CHALT, the special-interest political action committee formed earlier this year, hosted the first Chapel Hill candidate forum last night at the Seymour Center.
Questions asked at the forum centered on development issues. Questions were often long and leading, including questions with factual errors and missing context. It seemed that questions were designed to promote a specific viewpoint rather than to give candidates a chance to share their views and vision for our town. Candidate pushback about the biased questions even led to the moderator, Theresa Raphael Grimm, to comment that she was only the messenger and had not written the questions – a CHALT committee had, she told the audience.
A Storify of the tweets from the forum is below, in case you missed it.
Issues:
Comments
how about an example
Travis
Could you give us an example of a factual error among the questions or missing context? Saying it happened without prividing an example doesn't draw much water.
For example, Jim Ward says he's a friend of trees, but when you look at his votes, for example to approve Obey Creek and what that project will do to the trees he has befriended on the project site as well as in the resource conservation district, you might think his statement was somewhat misleading, self-serving and a tad glib.
Examples
Happily, Don:
re: examples
Michael didn't seem to have any problem answering the question. At every one of these kinds of forums that I've attended over the years, the candidates have repeatedly restructured the questions. What Michael didn't say is that the walk between downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro where the groceries are located is right around 1 mile with lots of broken sidewalks and road crossings. When I lived in downtown Norfolk VA, at the time they were just beginning to redevelop, the first amenity the town brought in was a bodega, similar to the Med Deli grocery.
Regarding the transit contribution by the Obey Creek developer, here is what the development agreement says. I'll leave it to each reader to decide if it is sufficient given the projected traffic impact:
1) The Developer Owner or Representative shall make an annual contribution of $0.02 per square foot of completed heated building area to help fund transit service to the Property and Southern Village area. This contribution shall be made for the term of this Agreement and shall be adjusted each year on July 1st for any new buildings completed in the past twelve (12) months. The payment shall be made no later than September 1st of each year.
i. The first payment shall be made upon issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy;
ii. The $0.02 contribution shall be adjusted annually with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) category “all urban consumers”;
iii. All payments made from three years after the Effective Date of this Agreement, provided a Certificate of Occupancy for the Developed Property has been issued, shall be no less than $10,000.
"What Michael didn't say is
"What Michael didn't say is that the walk between downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro where the groceries are located is right around 1 mile with lots of broken sidewalks and road crossings"
There are also three bus routes that travel between Weaver St Market and the corner or Franklin/Columbia, including one (J Route) that has 15-minute frequency in both directions most of the day.
An easy walk, bike, or bus trip
For whatever it's worth, back in 2008 when I finished undergrad and started work in the marketing department of Weaver Street Market (then located in Carr Mill Mall behind the main store), I lived on Graham Street (coincidentally, Greenbridge was in the beginning stages of construction at the time). It was the easiest pedestrian commute I ever had in my entire life.
It didn't last long before both me and my office had moved, and I really miss having such a great walk to work. It was amazing that my previous commute to UNC campus (which I actually documented at the time, below) could be made even easier.
Looking back, it's great to see how some of the problems I documented back then have been fixed by the town councils since. There's a lot more to do, but I'm very glad to see us moving in the right direction.
true but
Michael's answer didn't involve the bus--he only addressed walking to the grocery. I personally don't find riding the bus with more than a small bag of groceries to be comfortable.
Mis-remembering
Travis
Thanks for the answers. I believe you and the incumbents and Michael Parker are mis-remembering some of the details, however.
Saying the downtown does not have the density to support a downtown supermarket is just plain bizaare -- the plans for The Edge include a supermarket, and that project is going at a site that is within half a mile of two other supermarkets. With all the condos and apartments that are going up or planned for downtown, an urban supermarket certainly would fit into town plans. However, no one on the council is stepping up to make this happen, and Parker seems content with walking to Carrboro to do his grocery shopping.
Jim Ward's memory of the Eubanks Road infrastructure being paid for by the developer is faulty. Yes, the builder will pay for some of that infrastructure -- $1 million -- but the town left the agreement open-ended and thereby put itself on the hook for costs above that figure -- the infrastructure that Ward touts could cost the town a few million dollars that the council should have pressed the developer to pay.
I believe you and the incumbents are mis-remembering those "concrete" examples of public input on Obey Creek. At the forum, the incumbents didn't provide a single example of concrete input -- just vague references. And remember that the council would not allow further discussion of plans that would have cost the town less in services and reduced the traffic impact. The only example the council provided during that process was how not to negotiate a special use permit.
And that transit contribution for Obey Creek? Only applies for the first three years of the project.
I was disappointed that the incumbents at the forum were quick to pat themselves on the back for accomplishments they couldn't detail. Made for a lot of happy talk but very little reality -- Lee Storrow especially was good at projecting a positive attitude but providing no details. Maybe OP can inject more reality into its forum and make sure the incumbents provide details of their supposed accomplishments. That would be a real public service.
Obey Creek transit contribution for 20 years, not only 3
A read of the pertinent Obey Creek Development Agreement section (§ 5.4(e)(1) ) shows that the developers have agreed to contribute to Chapel Hill Transit for the entire length of the development agreement. This is twenty years, not only three. The term of the agreement is defined in § 4.2(a), which plainly states that it is a 20-year agreement from the effective date of July 1, 2015:
What you might be getting confused about is that in § 5.4(e)(1)(iii) it states that IF a Certificate of Occupancy has been issued by the third year of the development agreement, then regardless of the $0.02 formula, the contribution yearly MUST be at least $10,000.
Cost of buses
Based on the most current info I can find (2006), a new bus costs roughly $350,000 (purchase price only). At $10,000 a year for 20 years, Obey Creek will not have even paid for the cost of 1 bus, let alone the operating expenses. If the developer was paying $.02 on 1M sq ft for 20 years, they would cover the cost of 1 bus and possibly the cost of a driver (but not fuel, maintenance or insurance.
I just don't see how anyone can think this was a good deal.
Obey Creek generates $163,000 per year for transit, NOT $10,000
at full build out at $300 million in assessed valuation, at the current transit tax of 5.1 cents per $100 valuation (under the ten cents authorized by the 1973 referendum) Obey Creek Wil generate $153,000 annually in property tax, PLUS the additional developer contribution of $10,000. Additionally there will be motor vehicle taxes generated that by law are dedicated to transit, PLUS 1/2% for transit generated by residents of the area and new retail. If it were indeed just $10,000 that certainly would be a bad deal for transit
Good to know but
Full build out is potentially 20 years away, if ever. Since the developer has said the residential portion of the project will be built first, the demands on the transit system will not be covered by the revenue generated. In the meantime..... And then there's the possibility that the developer may exit from the project at any time and the new developer will want to renegotiate the deal.
CHALT Forum Questions
The questions have been posted here. Folks can judge for themselves.
Misleading answers
Yeah, those are some leading questions. I imagine a forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce would be just as partisan.
But what concerns you more -- the leading questions or the misleading answers? Jim Ward's on The Edge and Donna Bell's on Obey Creek were real doozies!
Interesting
I'm a little suprised to see that you agree with Travis that the CHALT questions were leading.
Not really interesting
What is the purpose of a forum if not to question the incumbents on their record and ask challengers how they would have done things differently?
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