Growth & Development
It's being reported that school overcrowding "threatens" a moratorium on construction of new homes in Chapel Hill and/or Orange County. Meanwhile, the number of "for sale" signs for existing homes in our neighborhoods are proliferating, as old listings languish and new listings appear.
I was unable to find (after an admittedly quick search) current stats for the number of houses on sale in the various school districts or for the average time a house sits on the market -- probably not numbers that local realtors consider very happy. (Did find reference to an approx. 9% vacancy rate for Chapel Hill, but not certain what that includes -- commercial? residential? both?)
However, it doesn't take a lot of scrutiny to know that there are an unprecedented number of existing houses for sale -- far more than are likely to be built new in the next year, I'd bet. And in the likely event that every one of those houses -- or even half of them -- were sold to families with children by September, the schools would have a difficult time accommodating them.
In Atlanta last April, a woman named Raquel Nelson, with her three children in tow, jaywalked. They were hit by a car and her four-year-old son was killed. Astonishingly, she was convicted of vehicular homicide, although public outrage has helped her secure a new trial.
This is an extreme example of something we see in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and around the country: blaming the victim when our automobile-dominated transportation system, which is inherently lethal, kills or injures someone just trying to walk from one place to another in the urban environment.
Raquel Nelson did nothing wrong when she jaywalked. In all likelihood, the motorist driving the car that killed her son was breaking the speed limit. But even if, although I find this hard to imagine, the driver was doing everything they could reasonably be expected to do, the proper conclusion in that case is that no one is to blame. It is just another tragic instance in which our insane transportation system proved to be far too dangerous.
So remember last year when I said that the people threatening violence against Greenbridge were doing more harm than good? They made a bomb threat against the building while it was under construction. Did it make Greenbridge better or cheaper or more accessible? Did it help the developers better serve the community? Did it help the community combat the rising cost of living in Chapel Hill? No, but it probably served to make a small group of activists feel better about themselves.
Yesterday, a group of anarchists entered the lobby of Greenbridge intent on destruction. The group of over 30 demonstrators were armed with an anvil, and proceeded to do major damage to the floor, a glass table, and several pieces of artwork. Eight people were arrested Several people were detained, and three were held on felony inciting a riot charges until they were released from the Orange County Jail on a total of $8,000 bond.*
On May 5, the potential developer of 201 N Greensboro Street in Carrboro presented a concept plan to several of the town's advisory boards. As discussed in previous threads (1, 2, 3), the plan includes a two-story building with 11,800 sq ft of CVS retail space on the first floor and 11,800 sq ft of storage and office space on the second floor. Surface parking would dominate the northern half of the block along Short Street.
Presentation of a concept plan to the advisory boards is the required first step before submitting a conditional use permit application to the town. The developer has reportedly already submitted a permit application. The applicant will be required to respond in writing to the advisory boards' comments when they come back to the boards during the permit application review process.
Copied below are the comments on the concept plan from the Planning Board, the Appearance Commission, and the Transportation Advisory Board. Comments from the Environmental Advisory Board are forthcoming also included [added August 23, 2011].
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