No WASMPBA amendment without public listening sessions and additional planning
Southern Entryway Alliance
Dear Orange County Commissioners,
We are writing with our continuing concerns around Chapel Hill’s proposed changes to WASMPBA. It’s our collective belief that changing this boundary is premature, risks overdevelopment, and destruction of our watershed and native habitats, and puts at serious economic risk the many middle to low income residents of this area.
Chapel Hill Town staff has argued that they can’t afford the time or expense of studying this area without first amending WASMPBA. However, now that the three Towns have approved the boundary amendment, there should be no rush for the County to make the final vote. The Board of County Commissioners is our only direct representation – especially for those of us living in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro ETJs.
Our up front and urgent asks are:
Remove the WASMPBA agenda item from your upcoming March 7 agenda;.
Organize at least two well-publicized, public listening sessions prior to your vote so that the voices of those most impacted will be recognized and considered;
Request that Chapel Hill conduct environmental assessments to inventory ecologies, streams, and abutting flood plains prior to your vote;
Request that Chapel Hill provide cost estimates for extending sewer service to the Town-owned land and the land the Holy Trinity Church wishes to develop with further estimates for extending the service the full length of 15-501 prior to your vote;
Request that Chapel Hill provide cost estimates for current homeowners in the targeted area to connect to the currently available OWASA water prior to your vote. Our preference is that this estimation be available prior to the public listening sessions.
We are still receiving emails from concerned residents who are unclear about Chapel Hill’s plan, as well as signups to our email list. We’ve spoken with multiple neighbors this week – on Dixie Garden Drive, on Smith Level Road, in Dogwood Acres – who were completely unaware of Chapel Hill’s plan. Chapel Hill conducted their “public info sessions” with barely two weeks’ notice, and voted on WASMPBA without a public hearing as promised. Most of the justifications the Town has been using are inaccurate, as you know. There is only one failing well, there is no transit service or sidewalks, the Town’s current LUMO does not allow them to require missing middle housing, and the existing inclusionary housing policy is inadequate.
Area residents are already being pressured to sell their properties, and this will only get worse if WASMPBA passes. The area is a mix of home types, but the majority are older, small family homes. The availability of sewer service and the ability to tap into the existing water lines will have a gentrifying effect on the area, pushing long-standing residents out. We have also heard threats of eminent domain, that some properties may be deemed necessary to achieve the Town’s development goals (a cut through road from 15-501 to Smith Level). One neighbor is too frightened to speak on the record of phone calls received in this regard. Comprehensive development planning would go a long way toward protecting residents with no intent to sell from the aggressive actions of land speculators and housing developers.
Further, the Town has yet to address issues of annexation. While state law prohibits involuntary annexation, we may end up with islands of Town land within the ETJ, created by developers’ requests for annexation.
The Town of Chapel Hill wants us to trust in the process, that those discussions will come later. But we fear profit motive. The high costs of running the sewer lines make it doubtful that affordable housing for those earning <60% AMI will be feasible. With the rewrite of the Jordan Lake Rules, changes to stormwater requirements are on the horizon but won’t apply to any development proposal initiated before those rules are adopted. Expediting a change to WASMPBA boundaries now, under the more lenient regulations that are contributing to flooding throughout town, only benefits developers’ financial interests.
In conclusion: for all of these reasons and more, we look to you, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, our only representatives, to slow this process down. At the Town of Carrboro’s public hearing before their vote to support the extension, among the speakers in favor of this proposal were the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the Homebuilders Association, and a developer of luxury housing. Voting to amend WASMPBA without a plan will be a boon to those groups, at the expense of existing residents.
At minimum, please help us by conducting public information sessions, so that all of our neighbors are informed of these drastic, oncoming changes. But better yet, help us to ensure more sensible planning and regulatory measures are in place before voting to amend WASMPBA boundaries – which were specifically put in place to prevent overdevelopment.
Public engagement and participatory planning are hallmarks of Orange County. Help us urge Chapel Hill to plan first, and to work with us – the residents of the southern area – to find win-win solutions to the complex challenges faced by our community.
Thank you,
The Southern Entryway Alliance
Ann Harrawood (312 Carlton Dr, Chapel Hill)
Ann Jacobi Brown (10 Alston Dr, Chapel Hill)
Barbara Stenross (120 Carol Street, Carrboro)
Benjamin Pryor (26 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Benjamin Tupper (211 Bennington Dr, Chapel Hill)
BJ Warshaw (1439 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Brian King (781 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Carroll Scott (506 Yorktown Dr, Chapel Hill)
Celie Richardson (925 Lystra Lane, Chapel Hill)
Charissa Kam
Deborah Fulghieri (204 Copper Beech Ct. Chapel Hill)
Diane Heerema (130 Old Legacy Lane, Chapel Hill)
Diane Whitfield (106 Dixie Garden Dr, Chapel Hill)
Dick Ludington (304 Ray Rd, Chapel Hill)
Dirk Dittmer (1203 Bayberry Dr, Chapel Hill)
Dr. Claudia Fernandez (605 Yorktown Dr, Chapel Hill)
Dr. Jon K. Edwards (601 Oak Crest Dr, Chapel Hill)
Edward Whitfield Sr. (106 Dixie Garden Dr, Chapel Hill)
Elizabeth DuBose (4 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Erica Brenner (82 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Eva Carrozza (355 Carlton Dr, Chapel Hill)
Gwynne Pomeroy (148 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
H. Coleman Day (151 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Henry Goodloe Suttler (130 Old Legacy Lane, Chapel Hill)
James Adamson (201 Ray Rd, Chapel Hill NC)
Jill Fisher (404 Rossburn Way, Chapel Hill)
JJ Richardson (85 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Joelle Permutt (29 S. Circle Dr, Chapel Hill)
John Flinchum (77 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Julie Coleman (809 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Kaity Granda (81 Dogwood Acres Dr Chapel Hill)
Karen Dias (302 Cobble Ridge Dr, Chapel Hill)
Kyle Rasbach (1430 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Laura Thomas (312 Yorktown Dr, Chapel Hill)
Lauren King (781 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Linda Thompson (704 Copperline Dr, Chapel Hill)
Lisa Rasbach (1430 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Lloyd Chambless (44 N Circle Dr, Chapel Hill)
Margaret Brown (1509 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Marianna Chambless (44 N Circle Dr, Chapel Hill, NC)
Marie Rossettie (1439 Smith Level Rd, Chapel Hill)
Marie-Claude Flynn (150 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Mary Alice Lebetkin (202 Bennington Dr, Chapel Hill)
Mary B. Strong (520 Sun Forest Way Chapel Hill)
Maura L Hausler (917 Lystra Lane, Chapel Hill)
Munsie Davis (311 Yorktown Dr, Chapel Hill)
Natalia Adamson (201 Ray Rd, Chapel Hill NC)
Olivia Ludington (304 Ray Rd, Chapel Hill)
Patrick Cassidy (207 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill )
Phil Richardson (925 Lystra Lane, Chapel Hill)
Raschelle Rawlins (3 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Robert Frisell
Robert W. Hart (317 Carlton Dr, Chapel Hill)
Ruben Fernandez, JD (605 Yorktown Dr, Chapel Hill)
Sarah Thomson (211 Bennington Dr, Chapel Hill)
Shelley Hausler (917 Lystra Lane, Chapel Hill)
Steven Joseph (81 Dogwood Acres Dr Chapel Hill)
Susan Barrella (34 North Circle Dr, Chapel Hill)
Susan Lindsay (30 South Circle Dr, Chapel Hill)
Taran Rosenthal (47 N Circle Dr, Chapel Hill)
Teresa Hausler
Terri Buckner (306 Yorktown Dr, Chapel Hill)
Tony Barrella (34 North Circle Dr, Chapel Hill)
Torin Monahan (404 Rossburn Way, Chapel Hill)
Tracey West (317 Carlton Dr, Chapel Hill)
Valarie Schwartz (77 Dogwood Acres Dr, Chapel Hill)
Jamezetta Bedford
On behalf of the Board, thank you for your email. The WASMPBA is scheduled for March 7 BOCC meeting. The meeting begins at 7 pm and is at Whitted building in Hillsborough.
I am sorry that this was not coordinated for a Southern Human Services meeting date which would be more convenient for those who wish to speak during that meeting. I suspect staff/we are still adjusting to the re-opening of SHS since the pandemic and major roof and HVAC replacement work, and our return in Nov to using it for meetings.
Sincerely,
Jamezetta Bedford, Chair
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2024 7:33 AM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK
Subject: [EXTERNAL MAIL!] No WASMPBA amendment without public listening sessions and additional planning