I Recognize That the Current Project Is the First One of the Many That Will Eventually

I recognize that the current project is the first one of the many that will eventually happen in the E-F district. That makes your consideration tonight of possible changes to the District Code very important. I want to go on record with my disappointment in this project and the underlying zone that allowed it. It is my hope that the Town council and planning staff will see fit to insure that future parts and pieces truly deliver on the Council’s 2020 goal of bringing truly walkable communities. That can only happen if you choose to make major alterations in the Code.

We can see already from the Village Plaza building elevations that the new zone does not deliver on that concept. The developer chose to fill the entire property from sidewalk to creek and from wall to wall with adjacent buildings with a huge mass of glass and concrete.

If recent development trends hold true, the first floor area of the building will include a coffee shop, a large fitness facility for the residents of the building and the rental/management offices for the apartments. No one, including the residents, will have any green space to enjoy, no place to walk their dogs and there will be no permeable surface to help mitigate water runoff. Well actually, a person could walk along the Greenway which will be rebuilt closer to Booker Creek offering a view of the back side of a parking deck. Not exactly an improvement...

The E-F district covers a lot of possiblefuture projectsso the standards need to give you what you want. The recommended staff changes will not deliver the missing elements of the EF Small Area Plan you paid the consultants to develop with the community. All the greatcitizen input for gathering places, parks, a permanent Farmer’s Market, and the day-lighting of Booker Creek are missing from this Code. Those ideas are lost unless you direct the Town Manager to put them into the Form Based Code.

I feel like the lady in the Wendy’s ad of the 70’s – Where’s the Plan??? The planning elements that all the citizens endorsed and you adopted in 2011 small area plan have gone missing. Please bring them back. The citizens of Chapel Hill deserve better.

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