By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – In a move that could shift the changing face of the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods, the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to approve regulations intended to limit investor-owned properties in the Neighborhood Conservation Districts.
Following the vote, the council chambers erupted into loud applause, with many audience members emotionally embracing one another and thanking the council.
“We cannot underestimate the importance of people who value the fabric of a community more than they value the profit that they can make off a home,†said Hudson Vaughan, associate director at the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History.
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.
In June, the council voted to impose a six-month moratorium on residential development in the neighborhoods. The moratorium, which will expire later this month, 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.
During the moratorium, town planning staff developed a community plan for the neighborhoods, including a number of zoning changes. Approved 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.
A number of developers said in previous meetings that they opposed the four-vehicle limit. The council considered raising the limit to eight for duplexes, but ended up maintaining the four-car limit, with a possible variance of up to six for duplexes and triplexes.
Some neighborhood residents cited the car limit as one of the more important regulations under consideration.
“Eight vehicles is a lot of cars coming down the little teeny streets in Northside and in Pine Knolls,†Northside resident Estelle Mabry said, adding that every student living in Northside doesn’t need to have a car, since one of the benefits of living in the neighborhood is being able to walk to town and campus.
In 2004, Chapel Hill established the Neighborhood Conservation Districts to help limit 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 has identified several properties in the neighborhoods that were developed – within regulations – for student housing with as many as eight bedrooms.
The council also approved affordable-housing and cultural- and historic-preservation measures as part of the community plan for the two neighborhoods, but Town Manager Roger Stancil noted that the plan is not yet funded.
Delores Bailey, a resident of Northside and director of EmPOWERment Inc., said the preservation of the neighborhoods was important, and that the town and the residents should work to find a way to fund it.
“I can almost see us doing car washes and bake sales,†she said. “I know that we can make this change, but I know funding is going to be an issue. … This is how our process starts.â€
The ordinances will go into effect Feb. 1, following the close of the moratorium, but the parking limit will not apply until Sept. 1 in order to allow landlords adequate time to make arrangements with student tenants.