Letter to Mayor and Councilors,
More duplex clusters might be coming to our single-family neighborhoods soon if the proposed elimination of single-family zoning protections is approved.
Here is the small cluster of two duplexes on Hillsborough Street that I reported to you earlier in a case study of the economics of replacing single-family houses with duplexes.
721-23 Hillsborough Street
On Purefoy Road, behind Merritt’s Grill on South Columbia, a cluster of duplexes has four duplexes identical to the two on Hillsborough and two others with the same style but with fore and aft units. So duplexes like these are already approved and built in other zones and are ready to go into Chapel Hill single-family neighborhoods if rezoning is approved by “text amendment.”
215 Purefoy Road in 2014
Duplex cluster under construction, 2019-20
The middle of the cluster is all parking lot. This lawn is the only type of green space there.
Parking shed at 215 Purefoy Road. Where is the playground?
If your intentions are to provide affordable housing for families, we urge you to ensure that the housing is appropriate for families and children. And please protect from teardown the houses they live in now.
— Don Liner