Barbara Foushee, candidate for Carrboro mayor
Carrboro voters will elect a new mayor and at least two new Town Council members in November.
Council member Barbara Foushee is running unopposed to replace outgoing Mayor Damon Seils, who chose earlier this year to step down after one term in office. Foushee’s current term expires in December 2025, leaving the next council to fill her vacancy in 2024.
Voters also will fill three open seats on the Carrboro Town Council. Incumbent Council member Eliazar Posada is competing for a second term in office alongside four newcomers: Jason Merrill, Catherine Fray, April Mills and Stephanie Wade.
Carrboro Mayor Pro Tem Susan Romaine and Council member Sammy Slade chose not to seek another term.
Early voting in the nonpartisan Nov. 7 election starts Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 4..
To find polling places and full details on early voting, visit co.orange.nc.us/1720/Elections or contact the Board of Elections at 919-245-2350 or vote@orangecountync.gov.
Name: Barbara Foushee
Age: 59
Occupation: Senior technologist, molecular oncology
Education: Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology
Political or civic experience: Carrboro Town Council 2017-present; Carrboro Human Services Advisory Board; OWASA Board of Directors; Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP (Silver life member and Executive Committee); Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.; Community Action and Political Awareness Ministry, First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill (co-chair); Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate; Orange County Transit Plan policy steering committee; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Community Service Award, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP; Woman of Achievement, Chapel Hill Magazine.
Campaign website: barbaramfoushee.com
What do you think the town’s top three priorities should be? Choose one and describe how you will work to address it.
▪ Comprehensive plan implementation (race equity and climate action are the pillars)
▪ Inclusive community building and engagement about issues that matter to all of us.
▪ Housing access and affordability
Housing access and affordability have always been a part of my platform and the need could not be any greater than it is today across this community and country. Smart and thoughtful development coupled with transit planning can help to make housing affordable and reduce climate impact at the same time. Affordable housing and environmental justice are also critical pieces of our racial equity strategies.
The future of the Bolin Creek Greenway is a key issue this year. What do you see as its role in the town’s future, and should it be paved?
Connectivity and accessibility for able and disabled community members are in my larger vision for Carrboro and are focal points as I continue to think about this project. If we move forward with the project, I would like to see us come together with a solution that would benefit the community and not be environmentally taxing. The community survey results will be presented to council soon, as it relates to the preferred alignment of the path, and my hope is that we reach a viable and equitable solution. Keeping in mind that if a preferred alignment is agreed upon there will be further studies that will need to be done to ensure viability and sustainability of this project.
Carrboro is experiencing more infill development and housing. What would you do to guide town growth and meet current and future housing needs?
Infill can revitalize communities by breathing new life into empty buildings, vacant lots, and unused parcels. Carrboro is in the process of implementing our comprehensive plan, where the foundational pillars are race equity and climate action. This plan will help to guide development, redevelopment and town services in Carrboro. Meeting future housing needs involves having more types and amounts of housing stock as well as preserving our current naturally occurring affordable housing. We have a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing, an approved framework for affordable housing on town-owned land and the possibility of future collaborations with affordable housing providers.
Do you support keeping Orange County’s rural buffer, where the lack of water and sewer limits growth? How do you see the town growing with or without the buffer?
The rural buffer should stay rural in character and have low-density residential uses; currently, it has limited urban sprawl. Continuing to advocate for compact, dense housing within Carrboro could help to continue the reduction of sprawl in the rural buffer. Maintaining the rural buffer has its challenges, because it drives up the price of property in town, thus pricing out low- and middle-income residents who need affordable housing. Preserving the rural buffer will take some creative thinking in order to address Carrboro’s development so that new structures can be appropriate for the existing surroundings in scale and in design.
How can the town bring people together who have different viewpoints to find workable solutions?
I am passionate about reaching community; inclusive community engagement is critical to our work as a town. We need to hear from all community members on issues and make information accessible to everyone. We need diverse civic participation and leadership to evolve sustainable solutions for our shared challenges. Looking through a racial equity lens also opens up a new set of possibilities and will help us reimagine how we approach issues and find equitable solutions that work for housing affordability, community safety, supporting our local businesses, climate action/environmental justice, transportation, infrastructure improvements and more.
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