Chapel Hill Parking Lot Limits Under Discussion by Residents

The Chapel Hill Town Council convened Monday a public meeting to discuss issues concerning the ordinance.

Fifty-one people spoke at the meeting, including several UNC graduate students. Six residents spoke on the parking restrictions issue, along with the two graduate students and Dan Herman, the Graduate and Professional Student Federation vice president of internal affairs.

The main emphasis of the issue concerns maximum and minimum parking. The manager's preliminary recommendation is to change maximums so they are at least 25 percent above minimums.

Maximum parking regulates the most spaces a developer may construct, while minimum parking mandates the least amount of spaces a developer must build.

Scott Radway, who spoke on behalf of the Chapel Hill Planning Board, said the board's suggestion concerning parking restrictions is to decrease maximums. "We were recommending about a 15 percent difference (between maximums and minimums)," he said.

Herman said the GPSF wants maximums to be decreased only if the need is there. "(We recommend) that the maximum could be extended for extenuating circumstances," Herman said.

Sarah Bruce, a graduate student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, said she favors parking maximums because they encourage public transit.

The issued diverged in two distinct paths for local business owners. Burwell Ware, a local business owner, said that people would still come even if parking was tight but that they would use other forms of transportation.

"We must not let automobiles run our town," he said. "The idea is that if you don't overbuild parking they will still come but by different methods."

In contrast, Village Plaza business owner Rosemary Hargrove said decreasing parking maximums would be detrimental to local businesses in Chapel Hill. "The thought of reducing (maximums) is mind-boggling," Hargrove said. "You're forcing my customers to go to another community."

Another local owner, Charlie Fisher, said that under the proposed ordinance, restaurants such as Aurora would lose many of their parking spaces.

"(Aurora) would be 110 less spaces than today," Fisher said.

Resident Joe Capowski spoke in favor of limiting front-yard parking but said he was not motivated by malice toward students. "I strongly support front-yard parking restrictions and parking buffering," he said. "UNC students can be excellent neighbors."

Language in the draft of the ordinance would limit front-yard parking to 40 percent of the front-yard area of any zoning lot and limited to properly approved curb cuts.

Not discussed at the meeting was the effect the parking restrictions might have on two- or multi-family dwellings. Under the proposed ordinance, dwellings with three or more bedrooms are budgeted two parking spaces per unit.

Resident comments lasted about three hours, after which the council decided to reconvene at a workshop next week.

The workshop will not be a public hearing but rather a meeting in which council members will discuss issues raised by residents at Monday's hearing.

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.