Hillsborough lets developer build taller, denser to land affordable apartments
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- Hillsborough approved a 333-unit project with taller buildings and more density.
- Developers must reserve 10% of units for households earning up to 80% of AMI.
- WP East will contribute $2.1 million for sewer upgrades and pedestrian access.
People who want to live in Hillsborough could soon have an option for affordable living in the town’s tallest and most dense community a short walk from recreation and senior services.
The town’s Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a development agreement with WP East Acquisitions LLC last week for 333 apartments on 11 acres at 1001 Corporate Drive.
The site — the former Duke Hospice At the Meadowlands facility — is in the Meadowlands complex, next door to the Orange County Schools Welcome Center and within walking distance of the Sportsplex and the Passmore Senior Center off U.S. 70-A.
The Meadowlands is also home to several businesses, a church, and the Orange County Emergency Services center.
The apartment complex could be built over seven years and include 34 apartments offered at a lower monthly rent for 99 years.
Half of the affordable apartments will serve households earning 60% or less of the area median income, for example, up to $62,460 for a family of three. The other half will serve households earning up to 80% of AMI, or up to $83,280 for a family of three.
Town trades density for community needs
But in a first for Hillsborough, the building or buildings — no site plan has been submitted yet — could be up to 65 feet tall, or about 20 feet taller than what’s now allowed. The upper stories will be set farther back from the street or property line to reduce the visual height of the building.
A revised town density bonus will also let the developer build 30 apartments per acre instead of 20 apartments.
The developer has also agreed to pay $1.8 million toward a long-planned town sewer system upgrade and $300,000 to build a paved, accessible walkway between Eno Haven Apartments, which backs up to the project site, and the Sportsplex.
If the cost exceeds $300,000, the developer will give the town roughly $400,000 and land for a path.
Next steps include a traffic study and a more detailed site plan that shows where buildings, parking and driveways would be located.
Hillsborough density bonus changes
Hillsborough already has a density bonus on the books that allows 30 housing units per acre, but it only applies to projects in which 80% of the housing is affordable to lower-income tenants.
That density bonus has never been used, Senior Planner Molly Boyle told the board before the Sept. 8 vote.
“Completely affordable housing projects are generally funded through [local and federal subsidies] … and the competition for those is high,” Boyle said. “There are only a limited number of projects that receive that in the county each year, and we generally end up losing out to Chapel Hill. They just obviously have a very robust affordable housing program.”
The revised density bonus will now apply to all proposed multi-family housing developments whose developers meet the same four requirements:
- Price at least 10% of new housing at a rate affordable to households earning up to 80% of the area median income
- Build the project within 500 feet of a major road
- Not locate the project next to an existing single-family development
- Negotiate a development agreement with the town
The town has four properties in its planning jurisdiction — Hampton Pointe, Eno Haven, Heritage Apartments and Patriots Pointe — where developers could benefit from the change, Boyle said. All four are developed but could be redeveloped to be more dense.
