Chapel Hill holds public information session for proposed residential project along Weaver Dairy Road

GOVERNMENT

By Adam Powell
Correspondent

CHAPEL HILL–On February 25, the Town of Chapel Hill held a public information meeting for a proposed conditional zoning application for a large-scale residential project located at 860 Weaver Dairy Road. Wendi Ramsden, a landscape architect for the Durham-based architectural firm Thomas Hutton, presented plans for a range of 525 to 575 residential units, including multi-family buildings and townhouses. EB Capital Partners, a private real estate equity firm with offices in Raleigh/Durham and Portland/Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest, is the proposed developer for the project.

The proposed project sits on an oddly-shaped 45.23-acre parcel along the I-40 freeway corridor along the north side of Weaver Dairy Road. Adjacent commercial and residential communities include: Timberline Plaza, the Vilcom Center, and the Carol Woods, Coventry, Kensington Trace, and Chapel Hill North Apartments neighborhoods. To the immediate west of the proposed development is a Harris Teeter grocery store and an Exxon gas station. 

Current plans call for approximately 250 to 300 townhomes, duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and condominiums. Plans also call for two multi-family buildings, and a three- to four-story flex space that could be a potential hotel or future commercial space. The developers are seeking R6 rezoning along the west side of the property. Approximately 30 of the 45.23 acres are proposed to be developed, with the remaining acreage left preserved.

“That (location) is where we are looking to rezone to an R6 zoning that allows fairly dense residential development,” explained Ramsden. “This is where we’re going to put a couple of multi-family buildings. We’re looking at something around 525 to 575 residential units that will be in two sort of C- or U-shaped buildings.”

“Infill” project designed to increase Chapel Hill’s housing stock, residential density

The project, which is considered an “infill” project to utilize existing land to add density to Chapel Hill’s housing supply, will feature structured parking for the multi-family buildings in the form of a parking deck, outdoor amenities, and a greenway trail connection of approximately 0.6  miles.

EB Capital Partners is looking to create vehicular connections to two adjacent roadways (Adair Drive and Old University Station Road) to create interconnectivity throughout the project. The developer is also planning on installing stormwater mitigation.

“The majority of parking for this project will be structured,” reiterated Ramsden. “This land up here (where the residential component is to be constructed) is fairly flat, and then we start to really drop off as we go toward the highway. So we’re taking advantage of the slope to build the structured parking into that slope area.”

“There’s going to be some outdoor amenities,” continued Ramsden. “There’s going to be a pool courtyard and a recreation courtyard for the tenants. There will also be sort of an entry park area that will be much more public that’s at the entry to the development. Some of you may know that University Station Road right now dead ends on our property. We are looking to continue that road and have that become the main route through the parcel. We are also looking to have a vehicular connection to the road that is called Adair Drive. That is the one that serves the multi-family development to our west.”

“Stormwater mitigation will be underneath (the proposed parking deck),” added Ramsden. “It will be an underground system, and it will be underneath the parking deck. And we are also looking to add a greenway trail through the site. Right now, there’s kind of a funky double-sided greenway trail over to the west, and it kind of dead ends as we get close to the end of Old University Station Road. We’re looking to take that and continue that greenway trail through the site. We’re also looking, where possible, to add some connections to the adjacent residential developments. In this case, there happens to be (a pathway) that they’ve obviously beaten down the path. You can see, when you look at an aerial photograph, that there’s a route that they’re taking to get through the site, probably to get over to the (Harris Teeter) grocery store. So we will look to formalize some of these paths, and get people onto the greenway trail.”

The developer plans to preserve a large, heavily wooded buffer that separates the I-40 freeway corridor and the highway from the surrounding community.

“We’re leaving a fair bit of the existing trees in place,” stated Ramsden. “We’ll be taking some (foliage) out and replanting, but we are leaving that large buffer between us and the highway.”

Townhomes to be constructed adjacent to Coventry, Carol Woods communities

At another section of the proposed project adjacent to the Coventry and Carol Woods communities the developer is looking for R4 zoning, which provides for lower density to allow for the proposed townhomes. The townhomes in this area will be two-story, for-sale units, and have a variety of front-loaded and rear-loaded garages. Stormwater mitigation in this lower-density area of the project will focus on retention ponds. The developer is looking to work with the residents of Carol Woods to establish a greenway connection in that part of the community. There are no vehicular connections currently planned for this neighborhood into either Coventry or Carol Woods.

“We’re looking at a density in that area of a little over five units an acre,” said Ramsden. “So it’s very comparable as far as the number of people, the density of homes and everything, to what you to see already in this area. We’ll be doing a small buffer (in the area), and we are keeping the townhomes to the opposite side of the property than what is already here in Coventry.”

“The units will be two-story units. Some of them are front-loaded garages. Some of them are rear-loaded garages–it just depends how they fit best on the site. But they will all be two-story units. They are all going to be for-sale units, so we expect that the majority of them will be owner occupied. They will all have a garage, so that will hopefully reduce the amount of huge parking lots. We’re trying to get away from having these large parking lots–trying to do some street parking, some smaller parking lots and garages in a way that makes this development a lot nicer for pedestrians and cyclists to be going through.”

“We’ll have some stormwater mitigation (in the lower-density area as well),” continued Ramsden. “We’ll have a couple of ponds in this area. The topography here just is so up and down. There’s no good way to carry the water from one drainage basin to another. So we’re looking to do a number of smaller facilities here. I assume that as we move along, we’ll probably work a little more with Carol Woods, and work to make sure there’s a good connection, and that it is going to be useful for everybody. That is the intent.”

Local residents address concerns about pollution, stormwater

Concerns were raised by local residents about traffic impacts, potential pollution from the additional traffic, stormwater management, and noise from I-40. Carol Woods and Coventry residents were particularly interested in learning more about the nature of the proposed buffer that will separate their communities from this new residential project. The development team acknowledged the need for traffic studies, stormwater mitigation, and potential noise reduction measures. Following a traffic impact analysis study, the developer will likely have to make a series of minor traffic improvements to make the project feasible.

“Given the size of this project, they (North Carolina Department of Transportation) have asked for a variety of improvements, like a right turn lane into the site close to Carol Woods,” explained Ramsden. “Toward that end (of the community), they’ve asked for some money toward doing (traffic) signal studies, timing studies, that sort of thing–that’s pretty common with new developments. The light signals and the cycling will probably be changed a little bit, so there have been some small items that have been asked for (by NCDOT).”

Hank Elkins, a retired former employee of the Columbia University School of Public Health in New York City, commented on his concerns about pollution within the community due to its proximity to the freeway. 

“The 18-wheelers belching soot and pollutants are not going to be friendly neighbors,” stated Elkins. “The American Heart Association is very clear that the risk of living next to a heavily trafficked highway will result in premature deaths from heart attack and from strokes and other maladies. A Harvard University study shows very clearly that even below the recently lowered standards of the Environmental Protection Agency, the pollutants stemming from heavily trafficked highways result in a disproportionate number of cancers. And so my comment is this: that building next to I-40 is going to result in a disproportionate number of deaths, but tragically, I think many people moving into the development will not realize that living 24 hours, or even eight hours a day, is a danger to their health, their children and their families, and that, yes, it might bring revenue into the coffers of the town of Chapel Hill, but the 30 pieces of silver (the price to pay) is going to be a disproportionate number of deaths and poor lung development among the children. Tragically, the residents may not know of the risks that they are taking.”

Another local resident, Brian Grimwood of the Coventry neighborhood, expressed pessimism that the proposed stormwater mitigation techniques will be able to effectively handle a major event such as a hurricane or tropical storm.

“The development is about 45 acres; 30 acres will have development on it. And if you go to a 50%-impervious surface, that means there’s 15 acres that will have an impervious surface,” stated Grimwood. “If you have a hurricane storm like we had in August (Bonnie_ we got by pretty light (in Chapel Hill). But just to the west of us, around High Point, they had 10 to 12 inches of rain. So at 15 acres of impervious surface, you’re talking about almost 5 million gallons of water coming down. And I seriously doubt that any storm tanks, ponds or retention–anything–was really going to handle something even like Bonnie, let alone something like (Hurricane) Helene (that struck western North Carolina in the fall). So that’s my concern. My concern is that you’re not going to be able to protect flooding, and it’s going to make it worse.”

Ramsden clarified that the developer is looking at 29% or 30% impervious surface on the site, and there are at least four to five drainage basins proposed on the project.

“It’s not like all of this (stormwater) is coming through Coventry, or one drainage area,” explained Ramsden. “It is broken up.” 

The proposed project will undergo further review by the Chapel Hill Planning Commission and the Town Council will have to approve the various rezonings before construction can begin.

Adam Powell has been a correspondent for The Local Reporter since 2023. A 2001 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Powell has served as managing editor of multiple local publications, including the News of Orange County, the Mebane Enterprise, the Caswell Messenger, and the ACC Sports Journal. He also served as a publisher in the rivals.com network, running the UNC (TarHeelIllstrated.com) and Wake Forest (DeaconsIllustrated.com) websites. In 2022, Powell teamed with famed sports journalist Tom Rinaldi of ESPN and Fox Sports for a podcast on the life of deceased former MLB player Lyman Bostock (https://www.foxsports.com/shows/tom-rinaldi-presents/episodes).

Powell has won more than 20 North Carolina Press Association Awards throughout his journalism career for Excellence in Education Reporting, Excellence in Sports Columns and Features, and Excellence in Video Production. He has also been recognized by the North Carolina School Public Relations Association (NCSPRA) for Excellence in Education Writing and for his newsletters representing Rockingham County Schools and the North Carolina Cyber Academy. The author of four books. Adam currently resides in Mebane with his wife Julie and children Colt and Jenna. This reporter can be reached at:Information@TheLocal Reporter.press