Group aims to buy plot, keep it green

Carrboro's mayor supports the private effort to raise money for a public space

CARRBORO -- A group is trying to raise the down payment on $1.4 million it needs to save a green hillside near downtown from buildings, cars and pollution.

The Carrboro Greenspace Collective is trying to preserve about 10.5 acres off of Old Pittsboro Road, where the "Old Sparrow Pool," a community swimming spot, used to be.

The property went on the market four or five months ago. The collective wants to preserve it, saying that groups already are using it and that the public has not embraced the town's designated gathering spots as much as the places they have chosen on their own.

The Town Commons, the public space beside Town Hall that houses the Carrboro Farmers Market twice a week, requires a reservation fee and purchase of liability insurance. The Century Center, another public facility, charges rental fees for people or groups who want to use its rooms.

The town's most popular public space isn't public at all.

Carr Mill Mall management reminded the community of that last month when it imposed rules on dancing and playing music on the lawn outside Weaver Street Market.

The Carrboro Greenspace Collective wants a "true public space," said Tamara Tal, a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill who helps lead the group.

And the group wants it to be in a part of town that many people can walk or bike to.

"My experience of the Century Center is its use is not as significant as the Weaver Street lawn," said Sammy Slade, who also leads the collective. "And you only go to the Town Commons for an event that's held there."

"We'd like to make the Greenspace for people to go to just because they enjoy the space," he added.

Two or three appraisers have asked about the property since it came on the market, said Marty Roupe, the town's development review administrator. So far, none has followed up, he said.

Right now, the ReCYCLEry -- a bicycle mechanics collective that loans bikes out -- is on the property, along with a community garden and a house that Slade, his girlfriend and a few other tenants rent.

Mayor Mark Chilton is supporting the grass-roots movement.

"It's a really beautiful piece of woods right in the middle of Carrboro," said Chilton, who added that he used to live near the property. "It's a historic house, a historic site. It's a beautiful spot worthy of preservation.

"And their idea of using it as a demonstration site for sustainability is very keeping with my own personal philosophy," he added.

Chilton has offered the collective $5,000 toward buying the property from owner April Morris of Pomona, Calif., if members raise the other $15,000 for the down payment themselves.

The Greenspace Collective has raised $600 from an event it held to spread the word, and it's now asking for donations from the community.

"Carrboro is a very wealthy town, in comparison to the rest of North Carolina, and they value public space and free expression," Tal said. "This is a town where creating a space like this is really possible."