Obey Creek
Last week, you might have read a Gizmodo article about how millennials will live in cities unlike anything we've ever seen before. If you haven't read it yet, I highly encourage you to, because, unlike so many articles in the media today, this one does an excellent job of capturing the nuances of why we are seeing certain behavioral patterns among millennials when it comes to where we live.
The critical takeaway from this article is one that has major implications for us in Chapel Hill/Carrboro: Millennials are choosing to live in urban neighborhoods, but not necessarily in urban downtowns.
This behavioral pattern shows that what millennials value is not the big city life itself, but having easy access to amenities like walkability and public transit. For suburbs around the country, this means attracting the next generation of Americans requires urbanizing to provide these kind of amenities.
It’s tough trying to boil multiple-hour meetings into a news story. Local media outlets have recapped the public hearing where the Obey Creek development agreement was approved after a nearly six year process (read more here and here). I tried futilely to capture what Council said in 140 characters (see Storifys from the May 11, May 18, June 8, and June 15 meetings that discussed Obey Creek).
The Chapel Hill Town Council voted 7-1 to approve the Obey Creek development agreement last night. Council member Ed Harrison was the lone no vote against the proposal.
The development will be built across from Southern Village on 15-501 South and, at full buildout, will include 800 apartments and townhomes, 475,000 square feet of retail space, 600,000 square feet of officespace. and 400 hotel rooms. The project is expected to take 20 years to be completed.
The development agreement also preserves 85 acres of land to be named the Wilson Creek Preserve.
At their meeting last night, the Chapel Hill Town Council took public comment and discussed the Obey Creek development agreement, but delayed a vote on the proposal until next Monday.
The Council also discussed and enacted the 2015-16 budget and approved a revised personnel ordinance.
Public comment on Obey Creek centered around the issues that have long dominated the discussion: traffic, transit, and the size of the development. Council members seemed interested in delaying their vote a week due to new staff information, including smaller development scenario outcomes, that the Council received last Friday.
Tweets recapping last night's meeting are captured in the Storify below. Have thoughts about Obey Creek or the other items discussed? Add them in the comments.
Though most of Orange County's public bodies are still in recess for the holidays, the Chapel Hill Town Concil will hold three important meetings. The first, a work session, will cover the financial side of the town's transit plan. The council will also meet with the county's state legislative delegation to discuss priorities in advnace of the Genenal Assembly re-convening next week, and hold a special on Obey Creek.
CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS
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The Board is in recess until Tuesday, January 13.
CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL
At a special meeting on Monday, the Chapel Hill Town Council decided to formally move into the negotiaton phase in the development agreement process for Obey Creek, a proposed mixed-use development across from Southern Village on 15-501.
Developer East West Partners presented a revised proposal to Council Monday. While the overall size and mix of the project has not changed, the layout and some design elements have changed. The proposal, as it currently stands, will develop 35 acres and preserve 85 in perpetuity. All buildings will be LEED certified.
The mix of uses is proposed to include 400,000 square feet of retail space, 250,000 square feet of officespace, and 600-700 residential units, including a senior housing component. All parking on the site would be structured except for street parking along streets within the development.
East West Partners also provided a model of the current proposal to help councilmembers and members of the public better understand the scale of development (see photo).
I just returned home from a three plus hour meeting about Obey Creek. This was the last meeting before Chapel Hill decides to enter a development agreement negotiation. Phase I the Compass Committee ended last winter, Phase II addional information gathering has been during the last six months and phase III negotiations will probably begin soon. The first hour was a repeat of the traffic analysis presentation that was given last month at the library. More data will be obtained from additional studies but the analysis incorporates 1.2% traffic growth rate as the back ground increase in traffic. It projects 10% of the Obey Creek development traffic to be carried by mass transit. The next two hours were devoted to the general Obey Creek plan, modifications and potential points for negotiation. The general plan would allocate 50 acres for green space ( part of which could become come a school if needed) and 30acres developed near 15-501. At the end Roger stood up and stated that if Council permitted less than 1,000,000 square feet he would use current zoning for creating 120 homes on the 85 acres.
The Town of Chapel Hill will hold public information meetings related to the proposed mixed use development on the east side of U.S. 15-501 South across from Southern Village. The meetings are scheduled for noon to 1:30 pm on Wednesday, May 7, and 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 15, in Room B of the Chapel Hill Public Library.
Residents will hear from the Town and the development team on several topics including design, transportation, housing strategies and the environment. Both meetings will follow the same format and topics, so residents can choose the more convenient day to attend.
Obey Creek is a 124-acre property under consideration for a proposed mixed use development. It is one of two potential developments using a new development agreement process.
Obey Creek is within Area 6: U.S. 15-501 South, one of six future focus areas outlined in Chapel Hill 2020, the community's comprehensive plan. Future focus areas are portions of Chapel Hill most likely to change in the future due to vacant land, underdeveloped sites, and their locations along transportation and transit corridors. In total, these areas represent about 24 percent of the land in Chapel Hill, and they do not include the predominately single-family areas and neighborhoods of Chapel Hill. The town’s other focus areas are Area 1: Downtown Chapel Hill; Area 2: North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/I-40; Area 3: South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Homestead Road to Estes Drive; Area 4: Highway 54; and Area 5: Ephesus-Fordham.
For more information on the Obey Creek Development Agreement process, visit http://www.townofchapelhill.org/obeycreek.
Questions? Email [email protected] with “Obey Creek” in the subject line.
Date:
Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location:
Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive, Chapel Hill (Meeting Room B)
The Town of Chapel Hill will hold public information meetings related to the proposed mixed use development on the east side of U.S. 15-501 South across from Southern Village. The meetings are scheduled for noon to 1:30 pm on Wednesday, May 7, and 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 15, in Room B of the Chapel Hill Public Library.
Residents will hear from the Town and the development team on several topics including design, transportation, housing strategies and the environment. Both meetings will follow the same format and topics, so residents can choose the more convenient day to attend.
Obey Creek is a 124-acre property under consideration for a proposed mixed use development. It is one of two potential developments using a new development agreement process.
Obey Creek is within Area 6: U.S. 15-501 South, one of six future focus areas outlined in Chapel Hill 2020, the community's comprehensive plan. Future focus areas are portions of Chapel Hill most likely to change in the future due to vacant land, underdeveloped sites, and their locations along transportation and transit corridors. In total, these areas represent about 24 percent of the land in Chapel Hill, and they do not include the predominately single-family areas and neighborhoods of Chapel Hill. The town’s other focus areas are Area 1: Downtown Chapel Hill; Area 2: North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/I-40; Area 3: South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Homestead Road to Estes Drive; Area 4: Highway 54; and Area 5: Ephesus-Fordham.
For more information on the Obey Creek Development Agreement process, visit http://www.townofchapelhill.org/obeycreek.
Questions? Email [email protected] with “Obey Creek” in the subject line.
Date:
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Location:
Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive, Chapel Hill (Meeting Room B)
The Obey Creek Compass Committee, a 17-member committee formed by the Chapel Hill Town Council to assist in identifying key issues to be considered in the development of a concept plan for the Obey Creek property, unanimously approved its final report to the Chapel Hill Town Council at its last meeting on Monday.
The report is now available online here (PDF). You can review all of the materials from the committee, as well as videos of all committee meetings, on the town website here.
The report will be received by the Town Council at their January 13th meeting, where the Council will then consider next steps for the development agreement process.
(Full disclosure: I was a member of the Obey Creek Compass Committee.)
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