Lawrence Road Project
wkrich...@netzero.net
I am contacting you concerning the rezoning of the Lawrence Rd. project.
First of all, I am a native of Hillsborough and attended the public
schools here. My family moved to the Lawrence Rd. community in 1957. I have never had a need to contact our planning board until now.
I believe this is the wrong location for this project.The land is
surrounded by homes and a church plus the land does not have easy access.
This project will impact people living not only Lawrence Rd. but 70A,70.and
NC10.The road infrastructure is not adequate for all the travel.
I hope you will consider what his project would be like to have near to your own home. I feel it would add a negative impact to the community.I realize I may not sway your decision in my favor. This is a 20 yr.project with possibly 50 dwellings being constructed (page 327.) Thanks,Wanda
Please say "no" to the rezoning.Keep Hillsborough unique. Richardson
Hollis Chatelain
We are writing this letter as follow up to the April 5th meeting about the Lawrence Road Project proposal. We were quite surprised with how Summit Design and Engineering Services (SDES) and their partners presented this massive project that will impact all of Hillsborough.
The presenters never once said that they would work with the community or the town. Instead they simply reiterated that they would be in compliance with the laws. But there are many unanswered questions, many discrepancies with what was said at the meeting versus what is in their plan, and very little information being presented to the public that is telling the whole story.
Once this project is accepted and they start, there is no coming back. It will affect every person who lives in the town of Hillsborough because of the water situation. It will also affect the surrounding neighbors on wells and it will be disastrous for traffic flow.
Roads:
The first thing that was said at the meeting was that the project could not be rejected because of roads problems or traffic because a charter school is proposed in the project. Is this really true?
The developer’s deliberate coupling of projects - recreation fields & facility with public charter schools - thereby circumvents the commission’s ability to consider traffic implications. This is hardly a step toward being a good steward of land within the community of Hillsborough and its neighbors. The size of the recreational plans alone will create a significant influx of traffic from areas outside of Hillsborough.
Moreover, the traffic assessment presented by SDES at the meeting was done in February 2021 during the height of Covid so it doesn’t actually reflect the true present day traffic situation.
This project is proposed on one of the only two roads that go north-south through Hillsborough (Churton Street being the other) over the Eno River, the railroad tracks and I85. If there would be an emergency at the school that would require emergency vehicles to get into the school, it would be impossible to gain access during certain hours of the day simply because access would be blocked by traffic. Traffic would also restrict any emergency vehicles trying to access other areas around the site because other roads literally don’t exist without going miles out of the way.
Water:
Hillsborough has a water problem.The cost of water and sewers for Hillsborough residents have increased considerably in the last eight years. Are the Lawrence Road Project projections sustainable?
The proposal for the high school charter school affirms that the school will not have a cafeteria or gym. It states that the proposed high school of 600 students will use 6000 gallons of water/day (10 gallons water/day/student). But the speaker representing the charter schools at the meeting stated that all students would have two free meals/day at the school. With a cafeteria, the recommended daily tabulation for a high school is 12 gallons of water per student.
Does the planning board have a complete and accurate proposal regarding the high school?
The proposal also has plans for a K-8 charter school but there is nothing in the proposal for this second school about water or sewer except to say that it hasn’t been approved by the town. There are no names of schools proposed who will occupy this second building. Why is this second school in the proposal?
They state that all of the athletic fields (8 baseball fields, 12 tennis courts, 2 pickleball courts, 2 soccer fields, and a skateboard park), the buildings, and the concession stands will be on wells and septic which will affect all of the surrounding neighborhood wells that already exist. There are still people on Lawrence Road that have the shallow older wells. Many of those people are lower income. Has anyone done an assessment of how many shallow wells there are and how this project would affect them? Who would pay to have those wells replaced if they go dry? How is this equitable?
How would this affect the Occoneechee Golf Course that has been there since 1968 and is Hillsborough’s only golf course?
School:
The charter high school speaker spoke of the overcrowding in Hillsborough public high schools stating that the proposed charter school would alleviate the problem. This is not the reality.
The proposed charter school, which operates on a lottery system, will be open to students outside of Hillsborough. We have seen with the Eno River Academy that some parents are driving 90 minutes to have their children attend the school.
He said that the proposed charter school would have buses for 300 students. How far away from the school will those buses travel?
The speaker said that they will have one mile of “stacking” on the property to help with the drop off and pick up of students. Has anyone assessed this to see how and if the one mile of extra roads is in the proposed plan can work?
In order for the Orange County Board and the Board of County Commissioners to make informed decisions about any aspect of this request for rezoning, these critical questions need to be answered and the discrepancies need to be resolved. To ignore the lack of transparency in this proposal serves to jeopardize the health and sustainability of the community of Hillsborough. Mayor Jenn Weaver’s letter is very clear on all the reasons why the rezoning request for this development should not be approved.
Sincerely,
Hollis Chatelain
Reynald Chatelain
Leigh Horne
Crawford Horne
Janet Wright-Simpson
