Economy & Downtown
Chapel Hill's downtown has long benefited from its proximity to a captive audience of University students without cars. While downtowns around the country have been failing, ours has survived fairly well. However, we have seen an increase in the number of chain stores locating downtown, and instability in the Downtown Economic Development Corporation. In the near future, we will see new Town-directed development on two major parking lots have a big impact.
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Carrboro's downtown has also done better than many towns of comparable size, thanks largely to the presence of Weaver Street Market and progressive shoppers from the rest of the county. The Board of Aldermen has been addressing the evolution of the downtown, and have established a number of community resources in the downtown area including free wireless Internet access, and a low-power radio station.
Via Town of Chapel Hill e-mail:
Food Trucks in Chapel Hill?
2/17/2011
The Town Council will hold a public forum on the issue of food trucks in Chapel Hill at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The Town received a citizen's petition to consider permitting and regulating food trucks. The Council invites input into the questions of whether food trucks should be allowed to operate on private property in town and under what restrictions.
Town zoning regulations are silent on food trucks on private property. Under state regulations, a food truck must operate in conjunction with a permitted restaurant for daily cleaning and servicing, and for solid and liquid waste disposal.
Residents with an interest in this topic are encouraged to attend the Council meeting of Feb. 28. If you are unable to attend the meeting, ideas and comments about this issue may be sent to Kendal Brown, Town of Chapel Hill planner, at kbrown@townofchapelhill.org or 919-968-2728.
Date:
Monday, February 28, 2011 - 7:00pm
Location:
Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill
Yesterday there was a community meeting for Northside residents to learn about the evolving framework for downtown development. The Downtown Partnership, who is a partner with the Town of Chapel Hill in the development of the plan, live-tweeted the meeting at @CHDpartnership for folks who couldn't attend.
It sounds like it was a very good start, although residents will need to do more digesting and analysis before they have an informed response to the proposal. Here's what the Partnership tweeted...
Date:
Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 1:00pm to Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 5:00pm
Among the items the Chapel Hill Town Council will be reviewing at tonight's public hearing is a revision to the LUMO to loosen the regulations on ground signs at commercial developments outside of downtown, including:
- Removing the limit on the amount of information that can be displayed on the sign;
- Increasing the maximum information display area from 15 to 50-72 square feet;
- Increasing the maximum overall signage area from 15 to 216 square feet; and
- Increasing the maximum height from 8 feet to 10-12 feet, depending on the speed limit of the adjacent road.
As an active worker-owner with Weaver Street Market Co-operative these past six years, I have worked hard not only to help WSM be successful as a business, but also as a model for democratic co-operation. It is with regret that I have to report that WSM continues to fail on both counts. It is time now to begin an active, community-wide conversation about the future financial and co-operative direction of WSM, and I invite OrangePolitics to take part in that conversation.
Bottom line: WSM has a crippling long-term debt of $8 million, incurred undemocratically in order to pay for the dubious expansion project of 2007/2008. That debt is costing our co-op millions in capital and interest repayments each year. Hence, the need for the 15% sales increase in 2011. With similar efforts required in the next four years.
It is WSM workers who are having to make those repayments by working ever harder, for less. We get longer opening hours. Less shift hours. Insufficient staff support. Paltry pay raises. And no dividend (haven't seen one for the past three years).
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