Newly elected Chapel Hill town council members discuss their goals

Affordable housing, a stronger transit system and enhancement of the green environment are common focuses for the Chapel Hill’s three newly elected town council members.

Michael Parker, Nancy Oates and Jessica Anderson were elected to the council yesterday, in the place of incumbents Jim Ward and Lee Storrow.

The new council members all said the town’s community members felt their voices were not being heard and are hoping to address this during their election terms.

They said the election showed the perception that community members no longer felt like they were part of the conversation.

“There was a disconnect between what was being done on the ground by the previous council and how it felt to the citizens of Chapel Hill,” said incumbent Donna Bell.

Bell said she looks forward to seeing what the new members bring to the table and how the conversation shifts.

Affordable housing was a forerunning concern for the newest council members.

Parker said he would like better and more numerous jobs created, continued expansion of affordable housing for a range of income levels and an improved local transit system.

In order to help boost job numbers, Parker advised creating spaces for entrepreneurial ventures through collaboration with UNC, enlisting employers such as Costco in the community and pushing for coding and technology skill courses.

Parker said working on these issues is like having the town invest in its people, as well as its businesses.

Oates said she is also a strong advocate for affordable housing in new and residential developments and hopes to bring in more commercial development to Chapel Hill.

“I think that will help our tax base if we can shift some of the burden from homeowners and have commercial development take some of the pressure off homeowners,” she said.

Oates expressed she wants to prioritize issues surrounding the town’s Inspections Department, and she would like to partner with the Home Builders Association to tackle the blockage.

During her term, Oates said she would also like to see some tweaking of the form-based code at the Ephesus-Fordham District and follow up on decisions made by the previous town council regarding Obey Creek and bond referendum issues.

Anderson hopes to change certain aspects surrounding the Ephesus-Fordham project and match the form-based code with what Chapel Hill citizens value as a community.

Anderson said development in the town’s public sector can change the fabric of the town and hopes the council will collaborate with the school board.

“(It is) making sure that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing as we go forward,” she said.

She would also like to see the introduction of pay-as-you-go systems for some town services to boost basic infrastructure services and hopes to give Chapel Hill community members more transparency.

She also stressed the importance of communicating directly with community members and giving clear and transparent explanations about decisions made by the council.

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