The Chapel Hill Town Council held a legislative hearing for a zoning request for St. Paul Village — an affordable housing development proposed by St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church of Chapel Hill — on Sept. 13.
St. Paul Village would be a mixed-income, mixed-use development on 20 acres of land on the corner of Rogers Road and Purefoy Drive. The development's design would include worship and fellowship spaces along with amenities such as an "activity zone," a village center with small businesses and a residential courtyard.
St. Paul Village, according to the presentation to the town council, aims to support a diverse population that encourages aging in place.
When the floor was opened for public comment at the Sept. 13 council meeting, many community members spoke to advocate for council approval of St. Paul Village.
Members of Orange County Justice United, a community power organization, came to the meeting in support of it. The organization has been helping plan the project for over 10 years.
Burnice Hackney, senior officer at St. Paul AME Church, said St. Paul AME Church looked at what was most needed in the community when they formulated the St. Paul Village plan. He also said the affordable housing crisis has severely impaired many of the community's economic, educational and religious institutions.
“I would like to commend this project for taking 350 units and giving 25 percent of those units to affordable housing and looking at trying to see what they can do at 30 percent,” Delores Bailey, the executive director of EmPOWERrment, Inc., said during the meeting.
The development would offer at least 88 units of affordable housing, as well as 100 units dedicated to adults over 55 years old.
According to the website for the project, St. Paul Village would be built in four phases. The first phase would include a sanctuary and a daycare facility, the second phase would include a wellness center, the third would include senior housing and the fourth would include the affordable housing.
