Chapel Hill approves up to 700 new homes despite concern about downhill flooding
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The council approved phased plan for 450–710 housing units on 45 wooded acres.
- Neighbors urged stormwater fixes and independent analysis over flooding concerns.
- Project near transit; 10% rentals ≤80% AMI, 15% of townhomes sold below market.
Construction could start in the next few years on a plan to add up to 710 apartments and for-sale townhomes to 45 acres along Interstate 40 in northern Chapel Hill.
The Chapel Hill Town Council heard from about a dozen neighbors of the 860 Weaver Dairy project site on Wednesday and had a robust discussion about stormwater and the town’s housing needs before approving the project 8-1 .
It’s hard to fix “problems that were created by the generations of sprawl,” council member Melissa McCullough said, but the developer is taking steps to address stormwater and add much-needed housing and dense construction that does more with less land.
“We don’t have a lot of vacant land in Chapel Hill, and we desperately need this housing. We desperately need affordable housing … [and] we need attainable market-rate housing so that our children can afford to live here,” she said.
Council member Wes McMahon agreed that townhomes near greenways and transit are positive , but the stormwater problems gave him second thoughts. The town should “make a commitment to the downstream neighbors to actually improve infrastructure for them in a meaningful way,” he said.
“We still have this issue where we’re not adequately addressing the concerns of downstream neighbors that really have little to do with this project, as much as our town’s sluggish approach to addressing” stormwater and flooding, McMahon said.
What is the 860 Weaver Dairy plan?
EB Capital Partners LLC is at least the third developer to try building on the site hugging I-40, and limited by stream buffers and utility easements.
The approved project will be built in phases, adding two, five-story apartment buildings and a parking deck next to I-40 on the western side of the site, close to the Chapel Hill North apartments and shopping center. The eastern side will have for-sale townhomes near existing homes and the Carol Woods Retirement Community.
Neighbors said they are especially concerned about stormwater runoff, as well as lights and noise, from a wedge of dense townhomes and a driveway planned for a “dogleg” site between the Coventry neighborhood and St. Benedict’s Anglican Church.
The council made a last-minute amendment to give EB Capital Partners the option of moving the townhomes to a site that was set aside for future commercial space. There are no plans yet for that space, developer Ernie Brown said, and the project is already within walking distance of shops and restaurants, bus stops, and medical offices.
The amendment leaves the driveway in place, but gives it a larger landscaping buffer.
Council member Elizabeth Sharp, who shared neighbors’ concerns about dense construction on the dogleg site, voted against the revised project, saying the agreement with the developer is not a guarantee.
“I think that you’ve worked really hard to make it possible, but there’s only so much room,” Sharp said. “There’s only so much buffer you can get. There’s only so many trees you [can] cut down. I just don’t think it works here, as much as we might want it to work.”
Stormwater, traffic are the biggest concerns
Stormwater is the biggest concern, because 860 Weaver Dairy drains onto surrounding land, flooding neighborhoods during storms. It then courses downhill through the Booker Creek watershed to Eastgate Crossing shopping center.
Coventry neighbor Brian Grimwood raised the specter of another tropical storm like Chantal, which flooded dozens of homes and businesses last year. More rooftops and pavement could exacerbate the problem, he said.
“If the developer can’t be required to remediate, then I suggest that the town council go ahead and kill this project,” Grimwood said. “It’s highly, highly aggressive and over-ambitious, and the town [needs to] actually do something with remediation in that area ... and make some real water control.”
Another neighbor suggested seeking an independent stormwater analysis, using Chantal as a model, and requiring the developer to add more green infrastructure, such as rain gardens, and preserving more trees.
Neighbor Anna Williamson said she hopes the developer will commit to preserving as much of the existing forest as possible, so that “future generations of families who will live there can share in its beauty.”
The project will meet the town’s requirement to address a 100-year storm, which is a rain event with a 1% chance of happening in a given year. An analysis found that could slightly improve existing conditions. It also could preserve large areas of trees surrounding the stream buffers.
Traffic is the other big issue, neighbors said, noting the difficulty they have now turning left onto Weaver Dairy Road.
While a previous study recommended a traffic light and turn lanes, the N.C. Department of Transportation will have the last word about any road improvements. NCDOT officials have said a traffic light is not needed yet at the intersection of Weaver Dairy Road and the new driveway, project official Wendi Ramsden said.
860 Weaver Dairy project details
- What’s there now: Wooded 45-acre tract zoned for residential and mixed-use and office development.
- Approved residential: 350 to 575 rental apartments in two, five-story buildings with a parking deck; 100 to 135 for-sale townhomes, up to three and four stories tall
- Approved commercial: Nothing planned yet, and the site could be used for townhomes.
- For-rent affordable housing: 10% of the apartments could rent to households earning 80% or less of the area median income — up to $64,800 for an individual or $83,280 for a family of three.
- For-sale affordable housing: 15% of the townhomes would be sold at below market rate. Half priced for households earning 65% or less of AMI, or up to $67,665 for a family of three. The other half for households earning 80% of AMI.
- Amenities: parks and green space, plus greenway connections to nearby retail, offices and homes.
