Proposal for new student housing development causes controversy

Students in Chapel Hill could see more housing — but not a lot of parking to go with it.

The Chapel Hill Town Council met Monday night to discuss a proposed student housing complex located on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The council was primarily concerned about the 90-foot height of the original proposal by Trinitas Ventures.

The project’s developer, Travis Vencel, proposed that the building be granted a Special Use Permit to exceed the 60-foot height limit set by the Land Use Management Ordinance.

“That is 50 percent higher than LUMO,” said councilman Ed Harrison. “That’s the highest jump in height I can recall of anything we have given.”

In response to the controversy over the seven-story plan, Vencel also presented the council with an alternative concept plan that reduced the height of the building to five stories.

The proposed complex will have roughly 700 bedrooms and 200 parking spaces.

Vencel said the ratio of parking spaces to residents will be 50 percent of what the Land Use Management Ordinance requires for the site. He is asking the council to allow him to have a lower parking ratio through the Special Use Permit.

Councilman Gene Pease said he was concerned about the low number of allotted parking spaces.

“For 700 bedrooms, 200 parking spaces is kind of a shock to me,” he said.

Three council members — Donna Bell, Penny Rich and Lee Storrow — said they felt comfortable granting the Special Use Permit for the allotted parking.

The council unanimously voted to further consider concept plans for the development, after its comments have been incorporated into revised plans.

Notable

Council members also decided to no longer accept petitions for phase one of the Neighborhood Conservation District zoning process for a limited time. They will process already submitted petitions this fall.

The temporary suspension is meant to give the planning department more time to work on Chapel Hill 2020.

Quotable

“I would actually like to see less parking. I think we encourage people to bring cars when we provide them with parking,” council member Penny Rich said in support of the lower number of proposed parking spaces at the Trinitas development.