Chapel Hill takes stock of northwest

CHAPEL HILL -- The Town Council has tentatively endorsed a moratorium on development in northwest Chapel Hill until a task force can advise them on how to better control it.

The goal: to shape development along N.C. 86 just south of Interstate 40 and create a gateway that reflects Chapel Hill's values.

"This is Chapel Hill," said Town Council member Laurin Easthom, describing the message they want to send. "This is a walkable, pedestrian-friendly, bike-friendly community."

"How do you know you're in Chapel Hill as opposed to anywhere else?" said Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom. "There is a certain aesthetic that we're seeking."

At a work session Wednesday, no one on the council articulated exactly what that aesthetic might be, but they agreed they don't like the width of MLK Boulevard, which invites speeding drivers, rather than signaling the entrance to a town.

"It's already horrible," said Mayor Kevin Foy. "You don't want to be there. It looks like everywhere else.

"I think what we're afraid of is ... it's headed toward more suburbanism, and nobody wants that," he said.

Town Council member Cam Hill jokingly suggested life-sized posters of future development "so we could play with what it looks like."

That was just the most fanciful of several suggestions Wednesday. The others included strict rezoning to gain more control over development in that area and downgrading Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from its status as a state highway to emphasize pedestrian improvements.

The council came to no long-term conclusion but decided to appoint a task force to make recommendations within six months. The council will await advice from town staff before convening the task force and enacting the moratorium.

The council focused on an area roughly bound by I-40 on the north, the Carrboro town line on the west, Homestead Road on the south and Sunrise Road on the east.

They agreed to allow an application to build 123 apartments behind the Chapel Hill North shopping center to continue to move through the town's planning process. They asked the planning staff to advise them on whether to also exclude another project by the same developer, Crosland, from the moratorium.

The second Crosland project, Chapel Watch Village, is proposed on land owned by Gary Buck, who pleaded with the council to let their joint proposal for 120 townhomes go forward on Eubanks Road.

"We submitted an application four and a half years ago," said Buck. "This will not affect any possible thing that you folks are doing."

Foy disagreed, saying, "It actually has a direct implication."

Chapel Watch Village would add traffic to Eubanks Road and MLK Boulevard and is located across Eubanks Road from a large chunk of land the council identified for possible rezoning.

Council members are looking at the northwest quadrant as a potential model for development in other parts of town. The area has dense residential development, along with desirable amenities such as grocery stores, movie theaters and a post office, but residents complain they can't walk to those places because of traffic on MLK Boulevard and Weaver Dairy Road.

"It has the pieces that people need for their daily lives," said council member Jim Ward. "What tears it apart are those two roads."