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WEEKLY SUMMER EDITION (Ehc Bailu ®ar BM om |2> A Centuiy of Editorial Freedom BMH Est. 1893 Volume 101, Issue 50 Campus Y ordered to vacate second floor By Yi-Hsin Chang Editor Although University administrators have been telling the Campus Y to va cate the second floor of its building immediately since late lune, the Cam pus Y continues to use the upper story. The N.C. Department of Insurance condemned all floors above the first floor of the Campus Y building in Feb ruary 1949 due to a lack of sufficient emergency exit stairs. But the Campus Y has continued using the second floor since then as meeting and office areas. “The urgency of this is contrived,” said Campus Y Co-president Ed Chaney, a senior from Chapel Hill. “(The second floor) is vital to the Campus Y’s 29 UNC to study airport for ‘new Odum Village’ By Kelly Ryan Associate Editor To compensate for the number of University employees who cannot af ford to live in Chapel Hill, University administrators and planners are consid ering using part of the Horace Williams tract to build affordable housing. The parcel of land houses the Horace Williams Airport, which has come un der scrutiny by town residents who want the airport to be moved because of noise and safety concerns. The airport, which occupies about 250 acres of a 970-acre parcel of land on Estes Drive Extension adjacent to two University satellite parking lots and near local schools, has been operated by the University for more than 50 years. “We might consider constructing a new Odum Village for employees, fac ulty, staff and students on a need basis,” said Donald Boulton, vice chancellor for student affairs. “With a certain ceil ing on income, it might provide afford able housing for members of the Uni versity community.” Boulton stressed that building af fordable housing only was a possibility at this point, but was being considered by the administration “when dreaming about what to do with the Horace Wil- Horace Williams Airport The University-owned airport, located 11/2 —— miles from central campus, is the most likely _| J site for the development of a satellite rßtSi 1 fm L*r ■■■! // TCV JST --■■■ 111 4i m 1 Y |? Phase I— Proposed Academic Research Facilities j Tin it \ Phase II Proposed Residential Units / C*P— V. Phase 111 Proposed Industrial Research Facilities j I— Current Horace Williams Airport Buildings OTH/JohnCaserta PHE Inc. granted appeal to move to northern Orange County town By Yi-Hsin Chang Editor HILLSBOROUGH—PHE Inc. won an appeal Tuesday that will allow the company to build anew warehouse in the northern Orange County town. Orange County Superior Court Judge Knox Jenkins granted PHE’s appeal against the town’s Board of Adjustment for denying the mail-order erotica com pany a permit to relocate to Hillsborough. “There’s no evidence in the records that minors would have access to (PHE) materials except through the United States mail,” Jenkins said. The Board of Adjustment had denied PHE a site-plan permit on the grounds that the company was an adult-use busi ness and thus needed to apply for a conditional-use permit. The Hillsborough Town Board unani mously voted May 24 not to fight PHE’s appeal. Town Attorney Mike Brough had said the town could not win the case against PHE on legal grounds. The town ordinance defines an adult use business as one that “excludes mi nors for reasons of age,” such as adult bookstores, adult picture theaters, mas sage parlors and adult cabarets. Thursday, July 8, 1993 committees. It’s where a lot of business gets done.” Habitat for Humanity, the Student Environmental Action Coalition and Project Literacy are among the commit tees whose offices are on the second floor. Many committees also hold meet ings in the second-floor Campus Y Lounge. The Campus Y’s main office is located on the first floor of the building. Wayne Jones, vice chancellor for business and finance, said he couldn’t speak for what happened between 1949 and now. “(The Campus Y) has been brought to my attention within the last year,” he said. Campus Y Director Zenobia Hatcher- Wilson said that an inspector from the University’s Health and Safety Office liams tract.” “Several hundred employees are making less than what is considered the poverty line,” he said. The commuter airport serves educa tors and the University’s medical staff, who can travel more quickly without having to drive to Raleigh-Durham In ternational Airport. University and town officials long have discussed relocating the airport and now are planning to study alternate uses for the property. Wayne Jones, vice chancellor for business and finance, said building af fordable housing as part of a future satellite campus conceivably could help to recruit staff, students and faculty. “If we had more affordable housing in Chapel Hill, whether there’s a uni versity or not, it would make it more attractive to live in Chapel Hill and work at the University,” he said. The construction of affordable hous ing, recreation space, research-oriented facilities and support services for the University will be considered. “It’s a recognized need,” he said. “The University can’t do a great deal about it immediately. The possibilities exist that the University land might be See AIRPORT, page 4 Jenkins ruled that PHE was not an adult-use busi ness under the or dinance. Peggy Oettinger, market ing director for PHE, said she was pleased with the judge’s ruling. “We’re just ex tremely pleased by •O? £ gU Owner Phil Harvey the judge’s interpretation of the law and hope we can move forward on a timely basis.” PHE owner Phil Harvey was out of town and could not be reached for com ment. Nick Herman, PHE’s attorney, said the ruling meant that the company had complied with the town’s requirements and could start building its new and larger facilities. PHE currently is located on N.C. Highway 54 in Carrboro. The Orange Coalition Against Por nography, which Jenkins allowed to fight PHE’s appeal in court, has 30 days to appeal the case in the N.C. Court of Appeals. OCAP was founded in February by a No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit. Sir Frederick G. Banting Serving the students and the University community since 1893 recently had vis ited the building and said that it would not be nec essary to vacate the second floor as long as no more than 30 people were allowed up stairs at one time. “At this point, we are not sure whattheactual sta- Ed Chaney tus is,” Hatcher-Wilson said. “We’re just waiting.” But Jones said that there had been a misunderstanding and the person who had inspected the building had not been aware of the 1949 condemnation order. Affordable homes tough find in town By Kelly Ryan Associate Editor Take a drive through Chapel Hill. Weave through the town’s residential neighborhoods and make a checklist of the places where you would like to live. If you earn more than $46,000 annu ally, go to a real estate agency. If you earn less, stay in your car and drive to Durham. Chapel Hill boasts the highest me dian income in the state. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the median in come in March for a family of four in Chapel Hill was $46,000. A high median income might sug gest that Chapel Hill is a town of oppor tunity. But the reality is that town lead ers and planners not only lack a compre hensive plan to provide affordable hous ing, but they would not have the money to fund such a plan. Though the median income tends to increase every year, employees of two of the town’s largest industries, the University and the town itself, earn sig nificantly less than $46,000. According to Chapel Hill’s person nel department, 306 of Chapel Hill’s 505 active, permanent employees earn salaries less than $30,000. The median income for a town em ployee is $24,361 s29B less than in November 1991. “The larger part of our staff does not live in Chapel Hill because they cannot afford it,” said Bunny Spadaro of the town’s personnel department. “I think they would want to live in Chapel Hill. It’s closer to their job.” Providing affordable housing Affordable housing is different from public housing, said Margaret Matrone, manager of communications at the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. Public hous ing is funded almost entirely by grants from HUD, while affordable housing refers to property that is subsidized by local or state governments. “Our housing, by and large, is afford able for people who have incomes be low 80 percent of the median income,” she said. “Affordable means they ’re not going to pay more than 30 percent (of their income) for their housing, includ ing utilities.” Chris Bemt, of the Chapel Hill Plan ning Department, said that every year $150,000 is allocated from the town’s group of ministers opposing PHE’s at tempts to move to Hillsborough. About 10 OCAP members attended the hear ing Tuesday. Nathan Kellum, an attorney from the American Family Association Law Center which represented OCAP, said appealing the decision was a viable consideration. “We just need to step back and consider our options,” he said. “Obviously, I’m disappointed, and for obvious reasons, I disagree with Judge Jenkins.” The AFA Law Center, based in Mis sissippi, is a pro bono legal organiza tion designed to protect the interests of Christians in court. Former Hillsborough Town Attor ney Lucius Cheshire, who also repre sented OCAP in the case, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the judge’s ruling. When asked if he thought OCAP would appeal the ruling, Cheshire an swered, “I would think so, yes. This is not the end.” Cheshire said OCAP was willing to go “all the way.” “I don’t know how many more in nings this thing has got, but we’ve gone three innings. (The score) was 3-0. Now it’s 3-2.” Chapel Hill, North Carolina The Campus Y will have to vacate the second floor as instructed by Uni versity administrators, Jones said. “Using it is still a violation (of the state fire code),” he said. “We do have to take that seriously.” The Campus Y will move its second floor offices to the basement as soon as space is found for the two programs now housed there, Jones said. “It’s just a matter of finding space for everyone.” Hatcher-Wilson said a move in the middle of the summer would be disrup tive to Campus Y programming. She also does not like making such big changes while most students are away for the summer, she said. But Hatcher-Wilson added that the Campus Y was about more than just a l V;| fBBBBt w 111 §g M if g 1 |f J DTH/flustin Williams James Foust has lived in Trinity Court in the Pine Knolls neighborhood for about a year General Fund for low-income housing. This year about $70,000 will be in vested in improvements in the Pine Knolls community. “I think our programs stress a wide range of programs, rental and home ownership,” she said. The Pine Knolls community oper ates on its own, using sweat-equity to build and repair existing homes, Bemt said. Sweat-equity refers to the process in which residents use their own labor to invest in their homes. The town sometimes provides sec ond mortgages for residents, who have to fill out applications in the planning Brown enters town race for second term; two candidates file with elections board By Kelly Ryan Associate Editor Although three Chapel Hill Town Council incumbents already have an nounced their plans to run for re-elec tion, only two interested residents of ficially have filed for a spot on the November ballot. Council member Joyce Brown an nounced last Wednesday that she planned to seek election to a second term and will file with the Orange County Board of Elections as soon as possible. “I’d like to continue work on some of the issues I began,” she said. “I’ve been involved in environmental issues and am concerned with working to reduce solid waste.” Brown, who is retired, helped to create the council’s energy and solid waste reduction committees. Brown said she thought the town should study ways to improve its transportation sys tem to encourage residents to use mass transit. “Frequently, good environmental sense makes good economic sense as well,” she said. “I’m also concerned with keeping the tax rate down and costs down.” Brown said her experience had building. “The program can exist any where.” Chaney said the building easily could be made safe with the addition of fire escapes and fire extinguishers until money became available for more per manent renovations. “It ’ s not a doomed building in itself,” he said. But Jones said renovating the build ing would be financially impractical. “It’s a small building,” Jones said. “The net space you’re going to end up with for the cost, you could build anew building.” In a report to Chancellor Paul Hardin last week on where to build a free standing black cultural center, the Build ings and Grounds Committee suggested that Hardin look into the Campus Y site department for the town’s financial as sistance. Bemt said Chapel Hill follows gen eral policy goals, but does not have any quotas or requirements about the mini mum amount of housing that must be provided. “We don’t have big programs like other cities,” she said. “The council elected to set aside $150,000, but we’re a smaller community than Raleigh and Durham. There’s a big difference in how much money you can generate.” Funding developments Chapel Hill has offered financial sup- Chapel Hill Town Council helped her to bet ter understand the way town government works. “I think we are going to be faced with some of the same issues,” she said. “We’ve been dealing with affordable housing and crime.” Lee Pavao, the two-term chairman of the town’s Park and Recreation Com mission, filed last week as a candidate for one of five open council seats. “My primary goal is to serve the public,” Pavao said. Pavao, who is retired, said his expe rience with the Parks and Recreation Commission would be an asset for the council. Pavao could not be reached for com ment Wednesday. Council member Barbara Powell filed Tuesday for the election, saying that when she was appointed to fill council member Roosevelt Wilkerson’s seat in the fall, she had intended to run this year for a full four-year term. “I’ve been a part of the town practi cally all of my life,” she said. “I know where we’ve come from and where we © 1993 DTH Publishing Coip. All rights reserved Newi/Sporta/Arts 962-0245 Business/Advertising 962-1163 as a possible location for the BCC. Hatcher-Wilson said she was sur prised by the recommendation. She added that Hardin had told her that he would talk to Campus Y officials before any serious consideration of the site. Meanwhile, Campus Y officials must deal with the possibility of losing the space it has on the second floor, which was renovated just recently. “We have learned to love the space upstairs,” Hatcher-Wilson said. In ad dition to providing office space and meeting rooms, the second floor also houses a resource center. “We’re not a materially focused or ganization,” Chaney said. “We make do with what we have. But we’re work ing with the minimum at this point.” port for two affordable housing neigh borhoods in the past the Tandler subdivision, which has 35 homes, and the Culbreth Park neighborhood, which has 30 homes and is located outside Chapel Hill city limits. Judy Russell, a planner in the town’s Department of Housing and Commu nity Development, said Chapel Hill annually receives federal funds from the Community Development Block Grant. This year, the money will be used for economic development activi ties, probably through the Midway De velopment Commission and the Rural Opportunities Commission. The Tandler homes were built with money from the block grant in 1987, Russell said. Chapel Hill received na tional recognition for the program, which targeted residents with 80 per cent of the median income and was the town’s first home-ownership program. The Tandler subdivision is located in the Pine Knolls community. Russell said Culbreth Park was funded with revenue from the town’s half-cent sales tax and still as being built. “I think the town would like to pur sue more, but there’s not enough money,” Russell said. “Because the county is really interested in affordable housing, we’re going after all of the local, state and federal funding possi bilities.” Pine Knolls, an example Ted Parrish, a resident of Chapel Hill’s Pine Knolls community, said he and his neighbors plan to lobby the Chapel Hill Town Council for financial support to construct more affordable housing. “I think the town and the state all have abominable records —and that’s abominable with all capital letters,” he said. “When you have children who cannot sleep at night because condi tions are overcrowded, I think that’s criminal. The town has been negligent because Pine Knolls has not always complained.” The Pine Knolls community is lo cated on the western end of Chapel Hill and is bordered by Carrboro’s Greens boro Street, West Franklin Street and Smith Level Road. The neighborhood includes homes that have seen at least four decades and See HOUSING, page 4 need to go.” Powell is a contact analyst for the N.C. Department of Human Resources Office of Economic Development. “My commitment now is even stron ger to try to do everything I can,” she said. “There’s a lot to be done with economic development and crime.” More neighborhood involvement in the town’s operations would be a step toward making the government more responsive to the community ’ s needs. “The neighborhood people have a lot to say about what should be done. “I think some people feel that they will not be heard and that people are not responsive to what their particular issue may be. I would not like to add more to what the town is responsible for.” Powell said her experience on the council would help her serve the pub lic better if elected because she had a better understanding of all the issues facing the council. “I’ve been able to see a wider scope than what my interests are,” she said. “It’s a total package.” Handling the public health prob lems involved in providing water and sewer services for more of the town’s See COUNCIL, page 6
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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