By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – As a moratorium on residential development in the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods draws to a close, residents and developers sparred at a Chapel Hill Town Council public hearing on Monday over how best to move forward.
In June, the council voted to impose a six-month moratorium on residential development in the neighborhoods. The moratorium, which will expire on Jan. 21, applies to residential developments within the borders of the Northside and Pine Knolls Neighborhood Conservation Districts and properties located on the north side of Rosemary Street, South Graham Street, Merritt Mill Road and Pritchard Avenue Extension.
Neighborhood residents have expressed concerns that the neighborhoods are losing their history as developers come in and modify single-family homes for student housing. Residents have cited parking issues, loud parties and garbage in the neighborhood as the student population has increased.
According to Christopher Payne, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC, the university houses 56 percent of its approximately 18,000 undergraduate students on campus or in Granville Towers or fraternity and sorority houses, with more than 8,000 undergrads living off campus.
Town planning staff have worked with a number of stakeholders during the moratorium to develop a community plan for the neighborhoods, and have recommended a number of zoning changes for the Neighborhood Conservation Districts.
Recommended zoning changes include reducing the maximum height of a second building on a property from 35 to 26 feet; reducing the maximum square footage for single-family dwellings to 1,750 square feet, down from 2,000 square feet; reducing the maximum floor-area ratio; and setting a maximum of four vehicles per property.
In 2004, Chapel Hill established the Neighborhood Conservation Districts to help prevent student-housing development, but according to town staff, developers have figured out ways around regulations. NCD regulations prohibit new duplexes, limit single-family dwellings to 2,000 square feet and limit bedroom-to-bathroom ratios for houses occupied by unrelated residents. Town staff have identified several properties in the neighborhoods that were developed – within regulations – for student housing with as many as eight bedrooms.
A number of landlords said they opposed the four-vehicle limit for dwellings.
“I find that proposal to be a lose-lose proposition for the entire neighborhood,†said Bill Gartland, adding that it would make the streets more congested and jeopardize the safety of students forced to park far from their homes late at night.
Town planner Rae Buckley said complaints regarding parking are the most common ones from the NCDs.
Northside resident Keith Edwards said her community is threatened by the greed.
“I feel as if I’m fighting for my life, and I shouldn’t have to feel like that. But the reason I feel like that is because investors with greed came into my community,†she said, adding that investor landlords should have to take responsibility for their tenants’ actions and the accompanying complaints that come to the town.
Residents also urged the town to enforce the regulations already in place, and council members agreed that enforcement is a key element of the plan.
“We’re just putting too much effort into the ordinance and not enforcement,†council member Penny Rich said.
The council also heard from residents of other downtown neighborhoods with similar concerns about student housing, including Ramona Hutton-Howe, who submitted a petition on behalf of the Davie Circle neighborhood.
The council will revisit the proposed plan on Jan. 9.