Town Council talks affordable housing, library expansion

The Chapel Hill Town Council discussed the allocation of funds for affordable housing and a change in regulations of commercial ground signs and a library expansion plan at its meeting Tuesday night.

Loryn Clark, town housing and neighborhood services manager, presented a preliminary plan to improve affordable housing and fund six other separate public service programs, like the Parks and Recreation Department.

The plan is financed by a 2010-2011 Community Development Block Grant amounting to just more than $614,000, which provides funding for all agencies that submitted an application.

Future residential developments must meet the town’s affordability policy and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development mandates, but available funds have decreased from last year.

“Our preliminary plan is based on a 10 percent decrease, and that is hopefully the worst-case scenario,” Clark said.

Some residents also petitioned the council for a change in neighborhood guidelines regarding students living in residential neighborhoods and the lack of affordable housing.

Commercial signs

The council delayed making a decision on changes to the Land Use Management Ordinance, which would change regulations on commercial signs.

If approved, the amendment would allow the installation of larger ground signs and could potentially affect 12 commercial locations in town.

Town Development Manager Gene Poveromo and Economic Development Officer Dwight Bassett presented revisions to the ordinance following a Feb. 21 hearing.

Poveromo and Bassett, as well as business owners, urged the council to enact the revised ordinance, but the council decided to have another public hearing on the issue in two weeks because of a lack of response from residents.

Peter DeLeon, general manager of University Mall and an amendment supporter, said adopting the ordinance could improve the economic climate of the town.

“It will help the success of merchants and drive tax revenue,” DeLeon said. “It makes a lot of sense for the citizens as well as the town.”

Town Manager Roger Stancil also presented the council with an update on the Chapel Hill Public Library expansion schedule.

The schedule is based on relocating temporary library services into University Mall in August 2011, around the same time construction would begin on the library’s current site at 100 Library Drive.

The expansion of the site would finish in December 2012, Stancil said.

Union petitioning

More than 10 petitioners gathered at the meeting to draw attention to state union and collective bargaining issues, with petitioners citing the recent termination of union members and former sanitation workers Clyde Clark and Kerry Bigelow.

Andy Koch, a UNC Health Care worker and member of a local union, said that unions are often seen as a negative force in the community.

“We have a culture of despising unions, but a union is a group of workers fighting for their rights,” Koch said. “It’s people power in the community.”

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