The Chapel Hill Town Council met on Wednesday night to discuss the Town's Climate Action Plan, Land Use Management Ordinance and a concept plan for lot development. Council Member Adam Searing was absent from the meeting.
What’s new?
- Carla Burnette, an administrative coordinator for the Town of Chapel Hill, was announced as the recipient of the 2024 W. Calvin Horton Service Award as part of the Town's Employee Appreciation Month.
- During the public comment period, community member Carol Conway petitioned to put a presentation on intellectual disabilities and related housing needs on the agenda for a future meeting
- She said in Orange County, there are about 3,500 adults of working age with an intellectual disability.
- "85 percent of them have a mild intellectual disability and they can aspire to live in apartments with supports by themselves," she said. "That leaves 500 who, like my son, have a significant intellectual disability and need group homes.”
- Community Sustainability Manager John Richardson shared updates on the implementation of the Town’s Climate Action Plan.
- He said between 2017 and 2023, there has been a 23 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions from community sources and a 21 percent drop in emissions from the Town's operations sources.
- “One of the biggest drivers is UNC’s effort to move from coal to natural gas," he said. "This represents about 50 percent of the drop."
- The Town's Sustainable Facilities Study will examine what sustainable investments can be made in Chapel Hill’s facilities, he said.
- Additionally, he said the Town's Resilience Hub Project seeks to establish hubs that will provide resources to address issues and needs related to energy resilience.
- The new parking deck at 125 East Rosemary Street currently has 20 electric vehicle charging stations. He said the parking deck can accommodate up to 220 charging stations.
- Tasmaya Lagoo, the principal planner for the Chapel Hill Planning Department, gave a presentation on the current status for rewriting the Land Use Management Ordinance.
- He said the formal legislative process has not yet begun, and will begin once the draft for the new LUMO is shared with the public.
- Chapel Hill Planning will ensure that there is adequate time and resources to help council members conduct meaningful review of the drafted LUMO, he said. The draft is expected to be ready in February or March of 2025.
- One interest of the new LUMO is to encourage neighborhood-scale commercial development, ultimately supporting the Complete Community strategy for development, he said, an approach developed by the Town that revolves around human-scale development, providing accessible amenities and supporting small businesses.
- He said the new LUMO will advise on how neighborhood-scale commercial development is built, expand where it can be built and adopt the Town's standard for stormwater regulations for new developments.
- "The Town’s stormwater standards need to evolve," he said. "We are seeing firsthand that climate change is leading to more severe weather impacts that are going to continue to cause challenges for our community."
- The Town's Planning Department presented a concept plan for the development of the lot on 115 Chapel Point Road, located between Carraway Village and I-40.
- The concept plan review was intended to allow feedback from the Council and for the Planning Department to move forward with a Conditional Zoning Application.
- Multiple council members expressed concerns about the lack of density due to the plan focusing on providing single-family homes, and encouraged the single-family homes to instead be planned as duplexes or triplexes.
What’s next?
- The council will hold its next regular meeting on Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.
