. The goal of that agreement was to contain sprawl and protect our drinking water. In 2001, that agreement was reinforced by a water and sewer boundary agreement that restricted where ‘urban services’ such as OWASA service could be provided.
The southern 15-501 area under consideration is not part of the rural buffer, but it does lie within the Jordan Lake water supply watershed as well as the University Lake watershed, both sources of drinking water for Chapel Hill residents. The OWASA evaluation letter included in materials for Wednesday’s meeting assessed capacity for “a total of 1170 new dwelling units under the low density scenario and 2202 new dwelling units under the high density scenario.” For comparison, Southern Village comprises 1175 housing units. There is no mention of environmental or economic feasibility studies in the packet.
This area is primarily extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) for Chapel Hill, meaning that the residents already living in this area are not allowed to vote for Chapel Hill Town Council. When this water and sewer boundary change was considered in 2018, the residents opposed it, and the issue was tabled. This time around, there were two (2) sparsely attended outreach meetings scheduled with less than two (2) weeks’ notice and residents were not given the opportunity to either support or reject the proposal. Only residents within the proposed new urban services area (¼ mile on either side of 15-501) were notified of the meetings, leaving out several neighborhoods – including Dogwood Acres, Heritage Hills, and Smith Level Road – that will be directly impacted by this change. For such a significant change, this lack of community engagement is hard to swallow, especially for those who are already disenfranchised.
Under previous Council configurations, a change this large and impactful would have been preceded by community outreach meetings, environmental impact assessments, and a small area plan. But this current Council, the one being advised by staff to reduce environmental protections and citizen engagement, appears to be on track to approve moving the water and sewer boundary without any thought or constraints. Fortunately, the water and sewer agreement requires Carrboro, Hillsborough and Orange County to approve the change before any development actions can occur.
Instead of going out with a big bang this year, the five (5) Council members who will be returning to Council in 2024 should give serious consideration to their community accountability and opt to pursue additional community outreach and environmental assessment before moving forward on these radical changes.
“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.
