Dozens of residents spoke out against a new development plan that could put a big-box retail store in the town Wednesday night.
At the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting, Scott Murray Land Planning, Inc. presented a concept plan for the Obey Creek development — which would be located off U.S. 15-501 across from Southern Village.
The plan calls for a 124-acre site with 600 residential units, retail units, a hotel and a big-box store like Target.
But residents voiced concerns about how the development would affect traffic and the environmental impact of a big-box store on the property.
“It’s going to make it that much more difficult for us to get in and out of our neighborhood,” said Chapel Hill resident Nils Brubaker.
Chapel Hill resident John Schmidt said he doesn’t think a big-box retail store match the values of the town.
“We are talking about a huge development with retail and commercial office space twice the size of University Mall,” he said. “The developer wants a big-box store that certainly doesn’t mirror the human scale look and feel of Southern Village.”
Town Councilman Gene Pease said he is concerned with the increase in traffic since its already a problem near Southern Village.
Pease said the current traffic reminded him of when he lived in Los Angeles.
“The elephant in the room is the traffic and it’s already really bad,” he said.
Others expressed concern about the plans for the big-box store and retail units at the meeting.
Councilman Jim Ward said he thinks the town needs more retail to diversify the tax-base, which could allow lower-income families to live in Chapel Hill.
“I think it is in our community’s best interest to grow our retail and tax base,” Ward said.
He said that too much of the tax base is coming from residential areas, which only allows the wealthier residents to live in Chapel Hill.
Orange County has one of the highest property tax rates in the state.
Roger Perry, a partner in the development firm East-West Partners, said the property would generate more tax revenue for Chapel Hill — about $4.5 million in county and local property taxes.
But Perry said the developers are open to negotiating the concept plan.
“We’re not tied to a big-box,” he said. “If you don’t want it, we’ll go figure out another plan.”
Contact the desk editor at
city@dailytarheel.com.
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