The Chapel Hill Town Council voted 5-3 in June in favor of the application for conditional zoning to establish the Aura development on the 16.2-acre lot at the corner of N. Estes Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Aura is a mixed-use development with retail, office and live-work spaces and housing opportunities with at least 361 apartment units and 57 town homes.
Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger was among the three council members to vote against the application. She said she still has major concerns regarding the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists on the road.
Now that the project has been approved, Hemminger said the development team will spend time with the Town staff over the next year to obtain a ZCP — zoning compliance permit.
She said the development is subject to change before it is completed because, with these types of projects, the staff always finds that certain tasks that work on paper do not work out in the field.
Hemminger said that she will continue to advocate for the implementation of a traffic light at Somerset Drive in order to appease the traffic problems that will arise from this project.
“There's a lot of children that will walk because of the schools and going to the YMCA and the library,” she said. “We need a safe way for them to cross the street.”
Estes Neighbors — a group of residents and neighbors from nearby Chapel Hill neighborhoods who live and/or work near the development site — have directed their efforts toward the opposition of the Aura plan.
Julie McClintock, a member of Estes Neighbors and the Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town, said she is unhappy with the council’s decision to approve the plan. She said the development will bring around 650 cars to the neighborhood, which will make for a dangerous and busy intersection.
