Town Council to consider housing plan

A concept plan that would create 32 new affordable housing units at the Dobbins Hill apartment complex now will face consideration from town officials.

The Chapel Hill Town Council agreed Monday to review the proposal, which includes two buildings with 32 housing units and 54 parking spaces. It would be built in conjunction with the Wilson Assemblage development off Dobbins Drive near Erwin Road.

Crosland Inc. presented the Dobbins plan in response to criticism received Nov. 15 from the council that Wilson Assemblage did not include enough affordable housing.

“We worked creatively to create 32 additional housing units to the previous plan,” said Jack Smyre, principal of The Design Response Inc., the firm Crosland hired to obtain special-use permits for both projects.

Chapel Hill defines affordable housing as units accessible to families earning 60 percent or less of the area’s median income for a family of four.

Smyre said Dobbins Hill would be affordable to families earning less than 50 percent of the median income.

If the concept plan is approved, Wilson Assemblage would have a total of 87 permanent affordable housing units upon completion.

Council member Jim Ward said he thinks the concept plan did a good job of addressing the council’s concerns of affordability but added that he thinks there needs to be pedestrian access from Wilson Assemblage to Dobbins Hill.

“That’s something I would like us to enrich,” Ward said. “It’s something that needs to be addressed, particularly for those who want to traverse east-west through the area.”

Mayor Kevin Foy also asked about better access to Dobbins Hill, pointing out that vehicles going between the developments have to take a roundabout route to do so.

Smyre said developers had problems creating direct access for both cars and pedestrians because of a slope that runs through the middle of the development. “There will be linkage between the areas,” he said. “But there are definite grading issues.”

There was also some concern among council members about the amount of parking proposed in the concept plan, particularly if there was too much visitor parking.

But Smyre emphasized that parking would not be a concern.

“It’s just about right,” he said. “We know visitors come along, but we don’t think there will be overcrowding.”

Council members were not the only ones with concerns about the development.

Harvey Krasny, who lives near the Dobbins Hill complex, said he is concerned that both developments could cause already congested local traffic to worsen.

“Crosland’s approach is a creative approach and a viable one, but they forgot to subtract the 32 from (Wilson),” he said. “That would really help reduce the number of vehicles there.”

Krasny said he believed that such traffic congestion and crowding in the area could drive away residents in surrounding neighborhoods.

“We, the taxpayers, will suffer because we have to pay to widen Erwin Road,” he said. “We, the neighbors, will be forced to sell our houses and move.”

The council will consider both concept plans and take public comment at a hearing Feb. 14.

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.