Re: URGENT: Health & Safety Crisis at The Apartments at Midtown 501

[Caitlyn Wood]

Thank you for your response. 

If it is of any use, I can provide to you the actions we have already taken/ are in the process of taking. 

- The Town of Chapel Hill Code Enforcement has been notified and a Minimum Housing Code Violation Report was filed. Upon inspection the complex failed and were notified on 2:18 PM, Wednesday, September 16. They still maintained on Friday, September 18 that the unit was still habitable and claimed they never received an email from Code Enforcement. We have a video of management telling us outright these lies. 

- A mold inspector is coming out to test for mold on Monday, September 19. If the presence of mold is found, I am going to an immunologist to have them do blood tests for the types of mold found. 

- We have documented all correspondence with the complex/ management as well as documented all actions we have taken and all actions being taken in our unit. 

- Since my husband is a UNC student, he has access to legal services through the school. He has a meeting with them on Thursday as we are now pursuing legal action for this negligence from property management. 

- Our insurance has an appraiser coming next week sometime to see if they can help with alternative accommodations during this time. We have been informed that our renter’s insurance does not cover flood damage so we may not have assistance there. 

- We are actively not living in the unit even after managements claim that the unit is livable. This is for our health and safety. 

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Thank you, 

Caitlyn Wood

(919) 588-0787

209 Butler Ct, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

On Sat, Sep 19, 2026 at 5:53 PM Jean Hamilton <jham...@orangecountync.gov> wrote:

Dear Caitlyn Wood,

On behalf of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, thank you to bringing this situation to our attention and we are sorry that you and your family are being adversely affected. I will copy county staff and ask for them to share with you and the BOCC what steps can be taken by the County to help resolve this situation.

Sincerely,

Jean

Jean Hamilton, Chair

Orange County Board of Commissioners

 

---

From: Caitlyn Wood <caitly...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2026 1:01 PM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Cc: Wiggs, Nolan P <nwi...@unc.edu>
Subject: URGENT: Health & Safety Crisis at The Apartments at Midtown 501

 

CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless verified. Report suspicious emails with the Phish Alert Button located on your Outlook menu bar on the Home tab.

Dear Orange County Commissioners,

My name is Caitlyn Wood, and my husband and I are residents at The Apartments at Midtown 501 in Chapel Hill, a multi-unit property managed by the corporate firm Birchstone Residential. I am writing to urgently alert you to an ongoing housing, public health, and tenant safety crisis within our community. The immediate catalyst for this emergency is flooding that occurred in our apartments, which resulted in our drywall being torn out. Once the drywall was removed via flood cut’s (cuts of about 1.5 feet tall at the bottom of our walls), it was revealed that the interior wall structures are rotted, compromised, and unsafe. After doing extensive research and speaking with prior residents, it is clear that this flooding is a definitive, recurring structural problem that management has repeatedly failed to address properly or remediate at its source.

This situation has escalated to a point where I was recently hospitalized for severe respiratory issues that I strongly suspect are linked to the degraded environmental conditions of my home.

The Town of Chapel Hill Code Enforcement officially inspected my property and failed the unit for Minimum Housing Code violations. This Code Enforcement Officer is Tina Sauer and her phone number is (919) 968-2721 and email is tsa...@chapelhillnc.gov. Despite this official government ruling, this multi-million dollar corporate management firm is maintaining a stance that our residence is "habitable," stonewalling communications, and refusing to respond to both residents and city code enforcement officers.

Multiple tenants across several units are currently trapped in these dangerous conditions due to the following corporate actions:

• Severe Environmental & Health Concerns: The living conditions here are severely degraded. Following the onset of these issues, I required emergency hospitalization for acute respiratory distress. While medical evaluations are ongoing to determine the exact root cause, the timing and severity of these symptoms strongly align with the hazardous conditions present in the complex.
• Lease Traps & Relocation Delays: Management has informed tenants that they are barred from breaking their leases. While they offered to let residents transfer to different units, they admitted those units will not be available until mid-October, forcing families to live in legally failed conditions for weeks or forcing us to pay out of pocket for hotels. 
• Unannounced Entries & Unknown Chemical Exposure: Corporate staff are entering our apartments without prior notice. They are actively spraying unknown chemical treatments and flatly refuse to provide residents with the safety data sheets, names, or health risks of the chemicals being used in our living spaces.

Beyond the severe physical toll this has taken on my health, this crisis is actively disrupting our family’s livelihood. My husband is a current student at the UNC School of Law. The stress of living in a legally failed property, combined with my medical emergency crisis, has severely impacted his ability to focus on his rigorous legal education. Instead of focusing on his studies, he is being forced to spend his time documenting code violations, fighting corporate bureaucracy, and dealing with an unsafe living environment right here in the Chapel Hill community

As our elected county officials overseeing public health and community welfare, I am asking for your immediate intervention. A corporate entity is actively violating local housing laws, ignoring municipal code enforcement, keeping renters in failed conditions, and refusing to disclose chemical safety data.

We have reached out to the Mayor and town council regarding our unsafe situation as well. 

I have attached photographs of the property conditions and the town's failed inspection report. I welcome the opportunity to speak with you or county health officials immediately.

Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Caitlyn Wood
(919) 588- 0787
209 Butler Ct, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

MH-26-69.pdf

[Jean Hamilton]

[Erica Pettigrew]

Hi Ms. Wood - 

Thank you for reaching out. I am so sorry to hear what you and your family are experiencing. Several key health department leaders are out of the office this week but we will discuss and get back to you as soon as possible. 

Best, 

Erica Pettigrew

Erica Pettigrew, MD, JD, MPH

(she/her/ella)

Medical Director, Orange County Health Department

Medical Director, Occupational Health at UNC Hospitals

Associate Professor, University of North Carolina School of Medicine

epett...@orangecountync.gov

 

Chapel Hill location: 

2501 Homestead Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Hillsborough location:

300 W Tryon St, Hillsborough, NC 27278

Orange County Health Department Mission

Our mission is to promote and protect health, enhance quality of life, and preserve the environment for everyone in Orange County.

 

Our goal at OCHD is to meet or exceed our client's expectations. Please tell us how we are doing by taking this quick survey. Your feedback is very important to us.

·       Community and Client Satisfaction Survey

·       Encuesta de Satisfaccion Clientes y Comunidad

        

  

 

Consider the environment and the cost before printing this email. 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: All email messages, including any attachments, generated from or received by this site are the property of Orange County Government and are considered public domain subject to the North Carolina Public Record Law. The Orange County Health Department transmits minimal confidential client/patient information via email, and any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.  If you believe there has been an inappropriate disclosure, please contact Ashley Rawlinson, OCHD HIPAA Privacy and Security Officer, at arawl...@orangecountync.gov

---

From: Caitlyn Wood <caitly...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2026 6:30 PM
To: Jean Hamilton <jham...@orangecountync.gov>
Cc: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>; Wiggs, Nolan P <nwi...@unc.edu>; John Roberts <joro...@orangecountync.gov>; Dorothy Cilenti <doci...@orangecountync.gov>; Erica Pettigrew <epett...@orangecountync.gov>
Subject: Re: URGENT: Health & Safety Crisis at The Apartments at Midtown 501

 

[Caitlyn Wood]

Thank you! 

I look forward to hearing back from you all. 

Have a great evening. 

Caitlyn Wood