Agenda 01-18-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

20 1 tweaked as necessary to accommodate the roads. He said the Headwaters preserve is a 2 headwaters for three different sub-basins, and to get sewer to this area would require having 3 sewer services flow in three different directions. He said when sewer was installed in the 4 Rogers Road community some extensions were made out to this area. 5 Commissioner Fowler asked for a cost to develop water and sewer. 6 Craig Benedict said he could not say that right now, but there are options from where it 7 could come. He said the school site has two stub outs to the property. He said the Rogers 8 Road sewer project extended sewer past the animal shelter and up to the Nunn property. He 9 said the northern part of the site and the eastern area near the tracks would be served to the 10 north at that time. He said as next steps are examined in a master plan, costs for infrastructure 11 would be established. He said the Rogers Road sewer project was a joint effort between 12 jurisdictions, and he hopes any future sewer work would be accomplished similarly. 13 14 PUBLIC COMMENT 15 John Dempsey said the Greene Tract Forest is a 164-acre parcel of publically owned 16 land. He said elected officials are being asked to transfer much publically owned land for 17 eventual private development. He referred to proposal 6A, noting this proposal targets 66 acres 18 for unspecified mixed use and commercial development. He said acreage could vary up to 15% 19 for a total of 76 acres, and 21 acres along the eastern side of the Greene tract will remain as 20 public owned and undeveloped land in the short term, but may be evaluated for development in 21 the future depending on needs at that time. He said that brings the total of public land being 22 developed to 97 acres, over 59% of the property. He said 16 acres are designated for public 23 schools and recreation site, equaling a total of 113 acres out of 164-acre tract that is being 24 targeted for development. He said there is no affordable housing mandated by the joint 25 resolution, but it includes a goal of affordable and mixed income opportunities. He said the 26 Board and town councils should vote no and direct planning staff to work on a plan that is more 27 in line with the Rogers Road: Mapping Our Community's Future report from May of 2016. He 28 believes doing so would garner more public support. 29 Nancy Oates said she is a long-time advocate for affordable housing. She said voting 30 on this resolution is problematic because the public still does not know the ramifications of 31 switching the boundaries around. She said she does not see any reason to rush. She said 32 there was tremendous public turnout at the in person and online meetings, but their questions 33 still have not been answered. She said 50 years ago elected officials dealt duplicitously with the 34 residents of Rogers Road, promising a recreation area, but instead the landfill was expanded, 35 tainting the local wells, and she has a sick feeling this duplicitousness is happening again. She 36 said residents of Rogers Road voices have been clear they do not want "stack them and pack 37 them" housing, but that is what mixed use for all income levels is. She said she did not get 38 support from colleagues when she suggested removing mixed use high rises from allowable 39 uses in 2016. She said in talking with them later, they said the plan was to sell off the land to 40 private developers to pay for the infrastructure and would get more money with mixed use 41 developments. She said the land could be donated to a nonprofit, and if that is the Board's 42 intent, it should be spelled out in the resolution tonight. She said potential traffic impacts have 43 not been explored. She said in 2019, then school board chair Joal Broun said the land was too 44 small for a school and wanted to discuss preserving other land in Chapel Hill for a school site. 45 She said the smallest school that would fit on this site is an elementary school, only if it took up 46 all of the recreation space. She said the Chapel Hill Town Council is leaning on the three newly 47 elected officials to support this and be a team player. She said the environmental report states 48 clearly that no infrastructure is to be laid on top of the protected areas, but maps show that this 49 will indeed happen. 50 Robert Campbell said the Commissioners should move forward with this resolution. He 51 said he is not here to talk about where roads will go or how many houses will be built. He said