Chapel Hill's plans for Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard area contested

Some town residents are gearing up for a fight as the Chapel Hill Town Council prepares to discuss its plan for the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard area later this month.

The Town Council has received dozens of emails in the weeks leading up to its meeting later this month about the plan — which proposes solutions for traffic congestion, storm water drainage, affordable housing and widening Chapel Hill’s tax base.

The plan also includes a new form-based zoning code for the district that will streamline the development process.

The project is more than seven years in the making, but some think the plan will make redevelopment happen too quickly.

Julie McClintock, president of the Coker Hills West Neighborhood Association, said there will not be enough opportunity for public review if the council approves the new zoning code.

“The town is not asking enough of the developers, and they are putting us on a fast track for development.” she said. “My problem is that this gives the town away.”

McClintock said she fears the community will not have enough say in the area’s future, and it could lose small businesses to encroachment by larger retailers.

Ken Larsen, a spokesman for a group that opposes the Ephesus-Fordham project, said the council is moving too quickly with the project and has left several important issues unaddressed.

He has been working with McClintock to get signatures for a petition requiring the Town Council to address these issues before moving forward with the project.

Larsen said the plan does not explain how administrative review would work under the new zoning regulations, the measures to protect small businesses, the specifics of managing storm water and road improvements and how the plan will produce 300 affordable housing units as it has promised.

He also said it is unclear how the town will financially benefit from the plan, and there is no guarantee that the future developments will be consistent with the history and character of Chapel Hill.

“The more I learn about it, the more incomprehensible to me it is that the town is doing this,” Larsen said. “It’s like they brainwashed themselves into believing this is a great idea and they are just going forward out of momentum.”

The feedback is not all negative. Jim Bulbrook, a mortgage loan officer in Chapel Hill, said the town is turning into an unaffordable single family community and this plan will alleviate that.

“The more we can do to balance the tax base, the better,” he said. “With more flexible zoning and a more streamlined process, developers can create cheaper buildings for families and businesses to buy.”

David Godschalk, a professor in UNC’s department of city and regional planning, also said he supports the project.

“I think the project is a wonderful opportunity for Chapel Hill to redevelop an obsolete and unattractive area into a vital new walkable neighborhood,” he said.

The council will discuss the project at its meeting March 24 and might take action.

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