Chapel Hill looked for years at how to use this land. Here’s what a developer plans.
An undeveloped strip of land hugging Interstate 40 in northern Chapel Hill could become home to 310 affordable and market-rate apartments and townhomes.
The Lullwater at Chapel Hill site — a joint project proposed by Georgia-based Novare Group and Fickling & Co. — is located just south of the interstate and east of Harris Teeter and Chapel Hill North
The roughly 20-acre site is within walking distance of two shopping centers and on two bus routes.
The Lakeview Mobile Home Park, which has been under development pressure for years, is immediately south along Weaver Dairy Road.
A concept plan reviewed Tuesday by the town’s Community Design Commission proposes up to 270 apartments in two four-story buildings on the western side of the site, plus 40 townhomes and flats in two three-story buildings on the eastern side. It also included 450 parking spaces.
Lullwater also could be served by two greenways and a future North-South bus-rapid transit station. The plan shows an urban plaza on the west side of the property next to the apartment buildings, and a larger community green space near the Adair Drive entrance.
At least 30% of the trees would be preserved, including in the center of the site, which has several streams.
The concept plan is not an official application. The CDC and the Town Council review concept plans to provide feedback before developers submit an official plan.
A council review is scheduled for Sept. 22.
History of planning for site
Project official Dan Jewell, with Coulter Jewell Thames, noted Tuesday that a subdivision was approved for the property about 30 years ago but never built. Constraints, including a power line easement, a 100-foot interstate buffer running the length of the site, and the streams, around which development is not allowed, may have stopped the project, he said.
In 2018, town staff and the Council Committee on Economic Sustainability started exploring how to develop that area, which includes the land proposed for Lullwater and a site just south near Weaver Dairy Road.
A final draft plan recommended up to 300 apartments, 174 townhomes, 20,000 square feet of retail and 60,000 square feet of office space, said Jewell, who participated. The council never adopted the plan or rezoned the land to allow those uses, he said.
Lullwater would occupy only part of the 44-acre privately owned parcel, Jewell said. Other development teams are studying the eastern side of the property, he said.
The council would need to approve a conditional rezoning before the Lullwater project could advance. The developer and the town could negotiate conditions, such as stormwater controls, traffic improvements and affordable housing.
The developer is offering to make at least 40 units, or 15% of the apartments, affordable to those earning between 80% and 120% of the town’s area median income, which is roughly $86,400 for a family of four.
Jewell said eight apartments would be priced at 80% of area median income — a rate that is affordable for someone earning up to $48,400 a year or a family of four earning up to $69,120.
Sixteen apartments could be priced affordably for someone earning up to $60,500 a year or a family of four earning $86,400, and the remaining 16 apartments could serve someone earning $72,600 a year or a family of four earning $103,680.
Board asks developer for more
Commissioners reviewing the project Tuesday asked the developer to better harmonize the buildings and the forest setting.
Commissioner John Weis and others acknowledged the site is challenging. Weis urged the developer to look to the Chapel Hill North apartments next door for an example of how to blend buildings and nature, while Chair Susana Dancy noted an “opportunity to add to the sense of place” by using the forest buffer to create a park-like area.
“My general feedback to this is that it feels like an urban form plopped in a (forest),” Dancy said. “There’s almost a disconnect between the setting and the way the buildings are interacting with the landscape. I’m struggling a little bit with that. Your plaza is a neat idea, but it’s not framed by buildings. It’s got a parking lot around it.”
Commissioner Susan Lyons agreed and also asked the developer to think about pedestrian safety in establishing the greenways, especially since residents of the Carol Woods Retirement Community to the east might want to walk there.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 12:13 PM.
