The Shoppes at Jones Ferry

Last night the Board of Aldermen approved the Shoppes at Jones Ferry with conditions intended to address the concerns of Barnes Street residents. The following email, received this morning, speaks to that endeavor:

Dear Mayor Chilton, Board of Alderman and Town staff, I would like to say thank you for all your consideration, time and effort to help the residents of Lincoln Park remain a protected neighborhood free from the hindrance of more commercial traffic. Your graciousness in hearing all the citizens voices during the last two public hearings concerning the CUP for the “Shoppes at Jones Ferry” is well noted. In addition, I appreciate your diplomacy in trying to reach a workable solution for both the developers and the neighborhood. I hope this particular issue will bring about more dialogue between the Town of Carrboro and the residents of our neighborhood in an effort to include Barnes and the adjoining streets in much needed municipal improvements.

Thank You again,

Lindsay Griffin

Here are the three concerns presented by the neighborhood petition and how they were addressed:

1) No vehicular access to the Shoppes at Jones Ferry from Barnes St.
I suggested we consider either ingress only or emergency only and moved to re-open the public hearing to get neighbor input in ingress only. Robert Dow spoke for the neighbors and told us that ingress only would not sufficiently address their concerns. The board then agreed on emergency vehicle only access from Barnes St. and that condition was added to the permit. This may turn out to be a deal-breaker for the developer.

2) 100 % of stormwater created from site should be treated onsite.
Under our ordinance we cannot legally require this. Our updated ordinance has this requirement but it was passed after this application came in and therefore could not be applied.

3)The town agrees to address wider safety issues surrounding the project.
After the vote on the permit, I called for the board to have this discussion and Mayor Chilton asked the manager to schedule work session time for it.

A Week Without a Post

How did I get through last week without a single blog post? Probably because of the unusual number of meetings. Here’s how it went:

Monday, 7:30pm: the Sierra Club forum was a great opportunity to discuss important issues with our leading environmental advocacy group.

Tuesday, 7:30am: Meeting of the ArtsCenter Capital Campaign Planning group to continue to develop the plan for funding the upcoming ArtsCenter redevelopment. The ArtsCenter has doubled its programming in the last few years and is bursting at the seems.

Tuesday, 11:30am: Monthly meeting of the Transit Partners Committee where we reviewed some new regional efforts toward bus service and inter-system connectivity; also looked at the university’s annual report on how people get to campus.

Tuesday, 7:30pm: Board of Aldermen meeting focused extensively on the public hearing for the Shoppes at Jones Ferry. The big question: how to balance needed economic development with neighborhood concerns. We also gave staff the go-ahead on a number of proposals for improving conditions at the day laborer pick-up site also on Jones Ferry Rd.

Wednesday, 9:30am: campaign interview with Chamber of Commerce. Lots to talk about on economic development in Carrboro, including the living local economy, commercial development, and my trip to the annual conference of the Business Alliance on Living Local Economies.

Thursday, 9am: Long Range Transit Study committee met with our consultants from Transystems. Major activity was to settle on high investment and low investment routes for further study.

Thursday, 7:30am: Orange County Assembly of Governments met with lots on the table including cooperative arrangements with Chatham County, needs of the Land Trust, and an eloquent presentation from Neloa Jones on Rogers Road justice issues.

Friday, 11am: HOME committee meeting with reps from Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Orange County to get updated on some of the affordable housing projects benefiting from federal HOME funds.

Fortunately, most weeks are not quite so intense but this one should give you a sense of the commitment it takes to be an alderman in Carrboro.

Carrboro Growing Healthy Kids Project

Yesterday I attended the inaugural meeting of the advisory board of the Carrboro Growing Healthy Kids Project. Sponsored by the Orange County Partnership for Young Children, this is a key component of their Healthy Kids Campaign.

The town has been looking forward to this project since we authorized the community garden at MLK Park last spring. OCPYC is partnering with the Carrboro Community Garden Coalition on the use and development of that space. Discussions are well under way for establishing a second site at Carrboro Elementary School. A third site is intended in the future.

Helping ensure the success of the garden project are representatives of Orange Cty Cooperative Extension, the Botanical Garden, Active Living by Design (which provides technical support under an NC Health & Wellness grant), El Centro Latino, Carrboro Rec&Parks, and others.

The Healthy Kids Project stems from the knowledge that in Orange County one out of every five preschool children and one in every four school age children is overweight.

The garden project seeks to:

-increase access to fresh produce especially for low income families in Carrboro
-educate children about food, gardening, and related topics
-increase healthy eating options
-increase physical activity for participants
-build community.

I am proud to be a supporter of this project, delighted that it has taken root in Carrboro, and look forward to its success. It is exactly the kind of project that people in our community embrace and that make Carrboro a great place to live.

More on Alberta

It appears that the developer, Carr Mill Investment Limited Partnership, has agreed to the board’s proposed conditions for the Alberta.

Here are the new conditions from the board packet for tomorrow night:

14. That construction traffic shall be limited to access via Sweet Bay Place and a temporary fence be erected prohibiting construction access from Carr St.
15. That an easement providing public bike and pedestrian access along the driveway extending from East Carr Street to Sweet Bay Place of no less than 5-feet shall be provided, and that a speed table or other appropriate traffic calming device be erected within the driveway.
16. That no gates or other physical barriers to prevent access may be erected at either entrance to the driveway extending from East Carr Street to Sweet Bay Place.
17. That a public right of-way of no less than 5’ shall be required along the Sweet Bay Place frontage extending from Roberson Street to the driveway immediately south of the building, and that the applicant will work w/ staff to ensure acceptable access to residents and occupants of the structure.
18. That three units of affordable housing shall be provided in accordance with the formula promulgated in Carrboro Land Use Ordinance Section 15-182.4, and .45 units payment-in-lieu be paid to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. In the event Orange Community Housing & Land Trust is unable to sell the units by 90 days following the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, then the developer shall make other arrangements to ensure that such units remain affordable in accordance with the provisions of Section 15-182.4 of the LUO.
19. That no less than 10-feet of public right-of-way shall be dedicated along Roberson Street frontage in accordance with the adopted Roberson Street plan.
20. That the Board of Aldermen finds that existing vegetation plus a landscaping / planting area alongside the back third of the western side of the building satisfies the screening requirements for the southern and western property lines respectively, to help retain a pedestrian corridor along the western side of the building.

The Alberta

Last night, the Board discussed the Alberta project, a mixed-use, four story building on the old farmer’s market site on Roberson St. The site is currently the parking lot for Carr Mill employees and will retain that use in the future.

The board was in agreement on a number of key points:
-that affordable housing should be built on site rather than the developer’s request only to provide a payment-in-lieu;
-that sidewalks adjacent to public streets should become part of the public right of way;
-that traffic calming measures should be applied on the road section connecting Carr Street to Sweet Bay Place and that a bike/ped easement be established there;
-and that construction traffic should enter the property from Sweet Bay rather than Carr.

If the developer comes back next Tuesday in agreement with those points it is expected that we will grant the requested rezoning and permit.

This project would be the third new building downtown that we will have approved over the past year or so. The other two, one on Lloyd St and one on E. Main St., are entirely commercial and locally owned. The Alberta is owned by the Maryland-based group that owns Carr Mill, but they are using a local designer.

Although the Board and advisory boards have worked hard in reviewing and fine-tuning of these projects, much credit goes to those who earlier in the decade worked out the ordinances and policies which encourage this sort of development downtown, and also to the business-owners and residents who make downtown a lively and attractive place for such projects.