The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, April 26, 19895 1
Ro'senrwy Square development group cootiract not expired
By TOM PARKS
StatfWriter
The Rosemary Group scrapped its
plans to build a $30 million hotel
shopping complex Monday, but the
development group and Chapel Hill
have not ended their contractual
obligations.
"It (the contract) is still technically
alive until July 30," Chapel Hill Town
Council member Joe Herzenberg said
Tuesday.
The developers were required to
give a report by July 30 indicating
thev would meet the Sept. 30 deadline
to submit final plans.
If the developers fail to meet the
July deadline, the contract will
automatically terminate, Herzenberg
said.
James Adams, executive officer of
The Rosemary Group Inc., told the
town council Monday the develop
ment group would not be able to meet
the council's Sept. 30 deadline for
finalizing the project's plans.
The slow rate of sales of the
condominium units caused The Rose
mary Group to rethink its commit
ment to. finance the project. The
group told the council it would not
finalize its plans.
Mayor Jonathan Howes and Her
zenberg said the only way the town
and the development group could
Rosemary Square, with its three
level underground parking deck,
would have been built at the inter
section of Henderson and Rosemary
streets on land used by Chapel Hill
terminate the contract sooner is by as a municipal parking lot.
ending their obligations in writing.
Howes said he thought the devel
opment group would be willing to end
the contract.
Rosemary Square was conceived
five years ago as a public private
project to bring public parking and
private investment to downtown
Chapel Hill.
The town planned to pay $2.5
million for the construction and
receive 328 parking spaces in return.
The town also would have kept the
deed to the land.
At the council meeting Monday,
the council referred Adams' report to
Town Manager David Taylor and
OWASA to heas- Amberly presentation
By TRACY LAVSON
Staff Writer
The developer of the controversial
Amberly project will make a presen
tation to the Orange Water and Sewer
Authority (OWASA) Thursday.
Developer Philip Szostak said he
believed Carrboro and OWASA
could not legally deny him access to
sewer and water services.
"The whole issue to me is the
(constitutional) right I have to sewer
and water services," Szostak said. uIf
they do not allow me access to the
already existing water and sewer
services, they are denying me my civil
rights.
If they do not allow me my legal
rights, they are discriminating against
me because of where the land is
located. All the aspects of the project
meet state and local building
ordinances."
Robert Peck, chairman of the
OWASA Board of Directors, said he
had no comment on the legality of
denying Szostak access to water and
sewer services until after the board
meeting.
Attempts to build a private waste
water treatment plant to accommo
date the houses in the Amberly
subdivision received a setback last
week when the N.C. Department of
Environmental Management (DEM)
refused to issue a permit for the plant.
Szostak said he requested the
permit because Carrboro and
OWASA refused to allow the use of
existing sewer and water services.
After the DEM refused to issue the
permit, Szostak said he sent letters
to OWASA and the Carrboro Board
of Aldermen requesting access to
water and sewer services.
The OWASA Board of Directors
will also discuss the results of an
environmental study concerning the
controversial Amberly development
project Thursday, Peck said. The
study was conducted by Camp-Dresser-McKee,
a Raleigh-based
environmental consulting firm.
Last year, OWASA placed a
moratorium on extending water and
sewer services into the University
Lake watershed for one year. This
watershed is1 near the proposed
Amberly subdivision site on N.C. 54
near Carrboro Park.
The purpose of the moratorium
was to protect the lake from possible
contamination that future develop
ments might produce, Peck said.
The yearlong moratorium expired
Sunday, and OWASA has proposed
to extend it for another year, Peck
said.
"The moratorium was placed on
the watershed in order to get firm
information based on research
to determine how University Lake
can be developed," Peck said. "We
have proposed to extend the mora
torium for another year to allow time
for Chapel Hill and Carrboro to study
the findings of the study."
When the moratorium was initially
implemented, one of its purposes was
to control the amount of potential
contamination that future develop
ment might produce, Alderman
Randy Marshall said.
"It was thought that the develop
ment of the Amberly project might
lead to a lot of other development
in the area," he said.
Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos to
decide on a possible course of action.
Assistant Town Manager Greg
Feller would not say Tuesday what
course of action Taylor might recom
mend. Taylor will prepare a report
within the month.
Herzenberg also was unsure of the
direction Taylor would advise the
council to take.
"I won't specifically know what
they (Taylor and Karpinos) are going
to suggest for a week or so," he said.
Before Monday's meeting, Karpi
nos sent a memo to council members
asking them to exercise caution in
their comments on Rosemary Square
because of the possibility of future
litigation.,
The memo did not restrict council
members from discussing the issue,
Howes said. Karpinos just advised the
council members to "be Careful with
what you do with this thing."
Council member David Godschalk
did not comment on the memo, but
he did say the contract was on its
way to being canceled.
"We (the council and town) are
involved in a contractual situation.
And that has to govern our actions."
Herzenberg said the Rosemary
Square controversy has defined town
politics for, the last two or three
elections, with voters on both sides
of the issue choosing candidates
solely because of their stand on the
public private development. "It has
really been corrupting town politics."
Jack Tomkovick, owner of the
Gold Connection, said the town
council should now turn its attention
to providing parking space
downtown.
"We see the lack of foot traffic
every day."
The closings of Foister's Camera
Store Inc. and Logos Bookstore were
directly related to a decrease in
pedestrians walking along Franklin
Street, Tomkovick said.
"If that does not tell you some
thing, you are not listening. We need
help."
In 1979, Chapel Hill voters turned
down a bond referendum to build a
parking deck on the same property
Rosemary Square was to be built on,
Herzenberg said.
A few years later the town council .
began looking at other ways to bring
parking to the downtown area and
settled on the idea of a public private
development project, he said.
Now that Rosemary Square has
been scrapped, the town may use the
land to build a parking deck similar
to the one proposed in 1979, Her
zenberg said.
"And that would indeed be ironic."
Board narrows choices for county airport site
By LAURA TAYLOR
Staff Writer
HILLSBOROUGH A list of 20
proposed county airport sites was
narrowed to six locations during a
work session Monday conducted by
the Orange County Board of
Commissioners.
The six proposed sites include
locations in Hillsborough Township,
Borders Little River and Eno town
ships and two locations in both
Cheeks and Bingham townships.
The sites were chosen by the project
consultants, Wilbur Smith
Associates.
Board member Shirley Marshall
said numerous residents are still
concerned about the proposed airport
although many sites were eliminated.
"Many of the sites people were
upset about were eliminated, but
many were not," she said.
Horace Williams Airport is jeopar
dizing the safety of residents living
near the airport and children attend
ing Guy B. Phillips Junior High and
Estes Hills Elementary schools, said
Julie Andresen, a Chapel Hill Town
Council member and a member of
Citizens for Airport Planning.
Noise created by the airplanes is
also considered an important prob-
Orange Co.
votes down
impact tax
From stall reports
HILLSBOROUGH The
Orange County Board of Commis
sioners voted Monday to cancel a
proposed impact tax on land devel
opment rather than send the bill to
the N.C. General Assembly.
Moses Carey, chairman of the
board, said it was unlikely that the
proposal could be passed by the
House before the deadline on May
II.
The bill was returned to the
Intergovernmental Work Group, a
committee consisting of representa
tives from Orange County, Chapel
Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, for
further study.
The decision on the impact tax
ends the debate over the tax, which
was designed to make development
groups provide the funds for
improvements to public facilities used
during construction, such as roads.
The Intergovernmental Work
Group said the impact tax would be
an appropriate way to pay the cost
of capital needs which cannot be
attributed to one development pro
ject. The tax was supposed to take
the tax burden for capital improve
ments off county residents.
According to estimates by the work
group, a $1 impact tax would gener
ate $488,450 annually for Chapel
Hill's capital improvement needs.
Problems for the impact tax began
when Hillsborough requested to be
exempt from the proposal because
town officials said the tax would have
negative effects on development and
affordable housing.
The proposal's tax districts had to
be revised because of the withdrawal
of Hillsborough. Some county offi
cials were concerned that because
part of the money from impact tax
revenues was for Orange County
schools, Hillsborough residents
would also benefit.
The impact tax was supported by
the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and
the Chapel Hill Town Council.
The Chapel Hill Town Council
approved a memorandum Monday to
support the impact tax which was
submitted by council members David
Godschalk and Art Werner.
lem, she said.
"There is a wide consensus that
Horace Williams Airport has out
grown its usefulness," she said.
The paved runway at the airport
runs directly in line with the schools.
Andresen said crash incidents have
occurred in the past involving fatal
ities of plane passengers. One such
incident happened near Chapel Hill
Senior High School about five years
ago.
The problem is that although
Horace Williams Airport is owned by
the University, it is classified as an
open airport, she said.
There is an unusual flight approach
pattern to the airport that some out-of-towners
are not aware of,
Andresen said. This is a potential
source of danger for people nearby.
When the runway was first paved
in 1970, the University agreed to
certain conditions to keep the airport
a limited one, Andresen said.
"I think the University has changed
its policies over the years," she said.
Certain restrictions, however, have
been strictly enforced by the Univer
sity. "The restrictions that are in
existence have been helpful," she said.
The elimination of practice land
ings by students learning to fly
airplanes has improved noise condi
tions, Andresen said.
Stephen Halkiotis, vice chairman
of the Orange County Board of
Commissioners, said if a new airport
comes under construction, it will be
paid for by state and federal money.
"The county would own it (the
proposed airport)," he said. "We
haven't even delved into the area of
finances yet."
Board member John Hartwell said
the proposed airport would be con
siderably larger than the present
airport.
"The projection was that it would
open with two to three times the
number of operations than at Horace
Williams Airport," Hartwell said.
Any project of this size, Hartwell
said, will incur some type of envi
ronmental consequences. The board
will consider all environmental prob
lems in trying to make the best final
location choice.
Two public hearings will be held
on May 24 and 25 in Chapel Hill and
Hillsborough, respectively. Commis
sioners will vote June 28 to choose
a final airport site.
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