Carrboro alderman Dan Coleman (right) flips his driver’s license to Director of Elections Barry Garner (second from left) during the opening hours of filing season on Friday. Coleman carpooled with (left to right) Chapel Hill Council members Sally Greene, Cam Hill and Bill Strom. Photo by Kirk Ross
By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
Carrboro Planning Board member Lydia Lavelle, who came close to being appointed to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen last year, has filed for election to the board.
In a statement released last week, Lavelle, who lost a close vote to Dan Coleman for the appointment to the seat vacated by Mark Chilton after he won the 2005 contest for mayor, said her priorities will include open space and greenways, diversifying the town’s tax base and to “carefully steward Carrboro’s growth and development.â€Â   Â
A resident of the recently annexed area on the north side of town, Lavelle served as chair of the town’s New Horizon’s Task Force.
She joins Chilton, who filed on Monday, and alderman Dan Coleman, who filed to run last Friday.
Other Carrboro incumbents whose terms expire this year are alderman Joal Hall Broun, who has not announced her intentions, and Alex Zaffron, who has said he is not likely to run again.
Chapel Hill races
No one is calling it a slate, but Chapel Hill Town Council member Bill Strom came close last week after he, Cam Hill and Sally Greene carpooled up to the Orange County Board of Elections office in Hillsborough to file for re-election.
Strom said he thinks voters will recognize that there is a current council with a good deal of unity — something he says the town will need to complete ongoing efforts and to deal with the mammoth development planned for Carolina North.
“I think there’s a huge opportunity for Chapel Hill right now,†he said. “We have a coherent and unified board. I don’t believe there’s much that we can fail at if we stay unified and focused.â€
If returned to the council, Strom said he would push to improve transit services, advocate for a local carbon reduction plan and improve open space and greenway programs.
Greene said another term for her means a chance to work on affordable housing issues along with the partnership between the towns and Orange County to deal with chronic homelessness. Greene was a key player in the drafting of a new comprehensive plan to address homelessness.
Hill said he would like to serve another term to help finish ongoing projects and focus on “quality of life†issues.
“We just started a council budget committee that hopefully will give us a chance to continue with no tax increases and deal with difficult fiscal situations,†Hill said.
He also said Carolina North will be a major focus for the council. “I’ve been on all the Carolina North committees,†he said. “I’m going to stick around for that.â€
All three council members emphasized they will push to finish the town’s inclusionary zoning rules, which they say will build on recent strides in affordable housing. Rather than achieving affordable housing goals mainly through negotiation with developers as the town does now, the inclusionary zoning ordinance would codify the requirements for including affordable housing in new developments.
“This would be a firm requirement for affordable housing,†Greene said. “It’s a significant thing that we’ve worked a long time for, but we’re not quite there yet.â€
In addition to help from the new zoning rules, Strom said he would also move to give the Orange County Land Trust more support. Land Trust executive director Robert Dowling has told the council repeatedly that his organization is straining to keep up with managing and selling the growing number of properties.
Jim Ward, the other member of the Chapel Hill Town Council whose term expires this year, is out of the country and has not filed. He has not announced his intentions, but is expected to run again.
Also now officially running again is Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, who said he is looking forward to another term.
“We have a lot of things going on,†he said. “There are many initiatives that are starting to bear fruit and I want to continue to be a part of that.â€
Foy said in addition to ongoing conversations and negotiations about Carolina North, he will concentrate on seeing through some of the changes planned for downtown.
Another key priority, he said, would be to finalize a deal on improvements to South Columbia Street, a project that’s been the subject of tough negotiations between the town, university and hospital officials.
“One of the first things I did when I was elected is push for that,†he said.
Foy said Chancellor James Moeser, UNC Health Care System CEO Bill Roper and state Department of Transportation officials have agreed to the project and a timetable, but he’s anxious to see the project started.
“I think I can make it happen,†Foy said. “Obviously, these things take time and they take somebody dogging it.â€
By far the biggest issue facing the town, Foy said, is Carolina North. The impacts of the university’s proposed new campus and research center are already being felt.
“Carolina North is not something that’s going to happen,†Foy said. “Carolina North is something that’s already happening.â€
The council race got its first challenger Wednesday with the filing of David Charles Nash, 65, of Davie Circle.
Nash, who has lived in Chapel Hill for close to 50 years, said he wants to bring “good humor and good common sense†to the council race. His slogan, he said, will be “common sense, practicality and tradition.†The current council, he said, has too often passed decisions on to consultants or committees. The retired teacher and son of two university faculty members ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1985, losing to Jimmy Wallace. He said he did not want to see the current council run unopposed.
Nash said he was a “huge advocate of downtown†and wants to see a more businesslike approach to solving its problems.
For more election coverage, including audio interviews with the candidates, visit The Carrboro Citizen’s Elections & Politics website at www.carrborocitizen.com/politics