Encourage transparent, data-driven process for Obey Creek

Dear Mayor Kleinschmidt and Members of the Town Council:

As residents, homeowners, and business owners of Chapel Hill, we are fully invested in our local community and committed to the long-term success of Chapel Hill.

We recognize the importance of economic development to help maintain the vitality of our town and see discussion of growth in southern Chapel Hill as an opportunity to participate in the refinement of the Comprehensive Plan aimed at fostering balanced growth in the southern area that is connected to a town-wide vision.

Because we feel that the town of Chapel Hill and the southern community continue to benefit from the careful planning embodied in the Southern Small Area Plan, we see no advantage to the town or its residents in hastily fast-tracking discussions about the Obey Creek site; especially given that a clear vision has not been established for this project. Such vision should be guided by a data driven analysis and adherence to the S15-501 Discussion Group recommendations that you recently adopted as part of the Vision 2020 plan.

As you prepare to further discuss the southern area, including Obey Creek, we wish to articulate our strong support for the following:

1. A community-based, data-driven approach that will be used to establish a clear vision of desirable and balanced growth for the southern area and other focus areas throughout Chapel Hill. In addition to identification of economic, traffic, environmental and socio-economic impacts, discussions should also include an understanding of future trends (such as 21st century retail) to ensure that new development moves Chapel Hill forward to meet the needs of its residents and visitors.

2. The planning process should not simply re-zone one or two properties but should, instead, create a vision for the area in order to ensure that future development results in a coordinated and sustainable “green gateway” that reflects and enhances the character of southern Chapel Hill.

3. Chapel Hill has no experience with a Development Agreement with a private entity. Given that fact, the decisions to change the Development Application process, including possible use of a Development Agreement, should be made through an objective, evaluative process that establishes objective use criteria and ensures protections for abutting landowners, nearby neighborhoods and business owners and all others who will be impacted by development-related traffic and other impacts These decisions should not be made based on a single project but should be part of an overall process aimed at improving the town’s Development Review processes.

4. Concept plans and development applications must reflect the guidelines established in the Comprehensive Plan and the realities of zoning.

5. The Development Agreement process, as described by Professor David Owens in his definitive paper on this subject published by UNC’s School of Government, is appropriate only for very large projects for which the extensive advance analytical costs of satisfying such an agreement, by the developer and by the town, can be justified. To initiate a Development Agreement on the Obeys Creek site at this point, then, presumes that the Town accepts the developer’s intention to build a very large project on this site – a project that the developer has stated publicly would have extraordinarily great impacts on traffic, in a corridor that is already irremediably clogged with traffic both now and for the next several decades even without an additional development of this size. Agreeing to a Development Agreement process at this point, therefore, would be seriously premature, and would in effect be a decision not to honor the recommendations of the working group on the southern area, chaired by former may Kevin Foy, that this property be developed only to a scale similar to that of the Southern Village Market Street area abutting it.

Based on these principles, we believe that, because a clear vision for the Obey Creek site that is consistent with the S15-501 recommendations has not been established, discussion of a Development Agreement is inappropriate. Furthermore, we believe that fast-tracking Obey Creek and thus in effect dismissal of the S15-501 Discussion Group recommendations undermines the rights and protections afforded to area residents and business owners by the Small Area Planning and Special Use Permitting processes. Therefore, entering into a development agreement prematurely and without warrant would only serve the interests of the developer and the out-of-town investors, rather than protect the town and residents.

During the October 15, 2012 Town Council meeting, Southern Village was discussed. Arguably the most successful project in Chapel Hill, Southern Village is a product of the careful planning that went into the Southern Small Area Plan. Furthermore, the new Southern Village Hotel Concept plan illustrates the role that public input via the Special Use Permitting process can play in encouraging a developer to respond to the vision and needs of the surrounding community.

Mr. Mayor and Members of Town Council, the decisions you make with regard to Obey Creek will set the course for the town’s development process and should include an evaluation of all options and discussion with an informed public. As a result, we encourage you to implement as a “Next Step” the use of a Development Impact Analysis template and appropriate public participation process as a means to further refine the vision for this site and the area as a whole. Doing so will provide the developer with the “vision” that he has been requesting and will provide guidance for council which will simplify the process going forward.

We thank you for your consideration of our concerns.