Chapel Hill planners promised this streetscape at a 2014 public hearing as typical for the Ephesus Fordham “Blue Hill” District. This is not what this form based code delivered.
Key Issues & Priorities about Smart Development
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Appropriate density
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Building on a human scale
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Spaces that draw people and groups
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Land use decisions that help small, unique, & local business to thrive
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Development that produces a positive revenue stream for the town
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Land use decisions that limit impervious surfaces and run-off.
Click here to watch the Ephesus-Fordham/Blue Hill video to learn about our concerns.
The Town of Chapel Hill has the power to promote affordable housing, create green space, encourage walkability, and make it safe to move about town through zoning and individual permit decisions. This slide captured the lower building heights, tree lined streets and wide sidewalks that we consider desirable in the form of an urban development.
So why is there such a gap between the “talk” and the “walk”?
What’s so disheartening about recent Town decisions has been the chasm between the community driven process and subsequent consensus reached and the final approval decisions. The elected members of the town, the Mayor and town council members, are the ultimate responsible parties for these decisions. Yet the town staff plays a key role. Their job is to translate with integrity the public process outcomes into draft policies for the Council to consider. The best example (or worst project) of a community process gone wrong is the rezoning of Ephesus Fordham District. The following article explains the vast difference between what we were promised and what we got.
Benefits for the few, costs for the rest of us
It was not until 1980 that Chapel Hill grew a planning department with staff given the job of reviewing development applications. Historically, the Town Council, composed of elected representatives make the final decision on projects. In 1985, the Town adopted the Comprehensive Land Use Plan that forged agreements between Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro officials.
Flooding occurs with increasingly frequency in our flood plains and adjacent areas. Here is the story of the Ephesus Fordham District, a.k.a. “Blue Hill.
CHALT met with elected officials and initiated petitions to improve the regulations in the Form Based Code.