Minutes 03-07-2024 - Business Meeting

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18 absent a"yes" vote tonight, this area will continue to develop without plan. He said that is not how this part of the county needs to grow. Coleman Day said he has lived in the ETJ for 35 years. He said he also served on the Planning Board in Chapel Hill for many years. He encouraged the Board to vote against this amendment. He said the community plan for the southern area has been in place for many years and it is being pushed through by the Chamber of Commerce and a pro-development council. Bridget Pemberton-Smith said she is speaking on behalf of the Carrboro Business Alliance. She said this area is exactly where the community should look for housing solutions. She asked the Board to vote yes. She said that pricing and availability of housing is one of the biggest challenges for businesses because their employees cannot afford to live here. Valarie Schwartz said she has lived in Chapel Hill for 30 years and the ETJ for 25 years. She said that everyone here is in agreement on affordable housing. She said the median cost of a home in Chapel Hill is about $537,000 dollars. She asked if that is the dollar reference amount for median incomes because that does not seem affordable. She asked why Chapel Hill approves the building of more expensive homes. She said once this agreement is approved, the developers will flock. She said if they know that if a water and sewer expansion will only be approved to help everyone, then only the developers that are truly interested in affordable housing will show up. She said that there are people that need water filtration issues now for health reasons. She said that Chapel Hill has proven they want rich people there. She asked the Board to put a hold on the process and give Chapel Hill a bargaining chip so that when a plan for people and environment is ready, it will be approved. She said tonight is not the night to do that. Terri Buckner said she was on OWASA when the water supply plan was updated. She said it was based on the anticipated population growth of the Town up to 2050. She said it does not include anything in the Southern expansion area. She said it was based on the future land use map in Chapel Hill. She said there probably is enough water because there is Jordan Lake access but is that really what they want to do. She said that impervious is 50% but according to state guidelines it is 70%. She said that the stormwater ordinances are strict in Chapel Hill, but Chapel Hill lost the ability to enforce most of their standards. She said that their own staff admitted that they can only enforce nutrients right now because of state law. She said that the town process sounds nice and that if it were something else, she could support it. She said that the Chamber, the realtors, and the developers are here because the church has planned to do the development and it will open up more for them. She said the Town violated the trust when they reopened the process and that makes them skeptical that they will follow the process outlined tonight. She asked them to say no. Kyle Rasbach said he lives on 10 acres on Smith Level Rd. He said they bought with the understanding there would not be additional high-density development past Southern Village. He said there has not been appropriate environmental studies and he would venture to say that less than 10% of neighbors are even aware of the process going on. He said that asking them to drive for 45 minutes on a Thursday night is not a way to get a true representation of their thoughts. Commissioner Hamilton said as a former economist, she looked at the rationale of affordable housing in this area with that lens. She said subsidized housing is a low enough price that people 80% AMI or less can afford it and is achieved with federal, state, or local government money. She said the other type of affordable housing would require them to somehow slow the growth of the area, which she believes is highly unlikely based on supply curves in this area. She said housing prices are driving up because of people coming from out of state. She said they will not be able to build enough housing to outweigh that this is an attractive place for people to live, so she does not buy that affordable housing will come out of this. She said she still understands that houses are needed, even if they are not affordable, but it needs to be looked at carefully. Additionally, she said a rapid transit system will not go in for years and that area is already congested. She said even if"missing middle" housing is built there, additional people will increase