Wooded area gets less dense

Darryl Gless moved to the Greenwood neighborhood 11 years ago seeking refuge from the urban atmosphere that bookends the lush, forested area.

After a brief scare, a dean in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences said, he now can continue to enjoy his neighborhood’s beauty thanks to the Chapel Hill Town Council’s decision Monday to prevent a local developer from subdividing neighborhood lots.

The council voted unanimously to approve the proposed rezoning of the Greenwood area to meet low-density standards — a move council members said will help the neighborhood retain the character Gless described to them.

“It’s a garden. It’s a forest. It’s a place of quiet, calm and reflectiveness,” Gless said.

Putting Greenwood under the Residential-Low Density-1 zoning standard also could become a bridge for the historic neighborhood and others to gain the classification of neighborhood conservation district.

“I wish we had a magic wand and could do these neighborhood conservation districts all at once,” Town Manager Cal Horton said of Greenwood, Coker Hills and Pine Knolls, which all have asked to be granted conservation district status, a moniker that includes special restrictions on development aspects such as building height.

But Greenwood residents did not wait for the conservation district, pushing council members instead to support the rezoning that, by increasing minimum lot size to more than 43,000 square feet, effectively bans the practice of subdividing lots in the neighborhood.

Horton told the council he recommended rezoning Greenwood, adding in a memorandum that the process of tearing down current buildings, separating lots and erecting infill development would adversely change Greenwood’s character.

Some residents outside Greenwood supported the proposal.

“This will not only benefit residents of Greenwood, but also of Chapel Hill,” Chapel Hill resident Robin Cutson said.

But rezoning is upsetting to developer Tom Tucker, who wants to split up his lot at 715 Greenwood St.

The town received Greenwood’s request for a conservation district in February. Tucker then submitted a request to subdivide his lot. The rezoning was proposed Feb. 28 after officials mulled Tucker’s request.

Tucker has expressed frustration over the rezoning, calling it a suppression of his rights.

But residents countered that allowing subdivision would bring in duplexes and rental properties, a future they say would stray from the neighborhood’s intended path.

Preserving neighborhood character is at the heart of the applications for conservation districts.

The town has already implemented conservation districting in the Northside neighborhood.

The town has recommended staggering the system so it can address the needs of each neighborhood, but several citizens and council member Bill Strom are pushing for what he calls an “express conservation districting” system.

The council will hear a proposal May 9 on all three conservation district applications.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.