Park-and-ride proposal generates opposition

The Herald-Sun, Mar 31, 2002,   Copyright ©

By Ray Gronberg, <[email protected]>

CHAPEL HILL -- Fordham Boulevard’s status as Chapel Hill’s only commuter corridor without a park-and-ride lot might not change without a fight, if recent moves by two residents are any indication.  The residents, Harvey Krasny and Mac Clark, want elected officials to question whether a UNC-led attempt to open a park-and-ride at the Chapel Hill Bible Church is in the town’s best interests.  And despite a 2-year-old policy that says it is, Town Council members say they’re willing to listen to countering arguments instead of giving UNC’s efforts a blanket endorsement.

The council’s stance amounts to agreeing that "this is at least worth discussing," Mayor Kevin Foy said. "What that discussion is going to ultimately yield, I don’t know." Krasny and Clark stepped in as town leaders were preparing to relay word to UNC that they wouldn’t object to opening a park-and-ride at the Bible Church.

Fordham Boulevard is Chapel Hill’s most heavily traveled road, but so far officials haven’t been able to find a place near the road for commuters to park and get on a bus.  Park-and-ride lots near three other corridors -- Raleigh Road, U.S. 15-501 South and Airport Road -- siphon away some of the incoming traffic before it reaches UNC’s main campus.  Another will open later this year off N.C. 54 in Carrboro and cover the town’s western entrance.

Town leaders have long wanted to close the ring, but their efforts to locate a park-and-ride near Fordham Boulevard haven’t paid off.  The owners of one key property along Fordham Boulevard, the Lowe’s complex, have turned aside repeated offers by the town.  So have the leaders of the Bible Church, which is just off the boulevard at the corner of Sage and Erwin roads.  But church officials have been more willing to consider a UNC-only bid because the university would make fewer demands on the 480 available spaces.

UNC’s vice chancellor for finance, Nancy Suttenfield, said the church is interested in a short-term lease rather than the 20-year deal that federal regulations might demand if the town were involved.  Krasny and Clark, however, say they’re not convinced opening a park-and-ride lot on Chapel Hill’s end of the boulevard is a good idea.  Their argument rests on the undoubted likelihood that the facility would change traffic patterns on nearby roads. In their view, not all the potential changes are for the best.

For example, any change that encourages more drivers to use Erwin Road or the traffic-clogged Erwin/Fordham intersection could make a bad situation worse.  Even one that leads more people to turn off the boulevard at Sage Road instead of driving straight through could hurt, they say.  Both live in the area and say its existing congestion makes life’s errands difficult for them and their neighbors.

"We’re not saying park-and-ride shouldn’t go in," Krasny said. "We support park-and-ride. Just put it somewhere else that doesn’t bring congestion to Erwin and Sage, a little farther up the road towards Durham. In other cities, if traffic is coming from another city, they put the park and ride in the other city."  Krasny didn’t elaborate, but Foy acknowledged that at least some officials wonder whether Durham’s troubled South Square Mall would make a better site.

"I don’t think we ever wanted the university to put parking everywhere and anywhere," Foy said.  We’ve always had it in mind that the outlying park-and-rides would have a beneficial effect on traffic congestion inside town."  Town policy, however, is biased in favor of a location in Chapel Hill.

The council’s 2-year-old "comprehensive plan" lists the Sage Road area as the prospective site of a park-and-ride and adds that such facilities are essential to the town’s efforts "to minimize traffic impacts on major corridors."  It instructs officials to equip new lots with "convenient bicycle and pedestrian connections" to encourage their use by surrounding residents.

Officials haven’t set a date for the council to talk about the Bible Church proposal, but Foy noted that the upcoming discussion wouldn’t be the last word on the issue.  A town permit governs the use of the parking lot, and the council would need to amend it before the church could allow UNC commuters to use the facility. Public hearings would precede any amendment vote, and officials might have the option of asking engineers to conduct a traffic study to show how a park-and-ride would change the use of the surrounding roads.

"It’s not as if this preliminary sort of look is going to be the final, definitive look," Foy said. "On the other hand, if looking at it now uncovers something that makes it unfeasible, I would think the church and the university would want to hear that right now."