The Legion Road affordable housing and park site might include a reduction of the pond, but would not be fully drained, according to the Town's website. The Town also designated a third of the property to develop affordable housing.
“I’m not against affordable housing — I’m against affordable housing being razed for luxury apartments and then relocated to places that are not safe, are toxic and not just,” she said.
The town council has not yet approved any affordable housing on the Legion Road site — it has just retained possession of the land and preserved it for potential future use. Another site Eckhardt opposes building affordable housing on — at 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. — has been discovered to have potentially harmful coal ash in the soil, but no redevelopment plans have been made.
She said she decided to run for town council because she feels that people have been ignored and disregarded in conversations about rezoning and construction.
“It’s not what is necessarily being done,” Eckhardt said. “It’s the way that it's being done without really good planning, thoughtful efficiency and environmental consideration.”
Elizabeth Sharp
Elizabeth Sharp, the owner of Chapel Hill restaurants Hawthorne & Wood and Bluebird, announced that she will run for a seat on the Town Council and has officially filed her candidacy.
As a small business owner, Sharp said she is concerned about how real estate development can be less sustainable for small businesses.
“So much of it has become about bottom line profit for real estate investors and they have very little interest in whether housing is affordable, whether it fits the needs of the community, who in the community is using it, the interest is from so far outside the community,” she said.
She said increasing affordable housing is achievable through nonprofit and government intervention, rather than relying on market influences.
Sharp opposed the recent housing zoning change the Town Council approved — which was aimed at increasing missing middle housing — for "economic reasons," she wrote in an Instagram post.
Sharp also said the community’s reliance on car use has resulted in town divisions, which have negatively impacted small businesses, equity, housing and parks.
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Sharp is PTA president and on the board of her children’s schools. She said this experience sets her apart from other candidates.
“I always want to get in and get my hands dirty and be a part of the solution,” she said.
Renuka Soll
Renuka Soll has also announced that she will run for a seat on Chapel Hill Town Council. She also ran in 2019, but lost by just 40 votes.
Soll has been on the Town's Parks and Recreation board for five years, currently serving as chair. She is also a literacy tutor for New Hope Elementary in Orange County and is the treasurer on the Board of Directors for North Carolinians Against Gun Violence.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t have voices and I feel like I have the skills and experience to stand up for that,” she said.
Soll signed a petition against the housing amendment change, along with more than 900 other local residents.
Soll said she would like to see Chapel Hill become an environmental leader and implement its climate action plan. She advocates for connecting trails and greenways, carbon-neutral homes and utilizing renewable energy resources.
Soll said it is important to sustain local businesses, as they make Chapel Hill unique. She also wants the downtown area to stay cohesive.
She said because of her long history of volunteer work, she has experience advocating and listening to others.
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