Northerly topics at Town Council tonight

At tonight's Chapel Hill Town Council meeting they will be reviewing the Northern Area Task Force Report, which proposes a large number of significant changes to limit development and encourage more pedestrian-oriented growth. I still haven't spent as much time as I'd like digging into it. What do y'all think of the recommendations?

Also, I think the Rogers Road neighbors and their friends will be petitioning the Council. I don't know what their request is, but it may be about the Transfer Station which will be before the Council for a Special Use permit soon.

The Chapel Hill News wrote up a nice overview of the northern area suggestions, I'm posting the whole thing because I'm in a hurry.

GOAL 1: A landmark gateway that "announces" Chapel Hill at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Weaver Dairy Road.

Objectives:

* Require architecturally interesting buildings, public art, and design features fashioned as community gathering places
* Design crosswalks as a signature feature
* Create balanced architectural design that stresses continuity for both the east and west sides of the intersection
* Install wayfinding signage or art that directs residents and visitors to key destinations
* Design entry way signs so that it is a feature that incorporates Chapel Hill's values
* Consider longer term traffic control options such as pedestrian bridges and roundabouts

• • •

GOAL 2: To protect the integrity of existing neighborhoods while accommodating transit-oriented development

Objectives:

* Protect existing residential neighborhoods with adequate buffers that minimize the light, noise, and visual impacts of new development and that preserve property values
* Limit the height or design of new buildings adjacent to existing residential development in order to provide a transition area and avoid shadow effects
* Balance building density and scale with impact on existing neighborhoods
* Maintain and or improve affordable housing options in the area
* Ensure that the cumulative impact of development does not result in crowding and congestion in the area
* Reduce vehicular impact on residential neighborhoods

• • •

GOAL 3: Development that protects, restores, and enhances the environmental quality of the area

Objectives:

* Identify and protect significant trees and tree stands in the area
* Protect Booker Creek headwaters and RCD that lead to Lake Ellen, Eastwood Lake, and Eastgate shopping center
* Protect and provide adaptive reuse of historic, architecturally, or culturally significant buildings and features where possible
* Recommend new developments to include accessible public open space
* Encourage innovative on-site stormwater management, for example limit impervious surfaces, utilize vegetative roofs and harvest rainwater
* Design development to mitigate noise impacts from I-40
* Require innovative "green" development through energy efficient site planning, architecture, urban design, and maintenance respecting standards such as LEED, Healthybuild, and ASHRAE
* Use development to restore degraded habitats
* Bury existing and new electric power lines to allow for a full tree canopy
* Develop lighting standards that respect both the natural and human environmen

• • •

GOAL 4: Development that supports an active pedestrian environment and promotes transit use

Objectives:

* Concentrate commercial development in nodes and at existing commercial centers
* Establish minimum densities in order to ensure transit supportive development
* Regulate building height: Appropriately scaled, multi-story, mixed-use buildings
* Design buildings that are oriented and proximate to the transit corridors to maximize access to transit and transit use
* Encourage niche pedestrian oriented commercial development such as hotels, clothing stores, book stores, cafes, bakeries, gyms, galleries, pre-schools, and a farmer's market
* Discourage automobile oriented uses such as drive-in/drive-through services, gas stations, automobile services and repair, and car washes
* Design the ground floor level of mixed-use buildings to be capable of occupation by both residential or non-residential use
* Limit residential development close to I-40 to protect health and wellbeing of residents

• • •

GOAL 5: A highly connected bicycle and pedestrian system that provides safe, efficient, and attractive travel options

Objectives:

* Complete the bicycle and sidewalk system along corridors (Weaver Dairy Rd., Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Homestead Road and Eubanks Road)
* Avoid fragmentation caused by requiring separate developers to install sidewalks at different times
* Provide pedestrian amenities along sidewalks, such as benches, lighting, and shade with landscaped streetscapes
* Ensure safer crossing of major corridors through ground level street improvements
* Connect existing development to new development with walking and bicycle trails
* Stripe bicycle lanes per Town design manual cross section on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Weaver Dairy Road, Homestead Road and Eubanks Road
* Create meandering sidewalks for aesthetic appeal in appropriate locations
* Design varied and aesthetically interesting tree lawns, sidewalks and building setbacks that reflect the scale of the street

• • •

GOAL 6: A comprehensive transportation system that promotes bicycling, walking, and the use of transit

Objectives:

* Promote a pedestrian oriented environment by controlling the amount, placement, and design of parking
* Provide opportunities for transit oriented retail
* Create aesthetically pleasing shaded streetscapes
* Endorse and promote the NC 86/ Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Corridor Study recommendations
* Provide safe, informative, and inviting bus stops
* Improve the road network to provide more connections and safer turning options (e.g. Perkins and Weaver Dairy Road, Westminster and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).

• • •

GOAL 7: Guidelines that promote the design of safe, comfortable, active, and visually interesting buildings and streetscapes.

Objectives

* n Promote day and evening ground level pedestrian activity by including public space and attractive destinations
* Design upper floor residential accommodation to overlook public space and create eyes on the street
* Use lighting to create a safe and inviting environment for pedestrians
* Articulate building forms to reflect the existing scale of residential and smaller commercial buildings. Provide varied roof lines to add architectural interest.
* Continue pedestrian and bicycle paths into residential and commercial developments
* Limit setbacks to draw buildings close to the street
* Provide breaks in building frontages through green spaces and plazas
* At small commercial sites with two or more businesses, include a public plaza facing the street, with outdoor seating where appropriate.
* Landscape corners of major intersections to attract and buffer pedestrians from the street while providing pedestrian access to development
* Create a master landscape plan to encourage harmonious design
* Provide a landscaped streetscape along the corridors to create shade between roadways and buildings fronting the street. Building setbacks should be sufficient to allow for tree planting
* Increase minimum tree circumference for trees required to be planted by developers from 21/2" to 4"
* Provide parking and circulation on the interior away from the street
* Locate site loading and service areas behind buildings and use landscaping and decorative fencing to screen views from adjacent streets and pedestrian ways.

Issues: 

Comments

I do wish the recommendations contained within Goal 6 strengthened the bus system to include longer schedules and weekends. I would be extremely happy to use it for a night on the town.

I think it's great that there's so much emphasis on pedestrians, transit, and (to a lesser extent) bicycles. However, given that one of the perennial problems in this area over the last 10 years has been congestion on arterial streets, I would like to see a little attention paid to the importance of connectivity for cars, as well as pedestrians.

Almost all of the current development and probably at least half of future development in this neighborhood is completely automobile-oriented. Unless they are going plow through and connect all the cul-de-sacs, people will still be in their cars driving by the nice new sidewalks and bus stops and wondering why no-one seems to use them.

Thanks for putting this out Ruby-

There will be a public hearing on Nov 12 on the Task Force guidelines and recommendations. We will welcome all the input that we get.
For some reason, this area doesn't seem to generate a great deal of discussion eventhough it starts at the northern border of the Horace Williams tract aka Carolina North. If you think that CN will affect CH, so will the 350 gross acres that will be developed in the 4 focus areas that lie within 4 square miles!

 

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