Chapel Hill Open Houses This Week, LUMO Likely Delayed

GOVERNMENT; COMMUNITY

By Terry E. Cohen,
Editor

Per its weekly newsletter, the Town of Chapel Hill is holding three open houses this week for the public to learn about and weigh in on text amendments to the Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO), which has a major thrust of allowing small multifamily dwellings in some of the town’s single-family neighborhoods. The newsletter also announced that planning staff intends to ask at the Feb. 22 council meeting for the LUMO hearing to be additionally continued into May 2023.

Two in-person open houses and one virtual open house are scheduled: today, Feb. 14 at noon at the Hargraves Center; tomorrow, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Public Library; and the virtual meeting on Thursday, Feb. 16 at noon.

The legislative changes fall under what the town calls its Housing Choices for a Complete Community initiative. Planning staff introduced the proposal formally at the Town Council’s Jan. 25, 2023, meeting, during which public input was taken, with speakers impassioned in both opposition and support, along with many who had questions about the process and the impact of the proposal.

The Local Reporter reached out to the Town manager’s office for comment last Friday, but has not heard back as of publication time for this article. Town staff indicated at the Jan. 25 council meeting that it would be difficult to provide comprehensive and accurate data to fulfill the numerous requests from both the public and council members by Feb. 22.

The Town continues to take public input on the proposed changes. The Hargraves Center address is 216 N. Roberson St. in Chapel Hill. The library is located at 100 Library Dr. in town. The virtual meeting sign-up is here, and registration can be made in advance.

Terry E. Cohen is the editor of The Local Reporter. She also writes articles for a global media firm on topics related to Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) in business and industry.