By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
CARRBORO — If you would have told the Carrboro Board of Aldermen circa 1980 that it would take 30 years before their successors and the state Department of Transportation struck a deal on a plan for improvements to Smith Level Road, you might have gotten a few quizzical looks.
But it did. And now, with an agreement in hand with the town as of Tuesday night’s board of alderman meeting, DOT project U-2803 moves into an entirely new phase.
The agreement comes after decades of disagreement between the state and Carrboro over how and how much to widen the road. Carrboro has long held out for bicycle lanes and sidewalks for the heavily traveled road, which is almost shoulderless in places.
Over the years, the project, first officially proposed in 1992, dropped from five lanes to four and last year, in a move that broke the stalemate, down to two lanes with a median. That touched off further negotiations, which yielded a new set of plans.
The final round of discussions, which came after both sides agreed last spring on the bulk of the design, focused in part on the details of tree protection, sidewalk locations and construction plans around the road’s retirement and assisted-living centers.
But the biggest hitch by far was over DOT’s insistence on eliminating a left turn out of the Berryhill neighborhood, which residents said was essential to prevent too much traffic from being funneled through other streets in the neighborhood.
At Tuesday night’s board meeting, DOT’s chief engineer for the local district, Mike Mills, indicated that the state had gone as far as it could go. DOT engineers have said repeatedly that while they’re agreeing to a two-lane design, they believe a four-lane road will one day be needed.
Asked repeatedly whether there was any way the project could go forward without the median, Mills reply was a consistent “no†– at least not as a road improvement. The state, he said, could remove the project from its list of priorities and the town could start over in seeking funds to do the project strictly as a bicycle and pedestrian improvement project.
Mayor Mark Chilton, credited with helping break the deadlock on the project last year, told residents assembled at the meeting that while he disagreed with the DOT’s philosophy, without the median the project would likely never be adequately funded.
He said he did not think maintaining the left turn was a fair trade for losing long-sought bicycle lanes and sidewalks.
The final vote was 6-1, with board member Joal Hall Broun voting against the project.
A hearing of a proposed zoning change for a section of the Ballentine project north of Lake Hogan Farms off Old N.C. 86 also was on Tuesday’s agenda.
At the urging of town officials, developer M/I Homes is seeking permission to add further density and a small commercial area to the project, triggering the need for a zoning change.
Members of the town’s Northern Transition Area advisory board also asked that the zoning change, which was supported by other advisory boards, be rejected.
And several residents of nearby neighborhoods told the board of aldermen that they were upset over the project, saying it will add to traffic congestion and pack too many residents into the area.
That brought a sharp rebuke from board member Broun, who recalled that when she moved to town 28 years ago the Hogan land and Cates Farm were actual farms.
Referring to the area’s moniker – the Northern Transition Area – Broun said, “Transition means what it says it means – transition, not stasis.â€
The board will continue the public hearing on the zoning change at its Oct. 28 meeting.
In other action, the board agreed to continue looking for alternatives for bicycle and pedestrian traffic on Estes Drive. The board reviewed several proposed routes connecting through to downtown, but did not choose a specific plan.
Several board members noted the difficulty in getting the owners of Estes Park Apartments to enter into discussions on a new route. A fence erected at the complex in 2008 cut off a commonly used path to downtown.