Jacquelyn Gist, candidate for Carrboro, NC, Town Council

Five candidates are competing for three seats on the Carrboro Town Council in the Nov. 2 nonpartisan election.

Incumbent Jacquelyn Gist is the longest-serving council member, having won her first election in 1989. She is competing against two fellow incumbent council members Barbara Foushee and Randee Haven O’Donnell, and two challengers, Aja Kelleher and Danny Nowell.

Early voting in the nonpartisan Nov. 2 election begins Oct. 14 and runs through Oct. 30.

To find polling places and full details on early voting, visit co.orange.nc.us/1720/Elections or contact the Board of Elections at 919-245-2350 or vote@orangecountync.gov.

Name: Jacquelyn Gist

Age: 66

Residence: 233 Sweet Bay Place, Carrboro

Occupation: Social worker, career counselor

Education: Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, Master of Social Work, UNC-Chapel Hill

Political or civic experience: As a member of the Carrboro Town Council, I have had the honor and privilege of helping to lead Carrboro as it has grown into the community we value today. Before I began my service as an elected official, I served on the Carrboro Board of Adjustment and as Carrboro’s representative on the founding board of the Community Home Trust. Please visit my website to learn about my service to our community.

Campaign website: gistforcarrboro.com

Endorsements: Sierra Club, Equality NC

What do you think the town’s top three priorities should be? Choose one and describe how you will work to address it.

▪ Equity and Inclusion (see below)

▪ Addressing Climate Change and Stormwater (see below)

▪ Affordability

Affordability includes both the cost of housing and the cost of doing business (creating jobs) in our town. This year, I proposed the creation of an Entrepreneur Village. Working with area nonprofits, Carrboro can develop affordable owner-occupied and rental units for people starting their own businesses. In addition to housing, the Village will include a small business support center, as well as a co-working space to encourage and support small local businesses. Once established these small businesses will add vibrancy, jobs and diversity of our local economy.

To increase our supply of affordable housing, I will continue to advocate for the revision of the town ordinance to allow for the creation of auxiliary dwelling units on existing lots in order to allow for affordable rental homes. Additionally, I support revising the town ordinance to allow existing apartment complexes the ability to add additional units if those units are affordable. I am committed to continue working to ensure and strengthen the viability of our manufactured home communities. Increased density has the potential of resulting in greater affordability if done correctly. If done simply for its own sake and left to the market, it can simply result in expensive luxury apartment complexes that can diminish the community’s sense of place.

In order to increase density while assuring affordability and maintaining our sense of place, I propose working with the local architecture and design community and the Appearance Commission to formulate design standards as well as increasing the percentage of affordable units required to gain higher density. The Portland Better Housing by Design program provides an excellent example — portland.gov/bps/better-housing/about-project.

To further support and encourage the development of locally owned small businesses, I propose an ordinance creating density bonuses for commercial developments that include affordable space for small businesses.

What is the town doing right, and wrong, about development and growth?

Experience has taught me that land use ordinances regulating development and growth are much like a Rubik’s Cube. Getting one side of the cube right can mess up another side. For example, our University Lake Watershed Protection, Rural Buffer, Open Space and Stream Buffer ordinances all work to protect and preserve the environment including our water quality. At the same time, they have resulted in a decrease in available land to build on resulting in increased land cost and adding to higher housing costs.

Our economic development plans, which led to the Carrboro Farmer’s Market, Weaver Street Market, the Cat’s Cradle and our vibrant restaurant, bar and arts-based downtown, made our town a more desirable place to live and helped drive up the cost of housing. To help offset the rise in housing costs, Carrboro has done several things “right,” including our density bonus to encourage the inclusion of smaller, more affordable homes, in new developments, supporting local manufactured home communities and helping to fund local housing organizations, such as EMPOWERMENT and the Community Home Trust. We still have much work to do. (see above)

The number one thing that Carrboro is “doing right” is the work that Carrboro citizens and advisory board members are currently doing to develop our Comprehensive Plan, which will come to the council this fall. The new plan will guide the town’s development and growth moving forward.

Climate change and flooding are growing issues and a regular part of the town’s development discussion. What do you think the town should do about it, and how would you pay for it?

I voted for and support Carrboro’s Climate Action Plan. Climate change has brought an increase in the number and intensity of storm events which has lead to a marked increase in flooding and strained our outdated stormwater infrastructure along with causing further erosion of our creeks. As a member of the Council, I have worked to address and mitigate the impact of increased stormwater in Carrboro. I advocated and voted for the creation of the Stormwater utility fee which supports the work of our stormwater management program. I serve as the council liaison to the Stormwater Advisory Commission. Since its inception, the Stormwater utility has supported projects, such as replacing the culvert on Broad Street, restoring and protecting the stream by our public works facility, improving drainage on High and Main streets, and work to restore Bolin Creek. The stormwater management staff has also worked with neighborhoods to decrease the impact of flooding through measures, such as conducting outreach and education, the creation of a flood report hotline, increased inspection and maintenance of town-owned drainage systems, increased inspections of public and private stormwater control measures and the planting of trees along intermittent streams. The Stormwater Management program is new, and there is much work to be done; the work is expensive. In order to pay for the repair and replacement of drainage systems at a faster pace, I recently proposed that the town investigate using Powell Bill funds to improve our drainage systems. The Powell Bill is traditionally used solely for road repair but also allows for funds to be used to upgrade/repair drainage. The stormwater management program is a strong tool for addressing the problem of increased flooding, but the town must also upgrade and strengthen its stormwater control regulations. The Stormwater Advisory Commission will soon begin working to draft recommendations to strengthen the town ordinance to further lessen the impact of runoff from new development.

What skill or life experience do you have that would bring diversity to local government?

I have been Racial Equity Institute trained and actively support and engage in Carrboro’s ongoing racial equity and inclusion initiatives. I initiated Carrboro’s Truth Plaque Commission, which works to acknowledge the true history of racial injustice in our town in order to strengthen and inform our commitment to creating a truly just, diverse and inclusive community. I am committed to the ongoing work of equity and inclusion. I Introduced Carrboro’s first LGBTQ rights ordinance and domestic partners ordinance. I supported town payment of application fees for DACA residents and actively supported our Hispanic community. As an older adult, I understand the needs of our senior residents.

This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Jacquelyn Gist, candidate for Carrboro, NC, Town Council."