Housing

triplex

Chapel Hill’s getting ready to make it hugely easier to build “missing middle” housing!

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Ok, now THIS is a big deal. Chapel Hill is getting ready to make it hugely easier to build “missing middle” housing. What is missing middle housing? It’s all the housing between single-family homes and big multi-family apartments like: Duplexes Triplexes, and Cottage apartments. For years, like many other communities, most land in Chapel Hill …

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mlkpark

Carrboro: The worst developments are those that we don’t discuss

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Early this morning, Carrboro resident Ray Lovinggood shared a few pictures he captured on his morning route. More unaffordable housing for Carrboro, NC. pic.twitter.com/SaB1IBFjog — Ray Lovinggood (@RayLovinggood) September 12, 2022 While my first reaction was, like yours, shock at the price tag of these homes, my concern grew as I realized that these homes …

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On that Daily Tar Heel piece about affordable housing in Chapel Hill…

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Our friends at The Daily Tar Heel published a curious little piece about Chapel Hill’s housing debate. The article says Town “is working to secure additional housing” (Yay!) but “some community organizations have cautioned that this new path brings its own social costs.” Hmm… The “some community organizations” is apparently one: CHALT. If you are …

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Reimagining 106 Kenan Street: How we can rethink lots in the historic district of Chapel Hill

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 Background:  On July 6, 2021, a structural fire damaged a single-family, four-bedroom home at 106 Kenan St., which was occupied by four college students (who thankfully were able to escape the fire without injury).  Last fall, the house was torn down, leaving an undeveloped .22 acre (9,579 square feet) lot in downtown Chapel Hill. The …

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Poor in various areas

Eat Pray Love Greenway: An update on the Complete Communities process

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Greenways. That’s the answer to Chapel Hill’s problems, according to Jennifer Keesmaat, who is heading the Complete Communities project for the Town of Chapel Hill. In a 45-minute (or so) presentation on Thursday, August 18, Keesmaat and her team, with Rod Steven pinch hitting during the Q&A, presented an update on the Complete Communities process …

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Chapel Hill’s local historic districts limit our town’s potential, and should be reduced in size and scope.

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This is the first post in our Harder Truths series. Starting in the 1960s, so-called historic districts—neighborhoods deemed to be “significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture”—were created in U.S. cities and towns to place further restrictions on development. Although these districts were supported by federal legislation, local and state governments were given …

Chapel Hill’s local historic districts limit our town’s potential, and should be reduced in size and scope. Read More »

poplar

Dreams for West Poplar Avenue in Carrboro

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I dream of a four-story mixed-use building at the corner with a bodega that has good breakfast burritos and coffee, and of a taller residential building behind it with at least twelve units, including much-needed affordable condominiums or rentals.