“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
One More Questionable Development Project for Chapel Hill
A perspective from Robert Beasley
I am Robert Beasley, and I am running for a seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council. For more information about me and why I am running, please visit www.robertbeasley-nc.com. I am writing to you today about a Development Project that caught my attention in June — it is one of the projects that prompted me to run for Town Council. It is called “Rosemary/Columbia Streets Hotel Project.”
I first learned about this Development Project when it had been added to the end of a very lengthy June 23rd Town Council meeting, where it followed the second reading of the Aura Development. Since then the Development has been under an Open Public Hearing, and it has appeared on the Town Council Meeting Agendas as a “Consent Item” — so it is not being discussed with the public in these sessions. The latest resolution as a Consent Item defers the Council’s consideration of the project’s proposed conditional zoning to November 10th.
I encourage everyone to do their research on this Hotel Proposal and contact the Mayor and Town Council to voice your opinions, whether they are voices of support or rejection. As for myself, I am highly suspicious of the Project after watching the June 23rd presentation and doing some additional research. It is my opinion that the Conditional Zoning Request should be rejected by the Town Council, and the Development Project should be stopped. Unlike so many other projects where the Mayor and some sitting Town Council Members suggest they have little influence over the developer, I believe the Town Council has the upper hand in this case. Allow me to elaborate.
The developer is proposing the Rosemary/Columbia Streets Hotel as a 5 story building that will sit on the corner of Rosemary and Columbia, “cradling” the historic Town Hall. By “cradle” I mean the towering urban building will take up the land next to the Historic Town Hall on Rosemary Street, and wrap around the historic building, with the hotel property extending onto Columbia Street . This urban monster – as I see it – has a proposed height that violates the Town’s building height limitation for the properties bordering the Northside Neighborhood. This height concern was caught and called out by Town Council Member Amy Ryan in the June 23rd meeting. The project includes a small patch of green space between the hotel and the historic Town Hall, which the Developer represents as a public park space. In the June meeting I watched some of the Town Council members “gush” over the benefits of this park that the developer has “so graciously” offered to provide under the plan. I see this as a rationalization for the Land Swap that the developer has asked the Town to perform to allow the development to move forward. You see, the developer does not own all of the property they need to build the hotel. The Town owns a 16 space gravel parking lot that is part of the developer’s plan. The developer proposes to exchange a property on Pritchard Avenue – just around the corner from the site – for the Town Land. In looking back through the project’s history, I found a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to sign a non-binding Letter of Intent for this property exchange, which was adopted by the Town Council on May 19th, 2021 – a month prior to the June 23rd Town Council Meeting where I learned about the project.
My own perspective on the Rosemary Street – Columbia Street Hotel Development Proposal is that it is a project the Town needs to say ‘No’ to ASAP. The Town should prevent the developer from dragging out this proposal for the next year or two. To me, this does not appear to be a development the Town needs or should prioritize. There are already two hotels in downtown Chapel Hill, and several other hotels near downtown. The Sheraton Chapel Hill just re-opened, following an extensive renovation. There are also other hotel projects in the works for Chapel Hill, which I have learned about in the recent Town Council Meetings I am attending. A related concern that I have heard others raise regarding existing hotel utilization in Chapel Hill, is that the data available reflects we have more than adequate existing hotel capacity in our town. When I look ahead and consider how development projects appear to be handled by the Town, I am concerned that the developer will ultimately wear down the Town Council to approve this zoning and development request. And with that approval, Chapel Hill will be destined for one more downtown hotel. And this hotel will 1) further destroy the downtown skyline, 2) violate the current height limits in place to protect the Northside Neighborhood, such that it towers over the neighborhood and the Historic Town Hall, 3) cause additional traffic, noise, and street parking issues for the Northside Neighborhood, and 4) further degrades downtown’s aesthetic with one more urban monstrosity that sticks out in size and design like a sore thumb.
I anticipate that Mayor Pam Hemminger and some members of the Town Council will champion this development proposal as a core component of the new “Innovation District”. The project will be portrayed as another opportunity to add a business to Chapel Hill’s tax base that will further shift the tax burden off of Chapel Hill’s residents. But I question the accuracy and significance of such claims. I am concerned this downtown development gives the Town little more than one additional downtown hotel that will only be heavily occupied for University related events. And it will give Chapel Hill one more non-local service industry business that primarily employs workers who will not be able to afford to live in Chapel Hill. I fear this will be one more land use decision by the Mayor and Town Council that results in a lost opportunity for a local business or downtown destination that can bring visitors to downtown Chapel Hill on a regular basis. Or a lost opportunity to provide a housing solution that addresses our priority needs for affordable housing and the other unmet housing needs from the Town Council Economic Sustainability Committee’s Housing Report. Furthermore, a housing solution that addresses these priority and unmet needs – if the Town’s Leadership could encourage a developer to deliver it – would also help progress the Town Council’s goal of increasing year round residents in the Downtown District to improve economic sustainability of businesses located there.
I encourage everyone in Chapel Hill to read up on the Rosemary/Columbia Streets Hotel Project and voice your opinion to the Mayor and Town Council before the Open Public Hearing comes to a close later this fall.
“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
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