Former aprtments along Todd Street are being rennovated as condominiums. Photo by Kirk Ross
By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
By a vote of 4 to 2 the Carrboro Board of Aldermen approved a plan to close the Todd Street right-of-way and put the short downtown street into private hands.
The board acted after a public hearing on a request by Todd Street LLC, developers of The Flats. The group has bought the 32-unit Todd Street apartment complex and refurbished it into small condominiums. The developer wants the 560-foot-long street to belong to the condominium association so that the owners can configure the parking lot and assign specific
parking spaces.
One concern, raised in a meeting last month, had been maintaining public access for bicycles and pedestrians. The company has since agreed to add an easement to the property to allow for bicyclists and pedestrians.
The condominium association would be responsible for upkeep and any future repaving, stripping and utility work on the road.
The change was objected to by James Carnahan, who said that the street may be needed by the town in the future and once surrendered it would be hard to get back. Carnahan suggested that a future redevelopment, such as an expansion of the Carrboro Elementary School property, might require use of the right away.
“Part of the fabric of our town is our streets, and odd little rights-of-way are part of that,†he said.
Randee Haven-O’Donnell said she had concerns about losing the street, especially given the likely impact of the university’s Carolina North project on Estes Drive Extension.
“I worry about releasing another street,†she said. Haven-O’Donnell and fellow Alderman Alex Zaffron opposed the closing. Zaffron said he wanted the town to keep the road and its options open.
“[Those} options are closed off when you abandon it,†he said.
Aldermen Dan Coleman and Jacquie Gist said they don’t think losing Todd Street would be a blow to the town’s infrastructure.
“That’s a driveway and not a road,†Gist said.
Coleman said while he might agree about connectivity if the plan was for a new development, the street wasn’t designed as a through street and wouldn’t work as one. The new residents, he said, want to create something that feels more like a neighborhood — something that wasn’t there when the complex was just apartments.
After quizzing Town Attorney Michael Brough on whether a compromise could be reached that would allow the town to set up an assigned parking system, Mayor Mark Chilton said a compromise probably wouldn’t work.
In other action Tuesday night, the board agreed to change the requirements for the town’s plan to boost women, minority and disadvantaged contractors. The move had been requested by the town attorney because the wording of the current rules might leave the town open to a challenge.
Carrboro currently requires 15 percent of the contracts to be let to qualifying businesses. But state law specifically uses 10 percent as a standard unless a town has a well-defined set of standards and measures. Brough said that he did not think the town was prepared to meet the requirements for the tougher standard. Since the town is getting ready to build a new fire station, he suggested that the standard be changed.
Alderman Zaffron said he would still like to see the town pursue the higher standard.
Brough said that what’s learned applying the rules for the fire station project may be helpful in creating a program that could do that.
Also on Tuesday, the board voted to approve the voluntary annexation of Elementary
School Number 10 and agreed to allow for a temporary street closing for a Ride of Silence, sponsored by the East Carolina Velo Cycling Club.