Candidates for the Chapel Hill Mayoral and Town Council races attended a question and answer forum Monday evening, where they answered questions concerning taxes, economic development, housing and transit issues.
Incumbent Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt is running against candidates Tim Sookram and Kevin Wolff.
For town council, the candidates include incumbents Donna Bell, Jim Ward and Matt Czajkowski as well as newcomers Carl Schuler, Laney Dale, Lee Storrow, Jason Baker, Jon DeHart and Augustus Cho.
The League of Women Voters hosted the forum. Each candidate was allotted a brief amount of time to address topics related to the upcoming election.
Check out a summary of the candidates’ responses to a few questions asked at the forum:
Mayoral candidates
Question: There is a natural tension between economic development and environmental sustainability. How do you plan to balance the two?
Kleinschmidt: Kleinschmidt said the public should not set up the topic as an either-or question, since he believes it is possible to both protect environmental integrity and foster business growth.
“It’s really not the dichotomy that it may appear to be.”
Sookram: Sookram said there is a need to build up, rather than out, and improve the planning structure for a more efficient use of space.
“The way we’re going about it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.”
Wolff had not yet arrived to the forum to respond to this question.
Question: Do you think town taxes are too high? If so, where can we cut them?
Kleinschmidt: Kleinschmidt said tax increases aren’t as common as one might think, and taxes are a result of the requests and needs of the community.
“There isn’t a program that is funded that wasn’t asked for,” he said.
Sookram: “I don’t think we need to raise taxes every time someone loses their job or the economy goes bad,” Sookram said.
Wolff: Wolff said taxes must be taken on a case by case basis, and Chapel Hill residents should consider which individual services can be reduced or cut.
“I don’t know if any tax is too high,” he said. “It’s putting together all the taxes that we experience in the United States that makes them too high.”
Town Council candidates
Questions: Does the town have a need to streamline the development process? If so, what ideas do you have?
Dale: Dale said not every application and process should go through the town council as it may not be the best use of time.
Bell: Bell said staff has been working to increase communication on technical information.
“Like all processes, our current planning process can be improved,” she said.
Ward: Ward said Chapel Hill needs increased transparency in the system, making it easier to track the process.
Cho: “The process is so expensive that it eliminates the affordable housing that we strive for,” Cho said. He said Chapel Hill should combine certain boards and commissions to speed things up.
Baker: Baker said Chapel Hill should combine certain review processes.
“I’m interested in looking for ways we can change the process, but that doesn’t mean we have to change our standards,” he said.
Czajkowski: Czajkowski said Chapel Hill should think carefully on what type of development it wants so it can zone appropriately.
Storrow: Storrow said the town is committed to moving forward on the development process, and the joint committees and town boards should work together to further that.
Schuler: “The development process has been arcane,” Schuler said. He said the town should look to the private sector to see what has worked.
DeHart: DeHart said the goal should be to protect neighborhoods and environmental standards and make sure neighborhoods have input in the development process.
All candidates supported the one-quarter cent sales tax, as well as a big box development in Chapel Hill.
Other issues were more divided, with only Storrow and Ward supporting a ban on cell-phone use while driving. Czajkowski, Dale and DeHart also support plans to sell the former downtown library.
Video of the forum will be posted on the N.C. Center for Voter Education website.
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