Chapel Hill OKs housing plan with trails, big park — and neighborhood safety concerns
Neighbors failed in their last stand Wednesday to get more concessions for better pedestrian safety and buffers between their homes and a new multifamily community south of Meadowmont on the Chapel Hill-Durham border.
The Chapel Hill Town Council asked several questions Wednesday before voting unanimously 9-0 to approve Northwood Ravin’s plan for up to 500 apartments, cottages and townhouses, including 36 affordable units, between N.C. 54 and Barbee Chapel Road.
The 36-acre project is next to the Barbee Chapel Apartments project approved in May for 350 apartments and townhouses, including 23 affordable units. The two developments will replace a heavily forested area and roughly a dozen single-family homes.
Four Hillmont neighbors spoke Wednesday, saying they had supported the mixed-use Woodmont project approved for the site in 2008 but never built, because it preserved more of the forest and offered more substantial buffers than planned for Hillmont.
The latest plan will cause significant noise and light pollution, and Northwood Ravin has not responded to their concerns, Sherwood Forest neighbor Jodon Flick said. She urged the council to delay a vote until the developer addresses their issues.
“We have spent hours in this room listening to the developer say they can’t make enough money if we don’t do it their way,” Flick said. “I’m all for them making a profit off of their investment, but it’s unacceptable and unfair and immoral for them to make a profit at the expense of hardworking neighbors who’ve invested their life savings in these modest homes.”
Northwood Ravin officials widened the buffer with the neighborhood from 10 feet to 30 feet, but a buffer around a creek that bisects the site and a legal agreement with the owners of the adjacent Morgan at Chapel Hill complex limit what they can do, Northwood Ravin development partner Adam Golden said.
The 2008 agreement between Woodmont developer Capital Associates and the owner of the Morgan gives the latter 30 days to reject changes to what’s built next to its complex and also regulates landscaping and community rules for both sites.
Northwood Ravin unsuccessfully tried to talk with the Morgan at Chapel Hill property owners last year about the agreement, which applies regardless of the owner, according to Dwight Bassett, the town’s director of economic development and parking services.
Pedestrian pathway unsettled
Other neighbors outlined concerns Wednesday about increasing traffic in the heavily traveled commuter corridor and the danger to pedestrians and drivers that they said Northwood Ravin has failed to resolve on Stancell Drive, a service road that parallels N.C. 54.
The project will expand pedestrian trails and sidewalks that intermittently link residents with N.C. 54, Meadowmont’s retail center, and transit at UNC’s nearby Friday Center, and Northwood Ravin is also responsible for conducting a “walk audit” in coordination with the town and designing a 10-foot-wide pathway on Stancell Drive.
However, neither the town nor the developer is obligated to build the pathway, which would be subject to N.C. Department of Transportation approval, town staff said.
Sherwood Forest neighbor Dean Blackburn referred to Golden’s comments earlier in the meeting about walking the area to see the problem firsthand.
“Adding 500 cars to this service road without additional infrastructure will only have traffic consequences,” Blackburn said. “The applicant puts all of the responsibility on the town and the state and takes none for himself.”
Hillmont project details
In addition to some affordable housing, Hillmont will also include a lot of green and recreation space, including a six-acre park located around a pond, outdoor sports courts and trails that will be available for public use
The council had asked Golden about adding some commercial space, but he declined at an October hearing, saying the site lacks the visibility and easy highway access to make most commercial uses viable. The residential zoning will allow space, however, for a child or adult day care facility and for pop-up retail or food trucks.
Here are more details:
▪ What’s planned: 390-500 apartments, townhouses and cottages in several three- to five-story buildings with some structured parking in addition to surface lots.
▪ Amenities: 6-acre park with a pond; playground, trails and recreational fields; pool and clubhouse.
▪ Affordable housing: Up to 36 apartments, with half serving people at 60% and half serving 80% of the area median income. Rents could start at roughly $1,000 a month for a studio apartment.
▪ Getting around: UNC’s Friday Center is a hub for Chapel Hill Transit and GoTriangle buses; the project could add to pedestrian trails and sidewalks.
This story was originally published November 16, 2023 at 8:57 AM.
