Nate DeGraff

News

UNC's Winmore Follows Trinity Heights

By Nate DeGraff | November 27

As the proposed Winmore development draws closer to reality, a similar project has drawn rave reviews, if not scores of new faculty, at a venerable nearby university. The recently completed Trinity Heights development, just off the northern edge of Duke University's East Campus, offers 40 homes and townhomes to Duke employees and no one else. A similar arrangement will be in place for Winmore if it is built.

News

Beyond Town Boundaries

By Nate DeGraff | October 2

A satellite map of Orange County shows two large islands of development -- Chapel Hill and Carrboro in the southeast corner and Hillsborough in the center. Though the eastern part of Mebane, a town that lies in both Orange and Alamance counties, shows a few small splotches of development, the rest of the county is, for the most part, a blank sea of countryside. But 48,500 people live in that rural sea -- 1,700 more than in Chapel Hill -- and many don't want the higher cost of living and faster pace of life found in the county's more developed areas. Anthony Cecil grew up an

News

Mexicans Celebrate Freedom

By Nate DeGraff | September 17

Americans remember the midnight ride of Paul Revere as a defining moment in the country's bid to break away from British rule. For Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, a rebellious priest ringing a church bell at dawn conjures similar images. Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla, a priest in the village of Dolores, called for the arrest of the town's native Spaniards by ringing the bell 192 years ago Monday. For hundreds of years beforehand, Spain oppressively had ruled Mexico. Hidalgo's defiance is commemorated every Sept. 16, Mexico's formal Independence Day.

News

Town Transportation Plan in the Works

By Nate DeGraff | September 11

Though the area's long-term transportation plan remains years away from reality, the Chapel Hill Town Council wants buses or trains to relieve the region's car-congestion by 2025. Under a plan approved by the Town Council on Monday, some sort of fixed guideway system could connect eastern Chapel Hill with Carrboro and the north part of town with Southern Village.

News

Latino Voters Encouraged To Research Issues, Vote

By Nate DeGraff | September 3

With this year's primary elections only a week away, Latino organizations and community leaders are urging Latinos to get out to the polls. And Chapel Hill will be the site of the community's strongest last-minute push.

News

OWASA Nears Stage 3 Restrictions

By Nate DeGraff | August 28

As a parched southern Orange County slips into its driest months of the year, area water officials warned Monday that emergency water restrictions are "probably just days away." Cane Creek Reservoir is 16 feet below full. Water levels at University Lake are 6 feet short of their high mark. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority has called the current drought "the worst on record."

News

New Housing and Retail Space Planned for Rosemary Street

By Nate DeGraff | August 28

Forty-two new residences are coming to downtown Chapel Hill. So is more than 6,000 feet of street-level retail space. And all that infrastructure will be housed in one building. The Chapel Hill Town Council unanimously voted for downtown mixed-use space at its Monday meeting, clearing the way for a four-story structure on the northwest corner of Rosemary Street and Mitchell Lane. "This is a move in a different direction for Chapel Hill," said Mayor Kevin Foy. "But it's a direction we wanted to take."

News

Locals Oppose UNC Complex Construction

By Nate DeGraff | August 23

Yet another University construction plan has drawn heated protest from Chapel Hill residents. This time, Elkin Hills-area dwellers cried foul to a proposed campus services complex just west of Airport Road on Estes Drive Extension. The University's plan, presented to residents Thursday at the Chapel Hill Public Library, would place a fueling station and vehicle maintenance garage, as well as printing and grounds buildings, less than 200 feet from some homes.

News

Aldermen Face Affordable Housing

By Nate DeGraff | April 25

Former Carrboro mayoral candidate Stacy Smith fought back tears at Tuesday's Board of Aldermen meeting. She bemoaned the town's high property taxes. She expressed concern about older residents being priced out of town. And she worried about gentrification. "All we're going to get is people who look like us," said Smith, who is white. The board took no action Tuesday, but its discussion on the issue of affordable housing -- and later discussion on the town's meager budget for next year -- drew visible emotion from Smith as she addressed the board.

News

Franklin Auto Might Expand Into Carrboro

By Nate DeGraff | April 18

Franklin Auto proprietor John Sayle placed two photographs on the overhead projector in the town of Carrboro's board meeting room. The photos showed a garage surrounded by an empty lot at the downtown terminus of Merritt Mill Road. If Sayle gets what he wants from the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, the lot soon will be filled with his used cars in an area already chock full of automotive businesses. "It's going to look nicer than a parking lot and nicer than some of the repair shops," Sayle said.