Winmore Development Irks County Residents

The hearing was an opportunity for residents to voice opinions about the Carrboro Board of Aldermen's vote to annex part of the Horace Williams tract.

Plans are in the works for development of the Winmore parcel, a part of the Horace Williams tract.

One of the Winmore developers, Phil Szostak, said that he doesn't want another community only for the wealthy and that his plans are for Winmore to be a development for everyone.

"It is a place that is walkable -- we even have Winmore bicycles in place for people to use and return," he said. "It will be close to future economic centers. Builders will be required to meet our guidelines; they can't just build the typical way."

But Rick Faith, a resident of Homestead Road, said Winmore is so small and isolated that it can't be a viable walkable village.

"The mix of business and residential housing that we see in downtown Carrboro is absent from Winmore," he said. "So people will have to drive a lot."

Northern transition area resident Brian Voyce said a main concern of residents is that development of the Winmore area might overcrowd Seawell Elementary School, Smith Middle School and Chapel Hill High School.

"We already have children who have spent their entire pre-secondary school lives in trailers," he said.

Voyce said the University will play a major role in decisions about development of the annexed land. "I'd like the University to make a public pledge it will time its development of the Horace Williams properties in keeping with the ability of the school systems to absorb new students," he said.

Voyce said another main issue of the debate is that decisions on land in his area are being controlled by Carrboro, where he cannot participate in the electoral process.

He said that residents of the transition areas around Chapel Hill and Carrboro are not directly represented in either town government but that they have always been protected by representation by the county commissioners. "We've always had lobbying pressure or the ability to vent at the ballot box," Voyce said.

He said Orange County gave up primary planning jurisdiction when it allowed Carrboro to annex a portion of the Horace Williams tract.

Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson said northern transition residents living outside city limits gain the tax benefit of sending their children to city schools while paying only county taxes. "If they want to request annexation (for themselves), that's their decision to make," he said.

Residents also voiced concerns about the development of a high-density community in the environmentally sensitive area around Bolin Creek.

Dave Otto, chairman of the Friends of Bolin Creek, said he is concerned that Winmore development plans will put sidewalks, driveways and roads near the banks of the stream they seek to save.

"The Friends of Bolin Creek believe that any new development must meet the highest possible standards for protecting the creek," he said. "In particular, high-density development should not be in close proximity to the creek where there is serious risk of compromising the watershed."

Nelson said no decisions about the development of the annexation will be made until the developer has completed the plan, which will be submitted to the town of Carrboro for approval.

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