MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Council Member Flicka Bateman
Council Member Joyce Brown
Council Member Kevin Foy
Council Member Jim Ward
SUBJECT: Update on Discussions with the Mayor’s Committee on the Northside Neighborhood
DATE: January 19, 2001
The purpose of this report is to update the Council on discussions with the Mayor’s Committee on the Northside Neighborhood.
THE NORTHSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD
The Northside neighborhood is located immediately northwest of the downtown area and the University of North Carolina. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by the back lot lines on Rosemary Street to the south, North Columbia Street to the east, McMasters Street to the north and the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro town boundary to the west. Please see the attached map.
The Northside neighborhood is primarily residential with a limited number of institutional facilities throughout the neighborhood. Northside contains predominantly single-family residential structures, though there are a number of duplexes and some multi-family housing. EmPOWERment, Inc. estimates that the neighborhood consists of 337 dwelling units of which 157 are owner-occupied and 180 are renter-occupied.
BACKGROUND
On September 27, 1999 the Northside Community Association submitted a petition to the Town Council asking for consideration of creating a new zoning district called the Single Family Overlay Zone in the Northside neighborhood.
After discussion at our April 24, 2000 meeting, the Mayor established a committee of Council Members to meet with representatives of the Association to discuss the proposal and any other neighborhood concerns.
Between May and December Council Members Brown, Foy and Ward met with Jeff Caiola from EmPOWERment, Inc, Estelle Mabry and Vivian Foushee of the Northside Community Association and staff three times to discuss the proposal. Developer Mark Patmore and EmPOWERment Inc. Director Mark Chilton also attended one meeting.
SUMMARY
The following summarizes comments and ideas generated by the Committee at its meetings:
1. The Council needs to be aggressive with addressing problems in the Northside neighborhood.
2. The Committee and the Council should look to the Comprehensive Plan for guidance in dealing with problems in the neighborhood.
3. The Council may want to consider directing the staff to work with neighbors to develop a plan for the Northside neighborhood.
4. At the request of the Committee, EmPOWERment and the Northside Community Association circulated a petition among some of the owner occupied units in the Northside neighborhood to determine support for or against a single family overlay zone for the neighborhood. Approximately 39% (61) of the owner occupied units have signed the petition in support of the overlay zone. EmPOWERment and the Association will continue to survey the residents of the neighborhood.
5. EmPOWERment and the Northside Community Association held two meetings with the neighborhood to discuss the overlay zone. According to EmPOWERment, during the meetings residents stated that they were concerned about the loss of homeownership in the neighborhood and believed that homeownership would improve the neighborhood conditions. Residents were also concerned about excessive trash, safety concerns and noise.
6. Though there is interest in developing an overlay zone that could apply to all neighborhoods, at this time a proposal addressing occupancy limitations should focus on the Northside neighborhood.
7. The Town should consider creating a revolving fund that would be available to assist individual homeowners maintain their property.
8. The request for an overlay zone should be addressed now and should not wait for the process of rewriting the Town’s Development Ordinance.
9. The overlay zone could help protect the affordability of homes in Northside.
An accompanying report from the staff provides additional information about this request for the Council’s consideration.