Chapel Hill council gives developer ideas for improving Elliott Road apartment plan

A concept plan for apartments on South Elliott Road got a warm reception at Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, but the developer also came away with ideas for making the project look better and work better for the community.

Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger wrapped up the discussion by answering a pressing question about trees that could be removed to build Trinsic Residential Group’s proposed five-story apartment building at 200 S. Elliott Road.

“I did get verification from the attorney that bamboo does not qualify as a tree. Good to know,” Hemminger said, referring to dense stands growing on an undeveloped portion of the 4.2-acre site.

A concept plan is not an official application. Instead, it’s a rough sketch that allows the developer to seek feedback from the council and the town’s Community Design Commission.

The Aura South Elliott site is situated on a hill eight to 10 feet above the street, across from the Berkshire apartments and Village Plaza shopping center. Justin Brown, Trinsic’s development director, said the hill would be excavated to build the ground floor, which could include a fitness center and other amenities, at the street level.

About Aura South Elliott

Initial plans show Aura South Elliott with three wings, including one that wraps around a 495-space parking deck at the western end and another that winds to the east along South Elliott Road. The project’s third wing extends to the south.

Roughly 330 apartments are possible, plus a park around a stream on the property. The primary entrance could be on South Elliott Road, with another connection for bikes and pedestrians from Couch Road, which ends at the back of the site, to East Franklin Street.

Two lots making up the site are undeveloped; the third is home to Extraordinary Ventures, a nonprofit that provides employment and job skills to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Extraordinary Ventures could move into a new home if the developer’s plans advance, said Dan Hatley, its board president. The council could be asked to rezone the Aura South Elliott site once an official project is submitted to allow more dense construction.

Blue Hill influence; more project details

Aura South Ellliott is the third Aura project that the Texas-based developer has proposed for Chapel Hill. Others are the Aura Chapel Hill mixed-use project under construction at North Elliott Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and the Aura Blue Hill mixed-use project, which is nearing construction about a half-mile south on Fordham Boulevard.

Aura Blue Hill and Aura South Elliott are both in the town’s Blue Hill District, but only Aura Blue Hill falls under the district’s form-based code standards. Projects submitted under those standards are approved by the CDC and the town manager on an expedited timeline.

Justin Brown, the senior project manager for Aura South Elliott, said their previous experience with Blue Hill raised the possibility of affordable housing at Aura South Elliott, because the Blue Hill district “is shortsighted on affordable housing.”

Other project details include:

▪ Affordable housing: The proposed plan would lease an undetermined number of apartments at a rate affordable to those earning up to 65% and 80% of the area median income — an individual earning up to $53,520 a year, or a family of four earning up to $76,400.

▪ Other uses: The project team said they considered including commercial space, but parking would be a problem and it could affect their ability to include affordable housing. Council member Paris Miller-Foushee suggested setting aside some of the apartments to serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That’s “a community that has been neglected,” she said.

Council comments, concerns

▪ Jessica Anderson: Apartments seem like a “reasonable use” for this site in this location, but she also suggested a commercial use, such as retail or a restaurant, along the street. Other suggestions: Create two buildings or find another way to give people access through the site to Couch Road and Franklin Street. Consider working with Extraordinary Ventures to provide housing and a clubhouse for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities on part of the site.

▪ Camille Berry: The proposal is “an excellent example of why we need connected roads in our town,” she said. “We’ve made it difficult, and so as we’re talking about connectivity and helping our community move about, I want to stress to the community this is why we are proposing connected roads.”

▪ Tai Huynh: Advocated for the developer to accept housing vouchers for affordable and market-rate apartments.

▪ Michael Parker: Two specific concerns: the building doesn’t connect to businesses across the street, and the amenities appear to only be available to people who live there. Parker suggested the developer include commercial tenants and talk with the owners of surrounding properties about shared parking.

▪ Amy Ryan: Suggested adding retail or a park to give people a place to sit outside and have a beer or lunch. The Casual Pint brewery, which has an outdoor patio, is located at the Berkshire.

“You could do an amazing thing for that entire district. We have restaurants, we do have some retail, we have grocery stores, but we haven’t gotten that real ‘third place’ for people outside,” Ryan said. “This is a phenomenal opportunity and ... I am a defender of the (stream buffer rules), but if you want to work with us and put something like that in there, I will bend.”

▪ Adam Searing: It’s a “great place for some more density,” he said, but the building as planned “is awfully imposing.” Make it smaller or break it into more, shorter buildings, he said, and also give thought to the potential for more flooding downstream. Housing that is more in keeping with the community would be good, and also more bike and pedestrian connections, he said.