The Town is developing a land use map to guide development for future years. At the recent CHALT Candidates Forum, Mayor Pam Hemminger urged people to attend public input meetings and comment on the draft future land use maps. A formally adopted land use map will go a long way toward establishing a vision for the community’s future wants and would establish the stability and predictability that town citizens long for.
However the 2049 Future Land Use Map is far in the future. We want the Council to develop a nearer term map of where they want growth to occur.
On Wednesday, October 2, Town staff will give an update on and report to the Town Council on the process and input so far. See the agenda materials here.
This iterative process has been frustrating for many because the staff and consultants envision a future of high-intensity land use premised on a higher rate of population growth than Chapel Hill has seen in the past. We don’t think this approach accurately reflects what citizens want in their future.
For example at a recent information session at Extraordinary Ventures on September 12, the drafts showed small changes, such as a bit more open space and a drop in the maximum density near Bus Rapid Transit stops from eight to six stories. For the downtown area, the proposed changes envision basically solid blocks of high-rise buildings, some adjacent to the historic district. During the public comment period, residents from the Windsor Circle neighborhood reacted with anger to the proposal that their single-family neighborhood be changed to denser townhouse development. and later sent this petition to the Town Council.
Anther source of concern is the way the Council’s request for maps indicating environmental constraints has been handled. In a forward step, flood plain and flood ways were shown on the most recent maps for the various focus areas. Yet when we asked the staff why 6 – 8 story buildings still occupy the areas that flood, the explanation from staff is that these apparent conflicts will be dealt with later. We wonder when.
Come to the Council meeting Wednesday and voice your opinion.