£hp Hatty (Ear Hrrl
DEVELOPMENT
From Page 3
health center that is just now in the
midst of construction.
Development as a whole continues to
hit a nerve in Chapel Hill as officials
struggle to keep the town’s close-knit,
village atmosphere.
Last June, Chapel Hill Mayor
Rosemary Waldorf sparred off with
council members concerning a develop
er’s plan to widen a section of N.C. 54.
One month later, despite the 8-1 deci
sion by the council giving the go-ahead
for an office building in Meadowmont,
debate over a proposed parking lot
sparked dissension from developers.
But Meadowmont does not stand as
the sole point of contention in the issue
of local development.
In January, die council put the brakes
on a proposal submitted by a BP Gas
Station located on the comer of Airport
Road and Critz Drive to build anew
convenience mart.
While the gas station’s owner wanted
to expand, the council struck down the
proposal, citing that there was not a
need for another convenience market.
Part of the controversy stems from
questions that residents hold about how
much control developers exert in the
area’s zoning process.
The same complaints aired at a pub
lic hearing during the original
Meadowmont decision still remain on
the minds of local residents.
Philip Goodman, of 112 Nottingham
Dr., said developers proposed and won
approval for projects in recent years that
ignored the town’s original
Comprehensive Plan.
The plan, initially enacted by the
council in 1989 and revised on two sep
arate occasions since then, established a
vision for growth in Chapel Hill includ
ing the preservation of the town’s natur
al setting, the creation of affordable
housing and the completion of expan
sive sidewalk/bikeway systems.
“There is no respect for what had
been voted in as the Comprehensive
Mon-Fri 932-£K)10
11am-10pm 16iy 2 E. Franklin St.
(Beyond Bandido's ALL the way thru the Rathskellar Alley)
JLI JL r I.* ■ 1 Mw** l I
I up ttio storGo 3t 2 a.m. for tOG third iistig this wggic. jul r* I
V I & | I v .^NASt^IES
c '
I u ' _
1
I
Iv, . ... t , ... . - ’ f |” A MiSSMM FRw" '
j you aon i nave to pui up witn cnronic noise l— -
I pollution 9nci other forms of drunken rudeness i I I
— I ~ ■ 4 I
■ f— .
Binae drinkina blows. m
1 1
Plan in Chapel Hill,” Goodman said.
“Developers are basically running how
development goes in this town. They
make the Comprehensive Plan fit their
development. If you change the plan
every few years, you cease to have a
need for that plan.”
Despite these claims, Town Planning
Director Roger Walden said develop
ment in Chapel Hill proved a tedious
venture for developers.
“The irony is, if you talk to any devel
oper, they will tell you war stories about
developing in Chapel Hill," he said.
“The developing process is highly par
ticipatory here. What is a two-week
process in other areas, takes six to nine
months in Chapel Hill.”
Town Council member Pat Evans
said that because
the majority of
development appli
cations must obtain
approval from the
council and vari
ous resident-feed
back committees,
the town’s growth
had been remark
ably slow and con
trolled.
“The irony is, if you talk to any
developer, they will tell you war
stories about developing
in Chapel Hill. ”
Roger Waldon
Chapel Hill Planning Director
“Everything here basically lies in a
special-use permit,” she said. “When
people say Chapel Hill is growing too
fast, I think they mean the region is
growing too fast. We’ve had very con
tained growth.”
Estimates from the Planning
Department gauge the town’s growth at
about 1.8 percent a year during the past
10 years.
Walden said such steady growth
allowed the town to provide adequate
infrastructure, such as water and sewer
services, for future developments.
“It’s a good fortune that Chapel Hill
doesn’t have very rapid growth,” he
said. “Look at Cary (which has experi
enced around 10 percent growth a year.)
Right now they have a major water
shortage.”
Despite the town’s well-known phi
losophy against rapid growth, town offi
cials have had to contend with mon-
From Page Three
strous development projects that have
taken years to setde.
In 1992, the town authorized zoning
for a 300-acre mixed-use development
dubbed Southern Village which sits off
N.C. 54.
While construction began in 1994
and residents started moving to the vil
lage in 1995, officials estimate the devel
opment is nearing capacity at 2,400 peo
ple and 800 households.
D.R. Bryan, a Southern Village devel
oper, said the project was an early
example of Smart Growth, a govern
ment initiative that seeks to reduce the
negative effects of expansion.
“The town said in 1992 they didn’t
want suburban sprawl,” Bryan said. “We
wanted to make a pedestrian-friendly
place where peo
ple can go to the
grocery store with
out getting into
their cars.”
Bryan said he
hoped the village’s
compact design
would cut signifi
candy the number
of daily trips each
resident made,
thereby reducing overall traffic on out
lying highways. “The average family
takes 12 trips a day," he said. “We want
to take out half of those trips.”
Evans said that because residents had
immediate access to services in the com
plex, such as a day-care center, a movie
theater and a swim and tennis club, the
village reduced overall traffic congestion
on N.C. 54. She also said the dense
growth of Southern Village preserved
the rural feel of the town.
“Southern Village is a neighborhood
development that encourages urban
boundaries,” she said. “It’s a way of
making wise use of the land and redi
recting the impact of growth.”
But because of limited available prop
erty in the area, large-scale projects like
Southern Village and Meadowmont will
probably not be in included in the
town’s future development plans.
Because Chapel Hill has less than 10
• Do you worry about germs or tear you forgot to turn off the stove?
• Do you have distressing, repetitive thoughts that you can’t dismiss?
• Do you spend a lot of time washing your hands, checking locks or
appliances, or engaging in other rituals?
If you experience problems
like these, you may have
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
If this sounds like you or someone you
know, you or s/he may be eligible for free o
and confidential treatment through a
study underway at the Anxiety Treatment For more information, visit
Center in the Department of Psvcholoav www.unc.edu/depfs/cHnpsy/anx9.htmi.
No medication U required. ,
acres of undeveloped land remaining,
Walden said major mixed-use develop
ments were unlikely in the future.
“You need a big piece of land in order
to do (developments like Southern
Village),” he said. “(Meadowmont and
Southern Village) were the last two
pieces of land like that, so you probably
won’t be seeing that kind of develop
ment anymore.”
But Carrboro officials disagree, say
ing that dense developments, especially
in the downtown area, are the future of
the town’s anticipated growth.
Alderman Allen Spalt said Carrboro
needed to establish a downtown area
that made wise use of space and includ
ed a collection of stores and services. He
said several buildings in the present
downtown area were only one or two
stories high and created unnecessary
automobile congestion.
“I would like to create a very com
pact downtown area that would not sub
stantially develop any new residential
area,” he said. “If we don’t do something
like this, we will suffer in the long run.”
However, because of anticipated high
capital costs, Spalt said the project could
not be financed by the town alone.
“We’re a small town with a small
budget,” he said. “There’s no way the
town can finance this (plan). It has to be
done with private capital if it’s going to
be done at all.”
Like Carrboro’s present efforts,
Chapel Hill has proven to be committed
to downtown development in the past -
despite conventional wisdom that would
suggest otherwise, said Town Council
Member Bill Strom.
Chapel Hill has benefitted from
unprecedented growth in the face of crit
icism that the town’s strict ordinances
discouraged development, he said.
“I think there are elements of Chapel
Hill that are village-like,” he said. “But
at 50,000 (people), we are far past being
a village. We’ve spread and grown sig
nificantly since yesteryear. We are more
like a small urban environment."
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
A Week for Greeks
UNC Greeks ate uniting this week as they sponsor six days of everts aimed to promote unity
among University chapters, combined with social events and community service.
All week: Sorority and fraternity members post banners at their local houses to show theft
spirit during Greek Week.
•G
Today: Dinner Swap between members of National Pan Hellenic Council, PanheHenk
Council and InterFratemity Council members.
ra I
Thursday: IFC Greeks from UNC and Duke University will challenge each other in a
basketball game.
Thursday: Gotham Night for all UNC Greeks.
Friday: NPHC Greeks will teach IFC Greeks the insides of stepping in the Pit
Saturday: Alpha Greek Freak lnternational Step Show.
GREEK WEEK
From Page 3
syncing and dancing.
Friday, NPHC Greeks will teach IFC
and Panhellenic Greeks some of the
tricks of stepping in the Pit. The idea
came from a Greek retreat earlier in the
year to emphasize interracial communi
cation, Binder said.
Saturday marks the annual Alpha
Greek Freak, an invitational step show
in which East Coast university Greeks
compete in Carmichael Auditorium.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the
event’s sponsor, hopes to encourage
IFC and Panhellenic groups to attend
with free tickets. SI,OOO will be awarded
to both the male and female team win
ners. The event is expected to attract
7,000 spectators, Binder said.
Binder said his hope for the week was
JkJA |-J S 40 Domestic Longnecks
* | TISDAV J Pin A s ,'
•m * -w* s 80 S Night Live DJ ,
WEDNESDAY $2 Micro & Import Bottles
URSDAy
FRI &2. 50 220 z. Bottles
SATII m DAY $2. 52 220 z. Bottles
m M Bartender's Choice
Ping Pong Tournament
30 Taps! 100 Different Bottled Beers*
JOIN BUB S BEER CLUB I .
Monday, April 24, 2000
to eliminate the stereotypes that Circle
the campus concerning the Greek com
munity. “When you say ‘Greeks,’ a lot of
people think white Greeks,” he said.
“And we have w'hite Greeks, but we also
have all these other Greeks.”
In addition to the 32 predominantly
white Greek fraternities and sororities,
the Greek community is comprised of
eight predominantly black fraternities
and sororities and eight specialty groups,
including the first Asian American soror
ity in the nation, Binder said.
Chi Psi fraternity member Tripp
Frey, a freshman from East Grand
Rapids, Mich., said mixing of fraterni
ties would be helpful to the members’
overall behavior. “Interaction among
fraternities will enhance Greeks, creat
ing better friendship and camaraderie.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
5