ATTACHMENT 1

 

Residences at Grove Park

425 Hillsborough St.

Chapel Hill, NC

 

Special Use Permit Application

Request for Extension of Rezoning Process

 

June 3rd, 2008

 

Honorable Mayor Kevin Foy and Members of

The Chapel Hill Town Council

 

Mr. Mayor and Members of the Council,

 

Based on the direction we received from this Council at your May 5th meeting to identify an alternate zoning designation for the Residences at Grove Park, we respectfully request an extension of our rezoning hearing to the public hearing scheduled for September 15th. During multiple meetings with the Planning Department following the May hearing, we have made great progress in identifying enabling zoning designations to fulfill the Council’s request and seek this extension to finalize our revised proposal and present it to the Planning Board as required before returning to the Council in September.

 

Because this project has been conceived and designed to fulfill the goals of the Comprehensive Plan and the initiatives of the Town, we believe this proposal warrants your further consideration. In particular this project addresses the Town’s goals in the following ways;

  1. This property is the last large remaining tract within a ½ mile of Downtown that can be redeveloped to support the Council’s goal of Downtown revitalization by providing a significant number of new residences within walking distance and protect the rural buffer by adhering to Smart Growth principles
  2. The existing property is in a state of disrepair, beyond its lifecycle, and functionally obsolete. It continues to be leasable in its current condition as substandard student housing only because of its close proximity to campus
  3. The Residences at Grove Park offers a tremendous opportunity to replace the current obsolete rental housing with new homeownership opportunities that will support Downtown businesses and contribute to the economy of Downtown Chapel Hill
  4. The unique topography of this site allows these new residences to be designed and added in a way that does not interrupt the natural vistas or detract from the historic neighborhoods in the area
  5. The project is committed to an energy efficiency increase of 20% fulfilling the requirements of State Session Law 2007-241 proposed by Chapel Hill to grant density and development bonuses for projects that promote energy conservation
  6. This is the first project to commit to sub-metering every unit to encourage water conservation even before the adoption of new OWASA standards
  7. The project is designed to limit the carbon footprint of the building and its residents by locating adjacent to Downtown, maximizing shared energy savings, and re-developing deteriorating obsolete properties
  8. Commitment to the added expense of keeping 75% of the parking below the building preserves room for new green space and the opportunity to rejuvenate the currently overrun RCD, further reducing our carbon footprint
  9. The location and design of the project supports a healthy bus system and encourages pedestrian rather than vehicular traffic with improved sidewalks and a dedicated new Greenway easement
  10. The project is appropriately located on a Town identified arterial corridor that can support the added units without significant impact on traffic
  11. The project fulfills the Council’s inclusionary housing goals by providing a flexible mix of unit options in cooperation with the needs of the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust increasing rather than decreasing affordable housing options
  12. By generating substantial new property tax revenue per annum for the region as well as additional sales taxes from nearby Downtown retailers, Grove Park gives Chapel Hill additional funding to address fiscal needs without requiring tax increases or additional infrastructure and service investments from the Town.

 

For these key reasons and the additional benefits the Residences at Grove Park hopes to provide in Chapel Hill, we believe our request to delay the public hearing on our rezoning request until the September 15th meeting should be granted. During the extended review period we will continue our support of the Planning Department’s effort to finalize a zoning proposal that fulfills the Council’s request to provide a designation under which the Residences at Grove Park can be approved.   

 

Very Best Regards,

 

 

John E. Florian

Senior Vice President of Development

Ram Development Company