Minutes 08-23-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Carrboro rezoned this area for commercial development. She said that the traffic will negatively affect her neighborhood and it will be a traffic nightmare. Marty Mandell said that she is sorry that this site was chosen without public input first. This area is landlocked and could be disruptive to the elementary school and the church. The access is awkward and it also costs too much. She said that there was a new site with exciting possibilities. She brought forward the plat of this site. The site is larger and cheaper. It adjoins a lot on Martin Luther King Jr., Boulevard. This lot is also on a bus line and within walking distance of McDougle Middle School. Ashley Stanford said that he lives near 210 Hillsborough Road and said that this is an inappropriate site for a library. He said that he and others argued this to the Town of Carrboro. It is the wrong place and it is too expensive. Alexandra Brown is President of the Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library. She said that she understands that the Board may not be able to vote in favor of this, but she hopes the Board can renew its commitment as soon as possible to this branch. Bethany Cheney lives at 217 Hillsborough Road across from the proposed library site. She said that she is a concerned citizen and that the County is missing the opportunity to apply the lessons learned from Rogers Road by proposing to put a library in the middle of a white residential neighborhood. She said that it would be better to find a cheaper site because this one is so expensive. She said that the process used to come up with this site was not ideal and it was not inclusive. She asked the Board to reject this site. Jeff Rubish lives at 214 Hillsborough Road and his grandfather donated the land from the school that is there now. He asked the Board to please vote no for this site. He said that access to this site could be dangerous. He said that the community wants a library, but at another location. This is a historic area and it would be destroyed if a library is put there. He asked the Board to look at other options. Gary Barnes is a resident of Chapel Hill and he is not intimately involved in the library process. He said that when he read about Orange County's plans for this library and Chapel Hill's plans for an extension of its library, he could not believe it because Orange County is at a crossroads because this is a brick and mortar mentality versus a more technological mentality. He said that the time is coming where the County will need to assess the future of the libraries. He urged the Board to say "no" now. Robert Down lives on Pine Street in Carrboro and concurred with Mr. Barnes. He said that the site selection was not done in a public forum, and their road is already a cut-through road. He said that sites with better access are pretty readily available. He asked the Board to reject this site. Commissioner McKee said that he has been on record as opposing this project and originally it was because of the cost. He said that he has had serious concerns about the site, its location, and its layout. He said that, recently with the title issues that have surfaced, it makes this project unfeasible. He said that the County needs to walk away from this site and look at future areas. A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to decline the purchase of property at 210 Hillsborough Road and pursue other sites for a southwest library branch. Commissioner Jacobs said that he agreed with the motion but he wanted to talk about the process. He brought up the issue of trust and said that he wants the Board to stand by its commitment to stand for a southwest library and to be collaborative and transparent. The Board needs to involve residents of Orange County and Carrboro and the Town's elected officials.