Chapel Hill wants more housing, more commercial, safer crossings from massive project

A New York developer got a positive response — and some suggestions — after presenting a revised plan for hundreds of apartments, townhomes and condos in southern Chapel Hill.

The South Creek project could be great, but it needs more work, Town Council member Jessica Anderson said.

She and other council members pressed developer Beechwood Homes for more housing, more commercial spaces and safer pedestrian crossings, especially across U.S. 15-50 to the Southern Village neighborhood.

The project site was previously approved for Obey Creek, a mixed-use development that failed to get off the ground.

The town’s Planning Commission voted 5-3 to recommend that the council deny the South Creek project, which could add 688 apartments and for-sale condos and townhomes, plus a small amount of commercial space.

The proposal doesn’t take full advantage of the site, commission Chair Jonathan Mitchell told the council and the developer Wednesday night. He suggested stacked townhomes and taller apartment buildings to increase the housing, and a reduction in the number of internal streets and parking, which currently includes more than 1,000 spaces.

The project will only work if it complements what’s already at Southern Village, Mitchell said.

“I think we were trying to send a message that our concerns rise to a level where it might be misleading to say ‘approve with conditions,’” he said. “There are serious conditions, but it’s not a hell no under any circumstances.”

The current South Creek plan marks a change from the concept plan, which targeted adults 55 and up, but it would meet the town’s goal of building more types of housing at a range of prices and leasing rates.

The team made the changes in response to early feedback and town’s need for more “missing middle,” housing types, Beechwood Homes official Steven Dubb said.

The development would be built over several years, with buildings up to five stories tall as the project steps down the hill and away from the highway. The for-sale units could range in price from roughly $300,000 to $900,000, project officials said.

The developer is asking for permission to build closer to Wilson Creek, which crosses the site, and to encroach on its steep slopes.

Project details

▪ Developer: Beechwood Obey Creek LLC

▪ Location: 120 acres at 4511 S. Columbia St.

▪ Zoning: The site is covered by a pre-existing development agreement, which the council would have to end to approve conditional zoning for a mixed-use village district

▪ Current use: Undeveloped, with a few vacant homes

▪ Proposed use: 688 rental apartments, and for-sale condos and townhomes, plus between 30,000 and 40,000 square feet of commercial uses. Roughly 1,000 square feet of office space could be deeded to an affordable housing management group.

▪ Affordable housing: 88 units, including 45 apartments and condos priced at 65% of the area median income and 43 condos and townhomes priced at 80% of AMI, serving individuals earning up to $53,520 a year or couples earning up to $61,120.

▪ Parking: Over 1,000 surface, on-street and parking deck spaces

▪ Amenities: Green spaces, including roughly 80 acres for a public preserve, a terraced area near Sumac Road, and an overlook and trail connections near Wilson Creek. The developer also is considering how to memorialize the 1960s civil rights protests at the Watts Motor Court and Restaurant, which previously occupied the site.

▪ Getting around: The site is within walking distance of bus stops and the Southern Village park-and-ride lot. It could have three driveways, including a full intersection with Market Street and a left-turn only intersection at Sumac Road. The developer would pay $100,000 to the town for a future bus-rapid transit station at the Market Street intersection.

Pedestrian crossings, homes, retail

South Creek would be a more dense residential neighborhood than envisioned when the Obey Creek development agreement was approved in 2015 after several years of talks and community meetings.

Obey Creek promised roughly 700 apartments and over 1 million square feet of retail, offices and hotel rooms, preserving 85 acres east of Wilson Creek for a community park.

However, market conditions in the last decade haven’t supported retail development, and without tenants to fill Obey Creek’s ground-floor storefronts, the apartments above were not able to get off the ground, development officials with East West Partners have said.

The land was sold to Beechwood Obey Creek LLC for $7.25 million in 2021, county records showed. The new developer also plans to preserve land east of the creek, which was a requirement for Obey Creek because of a 1992 Southern Small Area Plan that designated the eastern side of U.S. 15-501 for low-density growth in order to build Southern Village more densely.

Safe pedestrian crossings and uses that complement Southern Village will be critical for the South Creek project, town officials said.

Council members pressed the developer to explore all options for helping pedestrians and Chapel Hill Transit’s future bus rapid transit line to navigate the area, especially since the N.C. Department of Transportation would limit traffic at the Sumac Road intersection to only left turns. A pedestrian refuge and activated traffic signals could be added to the Sumac Road intersection.

Council member Amy Ryan, who served on the Planning Commission during the Obey Creek discussions, urged Beechwood to “pull out all the stops” to get safer conditions at Sumac Road. Without it, the project “isn’t going to reach the potential that it has,” she said.

“Ideally, this would be a place that it would be safe for a 6-year-old to walk to school,” Ryan said. “They’re going to be right across the street from (Scroggs Elementary School); they’re in the walkshed. How do you make it safe for a 6-year-old to get across that road?”

Council members also pressed for more commercial uses, from a childcare center to coffee shops and co-working spaces, as well as additional amenities near the entrance to a proposed trail on the preserved lands.

The developer is “missing out” without more commercial, especially as an amenity near the creek, Mayor Pam Hemminger said.

“I think just one restaurant isn’t going to cut it for all of the people that are going to live here, and frankly, you’re going to want some of the people at Southern Village to come over here,” Hemminger said.

More residential density would also be good, council and Planning Commission members said. Mitchell noted a consultant’s report that said roughly 60% of the town’s larger, developable parcels are waiting to be approved for construction projects.

“Very soon, you’re not going to see sites like this developing,” Mitchell said. “You’re going to be scratching to figure out how you can fit dense stuff onto much more difficult to develop sites.”

One way to reduce parking and the cost of housing is “unbundling,” which charges tenants and homeowners an additional fee if they want a parking space. Those who don’t need a space can save money on their housing costs.

Council member Tai Huynh emphasized that option.

“This seems like one of the few projects where a family could actually live car free once the (North-South bus-rapid transit line) is put in place, with the grocery store and the school right there,” he said.

Council member Camille Berry disagreed, saying her concern is not limiting who can live in the neighborhood. When built, the North-South BRT will provide more efficient bus service between the park-and-ride lot on Eubanks Road, UNC’s campus and Southern Village.

“People who need to get to jobs — I know we’re going to have the NSBRT there — they’re going to want their vehicles,” Berry said. “We are not there yet (with bus service).”

The council will continue discussing the project at its May 24 meeting.