The Town of Chapel Hill hosted a community input session on May 30th to discuss the latest plans to develop the Breadmans site on Rosemary Street — a proposal that has been under discussion since 2015. A few years ago, Roy Piscitello, owner of Breadman’s Restaurant, teamed up with developer Larry Short to propose a project called Amity Station to be built on the West Rosemary Street site where Breadman’s now stands. The developer has submitted at least five plans and none have been populat with the neighborhood. The iteration of the development team’s concept plan, presented in May 2017, proposed to construct a 243,693 sq. ft., 6- or 7-story building, mixed-use development as pictured above.
Last Thursday, the large Hargraves Community Center room was full of neighbors from Northside, town staff, developers and others interested in the well being of Northside. George Barrett from the Jackson Center facilitated an active crowd and three presentations followed:
- Town role. Jess Anderson described the negotiation process for a Development Agreement. (In 2016 the Council decided to try a negotiation with the developer to see if the Town Council could arrive at an agreement that would satisfy all parties.) Jess explained the choices before the community and the importance of hearing from them their preferences.
- Northside interests and concerns. Kathy Atwater said that Northside interests have not changed. Citizens want office and retail, not student housing, building size that fits in with neighborhood, and development that will bring community benefits.
- Developers. A team described the studies they’ve done and the modifications made to their design to respond to community concerns. Changes included stepping down height on the Northside side of project and agreeing to enforce an age limit for rentals.