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].
It's budget season, and here in Chapel Hill the impacts of decreased revenue and increased costs are being felt- especially in Transit. In the Manager's recommended budget, the Transit Fund will receive a 1.5% increase, but due to increased costs for administration and vehicle maintenance, Chapel Hill Transit is proposing the following service cuts:
Weekday Fixed Route Service
The Chapel Hill Affordable Housing Technical Assistance Group concluded its meetings on Tuesday May 17th by finalizing a draft of a 1-page Affordable Housing Strategy (below). The one-pager has been emailed out to all those who attended a focus group and feedback sought. The final Strategy will be presented to the Town Council on Monday, June 13th with participation of all Group members.
I believe this is a comprehensive strategy that, once passed by the Chapel Hill Town Council, will allow Town staff to move forward with it’s work to support and provide a broad range of affordable housing without having the need to continually seek approval of the Council.
The news this week that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners has voted to charge a new tipping fee at the landfill to raise money for remediation in the Rogers Road neighborhood
- a move that seemed somewhat ham-fisted to municipal governments (see
below about that) - reminded me of a very interesting conversation I had
last month. I attended oral history performances by a UNC class that conducted interviews with civil rights activists.
Two students had worked closely with David Caldwell and Gertrude Nunn
and learned about their neighborhood's 3-decade challenge of trying to
get justice for living with the landfill that serves all of Orange
County.
One grad student who is very familiar with local politics
turned to me afterward and asked the same question that was in my mind:
our County Commissioners have to be one of the most liberal boards in
the state. How is it that the Rogers Road neighborhood has been stymied
by them repeatedly, instead of being championed by the environmental and
social justice advocates on the Board?
When the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted on March 1 against a request by OWASA to amend the Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary Agreement (WSMPBA) -- and the Chapel Hill Town Council
followed suit on April 25 -- the local water and sewer utility found itself in need of a compromise or a new strategy.
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