Monday night’s town council business meeting covered a broad spectrum of topics including new holidays and public safety hazards.
The town of Chapel Hill will now recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday of October in lieu of Columbus Day, a federal holiday honoring the Italian explorer who preceded the Spanish expedition that resulted in the exploitation of native inhabitants.
“We are not canceling a holiday," said Maria Palmer, town council member. "We’re renaming a holiday.”
The holiday will celebrate the cultures and contributions of indigenous people to the progress of the community. The town committed to supporting the welfare of Chapel Hill’s indigenous population and emphasizing the importance of teaching the history of indigenous peoples in Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County Public Schools.
The focus shifted to the Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO), which is a set of development regulations, as John Richardson, planning manager for sustainability, presented an amendment to this mandate.
This amendment addressed concerns previously expressed by town council members. The key issues outlined by this amendment included recreation space, transportation management plans, mechanical equipment screening and step backs.
The amendment clarifies the enforcement, requirements and other ambiguous elements of the transportation management plans. A recommendation for further research on step backs was also included in the amendment.
The mechanical equipment screening portion of the amendment raised many questions.
Richardson cited a variety of samples for similar screening projects — brick partitions, barred walls and painted murals to camouflage transformers were presented as viable alternatives.
“It sounds good but I just don’t see how it has ever been put in place,” said Jim Ward, town council member, about concealing transformers.
Ward found the lack of research about the safety of transformers troubling. He suggested that the equipment may be carcinogenic or a public safety hazard.
“I would like us to take more time to investigate.”
Council member George Cianciolo agreed saying, “I presume there’s no sign that says ‘do not stand within ten feet of this box for safety reasons.’”
Ultimately, the council unanimously closed the hearing until Nov. 23.
Notable:
The council approved the development application for Grove Park Apartments, which would replace Townhouse apartments on Hillsborough Street with 235 additional apartment units.
Quotable:
"I don't want to be leaning against something that's going to give me health problems," Ward said.
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