Officials protect neighborhoods

After nine months of labor, town officials expect to see the birth of four Neighborhood Conservation Districts.

Former town planning director Roger Waldon, now working with the consulting firm Clarion Associates, will oversee the process of creating the districts in the Greenwood, Coker Hills, Pine Knolls and Kings Mill/Morgan Creek areas.

A conservation district is a zoning overlay consisting of a set of development regulations designed to protect older residential areas.

Waldon believes his previous experience with the process and his familiarity with the neighborhoods will help to save time and money.

“We’ll be able to hit the ground running,” he said.

Waldon plans to start working with the communities in September and finish by May.

The Chapel Hill Town Council voted last Wednesday to pay Clarion up to $50,000 for its services, minimizing the demands on town staff.

It will not be the town’s first experience with conservation districts.

Northside became the first district in February 2004. An advisory committee comprising residents, property owners and developers met with town officials in a long series of meetings to hammer out the details — a process that lasted 18 months.

That example had some residents and council members concerned that a neighborhood might have to wait years to get protection.

This time around, planners will rely on existing neighborhood associations to represent the residents.

Waldon said he learned several lessons from Northside. The first was that every neighborhood harbors a myriad of interests.

“For example, in Northside there were resident owners, resident renters, property owners who rented out property and those who were seeking to redevelop,” he said. “Lesson two is the importance of listening to all those different points of view.”

In his proposal Waldon outlined a plan that included one-on-one interviews and four neighborhood meetings. His team will take on all four communities at once.

Delores Bailey, executive director of the nonprofit EmPOWERment Inc., predicted that Waldon will bring valuable insight to the table. Bailey served on the Northside committee and currently acts as an advisor to the Pine Knolls community in their quest for a conservation district.

“In any other situation, an outside consultant would have a difficult time trying to do this,” she said. “But since it’s Roger Waldon, I feel a whole lot better about that.”

The neighborhoods — eager to get protection as soon as possible — have been suggesting ways they can help expedite the process. Coker Hills representatives have said their existing covenants could serve as a template for conservation district guidelines.

The Pine Knolls neighborhood has offered to enlist several professors and students from local schools, including UNC.

Greenwood is moving to create an official neighborhood association, said Darryl Gless, a UNC English professor and resident.

Sign-up materials for those interested were distributed at a community potluck Sunday, he said.

“It was very good because a lot of us hadn’t met each other — a lot of faces without names.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.