Zoning process up for discussion at Carrboro development meeting

The words “love is fleeting, zoning is permanent” were scrawled on a giant notepad of the cafeteria at McDougle Middle School Tuesday night.

The quote represents a common but imperfect view of zoning law in Carrboro, said Carrboro Planning Board Chair Bethany Chaney, during a Carrboro Zoning Conversations Meeting.

“In Carrboro, particularly, there is a little bit more flexibility to work within your zoning policy and your land-use ordinance to take advantage of and meet the changes and the challenges of town growth, of town vision and of the needs of residents,” said Chaney, who led the event.

The event, part of a series of town meetings on development, gave residents information on how to get involved in the development process.

The flexibility of Carrboro zoning law was one of many topics addressed at the meeting, which consisted of a primer on zoning from Professor Adam Lovelady of the UNC School of Government and a small group exercise led by Chaney and other members of the Carrboro Planning Board.

The role playing exercise consisted of attendees splitting into two groups and acting the parts of developers and concerned neighbors.

Carrboro resident David Hardy said he went to the meeting because he’s concerned for the future of Carrboro development.

“I am especially interested in things like bike safety, bike paths and some of the parking issues downtown,” he said.

“I don’t want Carrboro to turn into Chapel Hill.”

Chaney said the goal of meeting was to educate the average resident of Carrboro about the zoning process.

“We know that there is a lot of misunderstanding and a feeling like the process favors the developer, because the developer gets all the time of staff,” Chaney said.

“We want to figure out if there are ways to make community input happen earlier, more often and more productively.”

Julia Shaw-Kokot, another Carrboro resident, said she came to the meeting because her neighborhood will soon go through a rezoning process.

“I thought the meeting went well and I thought that the information we gained was quite helpful,” Shaw-Kokot said.

The next Carrboro Zoning Conversations meeting will take place on Oct. 30 and will focus on Carrboro’s downtown, Chaney said.