Select Page
Posted via Ethan Sorell | March 28, 2024 | Local government
The Chapel Hill City Council met on Wednesday, March 20 at Chapel Hill City Hall. Here is a review of their discussion.
The City Council voted unanimously to open a legislative hearing on a conditional zoning request similar to the proposed progression of Booth Park located at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive. The procedural vote is the first step in the approval procedure for Trinsic Residential. Development, the project’s developer, to charge luminaires that exceed the lighting criteria of the city’s existing Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO).
Andrew Houck, Trinsic’s Director of Residential Development, came to the council to seek approval of a conditional zoning application for external lighting for the advancement of Booth Park. Trinsic’s residential progress could exceed the maximum external lighting along the northern boundary of the asset if the conditional zoning application is approved.
City staff and Houck demonstrated that the owners of the adjacent property, Shadowwood Apartments, have expressed their opinion in favor of conditional zoning, especially since some of the overhead lighting will serve a sidewalk that will connect the two properties.
“The corporate fixture would allow us to provide more lighting on those sidewalks, which would allow for greater security, increased traffic flow and greater connectivity between the Shadowood apartments and our apartments,” Houck said. “As a result, the citizens of Shadowood can walk into our assets and scale into the 12,000 square feet of retail that we’re going to have there, so it’s a net plus for everyone involved. “
The Council voted unanimously to open the legislative hearing on conditional zoning and will continue the hearing at the April 17 meeting.
To learn more about the Booth Park progression project, click here.
The council unanimously approved a solution to close the unmaintained, unpaved portion of the public right-of-way on Old Hargraves Road. The 1,200-foot highway is approximately 1. 6 miles east of the UNC campus in the Hillcrest neighborhood. According to staff, the city established the right-of-way 60 years ago, but it has been maintained.
Whit Rummel, one of the neighbors who spoke at the meeting. Rummel, a 30-year resident of his assets adjacent to the highway, said he started the petition to close the highway’s right-of-way about 15 years ago.
“I’ve discovered remnants of a bathroom and two sinks there that other people have abandoned over the years, and I think it’s actually not doing the city any good right now. I think [I] and several of my neighbors appreciate having maybe six feet of extra area on each side to be able to plant grass or something. The reason I started this effort in 2010 was because the bamboo in that strip is endemic and we were looking for a way to get rid of the bamboo, and here we are 15 years later and we’re still looking, so that’s my bit. . . “
Several adjacent property owners in the community unanimously supported the meeting, and staff said they got no objections from adjacent asset owners when they were informed of the potential closure.
The Council unanimously opened the legislative hearing on adjustments to stormwater control requirements. The amendments load situations in LUMO to count storms for a hundred years. It will officially vote on the amendments at the May 1 meeting.
In Mayor Jessica Anderson’s message on the city’s website, she said, “With those new regulations in place, the new allocations want to capture, retain, and process more precipitation, which will help decrease downstream flooding and water quality. After negotiating this allocation on an allocation-by-assignment basis for several years, it is a major challenge that we now have this as a popular requirement.
To learn more about Chapel Hill’s ongoing rewrite of LUME, click here.
Photo: City of Chapel Hill
Chapelboro. com does not charge a subscription fee and you can direct our efforts in local journalism here. Want to know more about what you’re seeing in Chapelboro?Let us provide you with local news and network information by subscribing to our newsletter.
Chapelboro. com and WCHL, employers of equivalent opportunities, are committed to providing wide dissemination of job vacancies at the station. We seek the help of local organizations to recommend qualified applicants to our resort. Organizations interested in receiving our vacancy data contact WCHL at (919) 933-4165.
FCC PUBLIC INSPECTION RECORDS
1525 East Franklin Street, Suite 4
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 933-4165 Office