Light rail corridor may divide Meadowmont retirement community

A Chapel Hill retirement community could be divided if Triangle Transit builds a light rail corridor in Meadowmont Village.

The proposed route — which Triangle Transit has recommended — is one of two alternatives. Some locals say it would create a long-promised transport route. Others say it would disturb their community.

The light rail is part of Triangle Transit’s plans to expand public transportation options in Orange, Wake and Durham counties. The light rail line would connect UNC to Alston Avenue in Durham.

The route cannot be built until Wake and Orange County voters approve a half-cent sales tax to fund it — Durham voters passed one Nov. 8 — but Triangle Transit is already looking into its choices.

The option called C1 would have a station at the Meadowmont Village Center, based on a memo presented to the Chapel Hill Town Council Nov. 14.

The second option, called C2, would cross Hillmont — a development planned but not yet constructed — with a station located beside N.C. Highway 54.

Triangle Transit has recommended the first but will continue to evaluate both options, said David Bonk, transportation planning manager for Chapel Hill.

Some residents of Cedars of Chapel Hill Retirement Community oppose the first option.

The line would divide the DuBose Health Center from the community, resident John Neter said in an email to the Town Council.

“This route passes directly in front of our DuBose Health Center where 48 ill members are staying,” he said.

Council member Matt Czajkowski said he worries the Meadowmont route would disturb the environmentally sensitive area. Environmental effects of both routes are still being determined.

But Meadowmont was the original spot proposed for the transit corridor — it was part of the area’s land use plan in 1995 — and some residents want the town to fulfill that promise.

Geoffrey Green said he and his wife chose to live in Meadowmont because they believed the light rail line would be built nearby. He said the Hillmont station would be hard to access.

But Bonk said future Hillmont development might better support a station.

Triangle Transit will have enough information by spring to present proposed routes to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization, which will contribute to the final decision on the routes, said Brad Schulz, spokesman for Triangle Transit.

“We will continue to study the effects of both of these routes.”

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