In the spotlight of Monday's Chapel Hill Town Council meeting was housing, both in regard to Habitat for Humanity and to the neighborhood conservation district regulations for the Northside and Pine Knolls Neighborhoods.
Judy Johnson, principal planner for Planning and Sustainability, presented three ordinances for revising housing in key downtown living areas in Chapel Hill.
The first of these ordinances asks to establish a new division district plan, which aims at establishing special regulations designed for and intended to help preserve the character of a particular, older residential neighborhood.
The second ordinance calls for the same regulations as Northside, but for Pine Knolls.
The third ordinance refers to a special use permit in order to increase floor space from 1,750 to 2,250 square feet. The permit would be issued by the planning commission in accordance with the same rules and procedures as the Town Council.
The underlying problem prompting these ordinances is illegal and unlawful housing situations experienced by UNC students.
One suggestion was a stronger relationship with UNC to make students aware of the consequences that are attached to unlawful housing. Another, put forth by council member George Cianciolo, was to move away from complaint calls from neighbors and move toward a stronger desire to keep neighborhoods more calm and quiet through the institution of walks on the streets by law enforcement.
At the end of the day, the council members’ concerns were all derived from a concern for the safety and security of their younger residents.
Mayor Pam Hemminger expressed her concern with the timeliness of this issue as students are currently trying to finalize housing for the coming fall semester.
“The main goal is safety and enough housing for everyone,” she said.
Notable:
Fire Chief Matthew Sullivan gave a debrief regarding winter storm Jonas. In the report, Chief Sullivan outlined a number of topics, ranging from what was done in preparation, what decisions were made early on, and how the town eventually allocated its resources toward clearing the storm as quickly as possible. Sullivan highlighted the unique conditions of the storm, in that it was mostly ice and the weather after the storm wasn’t very cooperative. He also referenced a last minute decision based off of national weather forecasts to allocate resources toward ice removal rather than toward road clearing, which set the clearing efforts back early on. In total, the storm costed the town $350,776.
Quotable:
“I am not sad that students have to pay the fine. Honestly, that’s how you learn to be a grown-up and learn about the rules,” council member Maria Palmer said, when comparing housing issues and those who disobey housing rental procedures to parking fines. She explained that people know that if you park illegally in Chapel Hill, you will get a fine. Palmer suggested that if a culture is built around housing fines and disciplinary actions, these problems wouldn’t persist.
city@dailytarheel.com
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