Carrboro Board of Aldermen passes ordinance to address abandoned building

On Nov. 1 the town of Carrboro passed an ordinance that gives town officials the authority to ask landowners of vacant non-residential properties to inspect the premises if the town is concerned.

The ordinance was created with a specific building in mind: the abandoned building owned by CVS at the intersection of North Greensboro Street and West Weaver Street.

The building has become infamous in Carrboro for its dilapidated state. In a phone interview, Board of Aldermen member Bethany Chaney called the building an eyesore.

“It is a wasteful use of prime real estate in the town of Carrboro,” she said. “It could be put to good use.”

Since Carrboro does not own the property, the town has faced difficulty figuring out a way to fix the appearance and potential safety hazards associated with the building. Town officials hope that the ordinance will ease the process.

Chaney said she hopes the town might be able to turn the building into a more welcoming symbol of Carrboro.

“We don’t own the land so we don’t have any plans for it,” she said. “We are hoping that whatever gets built there in the future is something that is a suitable gateway for the town of Carrboro. We want it to be representative of the town’s aesthetic and values.”

Town of Carrboro Planning Director Trish McGuire said town officials receive regular feedback about the negative conditions of the property.

Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle said that since she became mayor three years ago, the appearance of the abandoned building has been a primary concern in the town.

“It’s an eyesore and it looks terrible and it’s the building that I get the most complaints about over everything in the town,” she said.

Lavelle said CVS has been uncooperative and unwilling to communicate when the town tried to contact them about doing something with the building.

“After I was elected mayor, I ... tried to get in contact with CVS, even offered to clean it up, but I got no response,” she said.

CVS originally planned to build a CVS store on the property in 2013, but the town ultimately rejected the proposal because of parking and buffering concerns. Since then, CVS has left the building abandoned.

Lavelle said frustration with CVS’s unwillingness to communicate and cooperate with the town led to the idea of the ordinance.

“This is an option our attorney gave to us, to adopt this ordinance, so we have a mechanism by which we can go and investigate the situation ourselves,” she said.

Lavelle hopes, however, that CVS will be more cooperative in the future.

“I would really encourage them to consider the community and really, you know, be responsive and reach out and try to make this corner a little nicer,” she said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do since I became mayor three years ago.”

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