LOT FULL
by K. Larsen
Parking will likely become a nasty problem for Chapel Hill as new developments are built under the Ephesus-Fordham form-based code (FBC). The Ephesus-Fordham area is the guinea pig for the first FBC rollout, and it will be the first to suffer. Ground Zero will be the shopping center in the vicinity of Whole Foods on Elliott Road. Look for trouble to arise once the Village Plaza Apartments developers fence off their land and begin construction.
Residents brought this issue to the attention of the Town Council and town staff in 2014 prior to FBC approval, but residents’ concerns were ignored.
The details are simple and easy to fix. It’s all about a few formulas in the math used to calculate the required number of parking spaces. If the formulas are correct, then adequate parking can be provided. However, Chapel Hill adopted a formula for Ephesus-Fordham that skimps on parking.
For example, the formula specifies that a maximum of 1.25 parking spaces per one-bedroom apartment be provided and 1.75 spaces for a two-bedroom apartment. No number is used for guest parking.
By contrast, in other towns the numbers used are 1.5 and 2.0 respectively. Guest parking is calculated at 0.25 spaces per two-bedroom apartment.
A quarter of a parking space sounds like a frivolous amount to quibble about, but when you multiply that by a large development (e.g. the Village Plaza Apartments will comprise 266 units), the parking shortfall can have nasty consequences – particularly when you consider the proximity to the heavy traffic already present in the adjacent parking lot for Whole Foods. Things will get ugly.
Why are the smaller Chapel Hill FBC numbers wrong? To me, allocating just 1.25 spaces for a one-bedroom apartment, 1.75 spaces for a two-bedroom unit, and nothing for guest parking says that the development will be mostly occupied by people who live one per bedroom and don’t have any friends. How realistic is that? Not much.
Elsewhere in Chapel Hill residents are battling landlords who allow four or more students (with their cars and cars of friends) in rental houses. As much as we’d like to hope that car use can be curtailed, the reality is different. We live in an era of cars, and adequate parking must be provided.
Bottom line: Fix the inadequate FBC parking formula ASAP and avert future parking problems.