Charterwood
In the most likely scenario that Charterwood will be approved tonight, Chapel Hill citizens may choose to make some conclusions about the future of citizen input into how OUR town grows.
Despite significant environmental impact (not only to Eastwood Lake and Lake Ellen but to the Booker Creek headwater streams and the old growth trees), the disregard for neighborhood protection, the bastardization of process, the economic shakiness of the proposed plan, the reversal of affordable housing goals, the widespread public objections, the applicant’s frequent “misstatements,” and the precedent setting nature of the approval, Charterwood is virtually assured of passage.
What does this presage for the 2020 Future Focus Areas? Will citizens, once again, be involved in busy work? Will their work, like the work of citizens involved in the original Southern Small Area Plan, the Northern Area Task Force, and 2020 be ignored?
By my estimation, five sitting Chapel Hill Town Council members are preparing to vote "yes" on Charterwood, in direct violation of their sworn oaths. Specifically, they will be rezoning a tract of land with full knowledge that their actions will have significant and costly impacts on hundreds of citizens and property owners who live downstream of the development.
How do I know this will happen? All I had to do was open my eyes this morning. Here is a picture of sediment from Weaver Dairy Road running from Cedar Fork Creek into Eastwood Lake.Despite the best, state-of-the-art efforts of the highway contractors working on Weaver Dairy, every significant rain event has resulted in extensive silt pollution that Lake Forest homeowners will have to pay to remove.
Five council members (including Mayor Kleinschmidt) have basically said "tough shit" to people living in Lake Forest and also around Lake Ellen. They have basically said, "We know Charterwood will be a problem for you and we don't care."
Sent to the Chapel Hill Town Council on 9-10-12:
Dear Chapel Hill Mayor and Town Council:
I wish to thank those of you planning to vote against approval of the Charterwood development on September 12, 2012. It shows your recognition of the terrible precedent being set by the developer’s legal maneuver of merely recombining property tracts in order to circumvent neighborhood rights associated with the protest-petition.
After reading the article
'No' vote frustrates critics" in the Chapel Hill News I felt compelled to correct the record. When Council viewed a video showing a representation of Charterwood, presented by the Charterwood applicant, only the Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd side was shown. Similarly, the lead article Jan. 30 in the CH News presented one flawed side of a decision, repeating applicant claims, without ever turning the corner to see the other views.
On July 8th, 2008, BEFORE the Altemueller property was purchased, I met with current owner of the property, Bill Christian, at his request, to discuss his pending purchase. At that time, I pointed out the Northern Area Task Force recommendations for this specific property. (Note: the article refers to a development submission in 2007.) The Task Force looked at 367 acres of development potential and felt that it was important enough to single out ONLY the approximately 14 acres of Altemueller property for special consideration.
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