CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, the original headline of this story misrepresented Tuesday's Board of Aldermen meeting. Business owners expressed concerns over the IFC community kitchen. The headline has been updated to reflect these changes.
Restricting street parking on Old Pittsboro Road, creating a bike share program in Carrboro and the potential for a community kitchen in the downtown Carrboro area were all initiatives discussed at Tuesday's Board of Aldermen meeting.
Concerns were voiced that the multitude of cars parked on the sides of Old Pittsboro Road were overcrowding the street.
Board of Aldermen member Jacquelyn Gist said restricting street parking on Old Pittsboro Road matters very much to those who feel like their neighborhood has taken quite a shock.
However, Board of Aldermen member Sammy Slade spoke against restricting the street parking.
“I used to live on Old Pittsboro Road, so I know what it used to be like," Slade said. "Any parking we can have downtown I think we should protect.”
The members were all in favor of the motion with Slade in dissent.
The proposed Carrboro bike share program would involve collaboration with both Chapel Hill and UNC to create the most comprehensive and inclusive system possible. The program aims to allow people to rent a bike from a multitude of bike stations scattered throughout the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area.
This program, if implemented, would create economic benefits by bringing more people downtown. It would also create health benefits for the community by making people more active and decreasing the amount of cars downtown, helping the environment.
UNC’s participation in the bike share program is crucial, according to Board of Aldermen member Randee Haven-O'Donnell.
“I think it will be very important to pull UNC, Chapel Hill and Carrboro folks together to get this going.” she said.
Next came the controversial proposal concerning the possible addition of an Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (IFC) community kitchen in downtown Carrboro on 110 W. Main St.
Several business owners whose properties are in the vicinity of 110 W. Main St. protested the chosen location for the kitchen and proposed choosing a different location.
Rick Robinson, co-owner of a new Rise Biscuits & Donuts which will be located in Carrboro, said he believed the location plan for the community kitchen is grossly under-scrutinized by the IFC and the businesses and citizens of Carrboro. He and many others shared the concern that the idea for the kitchen needed to be more fully developed.
The meeting brought forth a text amendment to establish the community kitchen as a permitted use in the Town of Carrboro which ended in a vote on a public hearing about the use.
Notable:
UNC’s fees for the bike share program would be $150,000 per year.
Quotable:
“I think that anywhere that we put this community kitchen there will be people that are upset,” said Slade, concerning the dispute over the proposed downtown Carrboro location of the IFC community kitchen.
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