Agenda 04-16-24; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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19 1 the pressures of transit. She said she does not think the rationale for this holds and wants more 2 information before she feels comfortable saying yes to this amendment. 3 Commissioner McKee said he does not have any interest in this area, but his wife's family 4 owns lands on the western side of Chapel Hill-Carrboro. He said they are experiencing the same 5 unaffordable growth in value. He said there may be some affordable housing added with this 6 amendment, but the alternative for parcels in this area is multi-million-dollar homes will be built. 7 He said this is a major corridor and an access to Chapel Hill, which will not stop growing and will 8 not stop being attractive. He said in every agenda item, some are advantaged, and some are 9 disadvantaged. He said it makes sense to him to put water and sewer along major access 10 corridors. He said it allows more affordable housing and closer density, although will still likely not 11 be affordable to the average wage earner. He said he thinks BRT will be in the plans in this area 12 in the future. He said this amendment does not change anything about future development. He 13 said the planning people want will still have to happen. He said he does support this amendment, 14 and this can be a good thing. 15 Vice-Chair Greene said the most compelling argument that residents have brought to the 16 Board is that they are their only elected officials. She said she takes that to heart and takes it very 17 seriously and has appreciated their perspective and heavily considered their input. She said she 18 keeps coming back to the fact that this area is within Chapel Hill's planning jurisdiction and is the 19 intention of Chapel Hill to grow in this area. She said it absolutely will not be all affordable housing, 20 but there are multiple ways to produce some affordable housing here. She said for subsidized 21 housing, it is critically important for land to be donated to an affordable housing developer because 22 it is such a critically expensive part of the proposition. She said the idea for this amendment came 23 from the Chamber's Big Bold Ideas and the Chamber's focus on what it can do to work on 24 affordable housing in the community. She said Chapel Hill does have rigorous processes for 25 collecting input in the next planning steps and ETJ residents will be a part of that. She said 26 ultimately, she believes this is Chapel Hill's area to plan and they will do a responsible job with it, 27 and they need the assurance this boundary amendment will be approved before investing 28 resources for additional planning. 29 Commissioner Richards said Vice-Chair Greene discussed the Big Bold Ideas more 30 eloquently than she did, and describing the level of community input that went into identifying 31 areas that make sense. She said this area makes sense. She said this does not affect the rural 32 buffer and with Chapel Hill and Carrboro renewing their commitment to maintaining the rural 33 character of Smith Level Rd., it gives her some reassurance. She said given the rigorous planning 34 process, it is good there are no plans yet because if the plan were set, there would be no 35 opportunity for residents to participate in the visioning. She said she feels the Town Council is 36 committed to the affordable housing piece of this, and ultimately, she is inclined to support it as 37 well. She said she also lives in the ETJ, just on the other side, and understands the concerns 38 raised by residents and encouraged them to be involved in the next planning phases. 39 Commissioner Fowler said she agrees with a lot of what the Board has said and 40 understands the concerns of residents in the area. She said she understands the argument that 41 this will not make a big dent for affordable housing, but if they do not make any dent, it will only 42 continue to get worse. She said regarding vehicle miles traveled, if people do not live here, they 43 will be traveling from other counties to Orange County for work or other reasons. She said this is 44 a major corridor and development here makes the most sense at this point in time. She said all 45 this amendment does is change the water and sewer boundary, the planning process still must 46 take place. She said weighing all of the different issues, she supports this amendment. 47 Chair Bedford said she agrees with a lot of what has been said. She said she attended 48 the public meeting that Chapel Hill held, and a number of people were opposed, and some were 49 also in favor. She said she had an opportunity to review the WASMPBA with Orange County 50 Planning staff. She said she initially wanted to wait until CLUP 2050 was done but has been 51 assured that there is enough water for all future planning. She said ETJs are undemocratic in her