By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL — The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a change in the town’s land-use management ordinance that would require any new homeless shelters to first obtain a special-use permit — a lengthier, more-public process than the current ordinance requires.
The change, approved in a unanimous vote at a council meeting Monday night at Town Hall, removes a cap of 25 residents. The move clears the way for an anticipated special-use permit application from the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, which wants to construct a new 52-bed facility on a parcel near the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Homestead Road. The new facility would replace the men’s shelter currently housed in the old Chapel Hill municipal building at the corner of Rosemary and Columbia streets.
Several residents from neighborhoods near the proposed site asked the council to not make the ordinance change, asking that the cap remain in place.
Mark Peters, who assembled data from police reports to underline the number of law-enforcement calls to the current shelter, asked the council to “look at the big picture†and take into account that the women’s shelter and Freedom House, which works with individuals battling addiction, are also in the vicinity.
“It’s not just the shelter, but these other facilities,†he said.
Supporters of the change noted that the recent cold weather made it clear that a cap of 25 was impractical.
Shelter manager Laurie Tucker said the downtown shelter has had to open up extra floor space to handle the need of late.
Council members supporting the change said they were concerned that if the cap were left in place, it would adversely impact the current shelter as well as facilities like the Ronald McDonald House.
Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt argued that the change would give the public more input and the council more flexibility on shelters. Without the change, he said, a shelter that fit the zoning rules could be approved without review by the council.
Under the new section of the land-use management ordinance, the capacity of a shelter would be set by the council as one of the stipulations in a special-use permit.
In other action, the council decided to research and possibly pursue an application to the state Wildlife Resources Commission for an in-town bow hunt to cull the deer population.
The hunt application, which must be submitted by April, would allow the council the option of authorizing a hunt for next year’s season. It’s too late for the town to receive permission for a hunt for this year’ season, which typically runs from late January to mid-February.
Council member Ed Harrison argued that although he might not vote to allow a hunt, it would be prudent to move ahead on the application so as not to close out the option.
Also on Monday night, the council decided to schedule a public forum to discuss a proposed public information and input process for development at Carolina North.
The meeting began with the swearing in of Donna Bell, who was appointed last month to fill remaining two years in the term of Bill Strom, who resigned on Aug. 1 of last year.