Aura is a major housing development proposed by Trinsic Residential Group, a Texas based developer, for the clear-cut land (15 acres) on the northeast corner of the Estes Drive and MLK Jr. Blvd. intersection. Trinsic’s permit application describes 3-4 story, multi-building complex that is 98% residential composed of 419 residential units – 361 rental apartments, 58 for-sale townhouses – a small amount of retail and office space totaling 11,600 sq ft, and 550 additional parking spaces.
Nearly 90 callers, mostly interested and concerned neighbors, attended a Town sponsored Transportation Forum on February 10th to hear the consultant hired by the Town to assess traffic conditions on Estes present his findings. The purpose of the traffic impact analysis (TIA) is to show objectively what happens to traffic around Aura’s adjacent intersections and roads — if this project were to be approved by the Chapel Hill Town Council.
The developer pays for the TIA, however the Town is responsible for producing an objective traffic study. There were many questions about the assumptions made in the study and there was little time to satisfactorily address many of them. Examples of items yet to be addressed are why the future year traffic growth modeled was so low compared to that used in other TIAs, what is the accuracy of the results presented, why is the developer satisfied with the proposed entrance/exit design which fails miserably during evening rush hour, and what happens to Estes traffic when the adjoining and opposite parcels are developed?
Town planning and transportation staff seem to question some of the findings. To neighbors, the consultant seemed to present a rose-colored glasses view of the data, leaving out much that would indicate trouble for mobility on Estes Drive. All agree that much more investigation and analysis is needed to understand these results.
In addition to the TIA, the Town has developed a town wide mobility modeling tool that can help anyone quickly understand the traffic impacts of a project. CHALT is gratified that the town has developed this useful model at our yearly urging since 2014. Several visual traffic models were shown briefly on the call. The simulations were difficult to see in the Zoom format and did not show the traffic situations in real time, but were highly speeded up. The Town Planner said the Town would sponsor another transportation forum in March to better explain and present this model.
If you would like to learn more about the proposed Aura project, you can view the Town webpage about Aura and check out the website put together by Estes Neighbors.
Please sign the petition to keep Estes Drive Moving. “We ask the Mayor and Town Council to reject the Aura conditional zoning application for the property located at Estes Drive and MLK Jr. Blvd and that future applications meet the density numbers and Town traffic mobility standards for Estes Drive as recommended in the Central West Small Area Plan.”