Carrboro Residents to Keep Protest Alive

Despite residents' protests, the board decided Sept. 26 that it would no longer publicly discuss the connection of the 200 feet between Autumn Drive in the Barington Hills subdivision and Autumn Drive in the Wexford neighborhood.

What's more, the board will not change its stance on the decision, Alderman Diana McDuffee said.

"We received (the residents') questions and reconsidered, but chose to stick to what we decided originally," she said.

"We reviewed our connector road policy and saw that it was appropriate to this case."

But Alderman Jacquelyn Gist, the only board member who voted against the plan, said she does not believe the issue will die so easily.

"As far as the town's concerned, that's it," she said. "But I don't imagine this is the last we're going to hear from that neighborhood."

Administrative Informational Ser-vices consultant Richard Ellington, a resident of Barington Hills, confirmed Gist's prediction.

"We're not going to let it die," he said. "We won't roll over and play dead. We want to keep (the issue) in the media."

Stephanie Padilla, another Barington Hills resident, said the residents were throwing around other ideas for action, but the possibility of a recall, which is a vote to determine whether certain aldermen should remain in office, would be a last resort.

For a recall to happen, the residents must gather signatures on a petition calling for a new election.

"It's one of the ways we got (the aldermen) to listen to us, but it's a lot of work and would be very disruptive to the town," Padilla said.

Ellington said the residents will continue to hound the aldermen to address their specific concerns, which they felt were not being taken seriously.

"Even though the aldermen said they wanted to answer our questions, they just put together some rambling essay," he said. "We've not been dealt with forthrightly. We've been patted on the head like little children and told to sit down.

"They've committed to be a tree city, but they're going to come in and whack down our trees."

Gist said lack of discourse is one of the main reasons residents are unhappy.

Gist said another concern is that although congestion would decrease in other parts of the town with the new road, the increased traffic will decrease safety in the developments.

"It's going to overburden a small neighborhood," she said. "This is supposed to make the town transportation-friendly, but it makes the area less pedestrian-friendly."

Although the town would pay to build sidewalks on the existing Autumn Drives, Ellington said these safety measures would not compensate for the connector road.

"I'm going to end up paying for sidewalks I don't want," he said.

"It's abominable to tell me they're going to give me something, then walk behind me to take it out of my pockets."

Gist said paying for the sidewalks and safety measurements would be one to two cents on the tax rate.

Furthermore, a burden would be placed on the developer, which would be required to build the road at its expense.

But Carrboro Planning Director Roy Williford said he does not think the property would be harder to sell than other pieces of land.

"We've had some interest shown but nothing official yet," he said.

Until there is a developer, the residents will continue their efforts to make their voices heard, Padilla said.

"We had to go through so many people to get to the aldermen, and I don't think they even listened to us," she said.

"The most frustrating thing was that it was obvious some of the aldermen had never been out here. They knew about this hearing for six months. It was ridiculous."

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