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Residents question connector road policy

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Staff

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

CARRBORO — After hours of public comment regarding connector roads for two proposed developments, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted on Tuesday to postpone decisions on both Claremont Phases IV and V and Colleton Crossing.

The plans for Claremont Phases IV and V, across Homestead Road from the development’s first three phases, include 27 townhomes and 69 single-family homes. In accordance with the town’s Connector Roads Policy, the development would connect to Wexford via Colfax Drive, providing access from Homestead Road to Hillsborough Road.

However, residents have argued that the policy mandates connector roads between new developments and neighborhoods that then bring increased traffic to roads that aren’t designed to handle it.

The board of aldermen approved the Connector Roads Policy in 1986 as development was initiated in the northern areas of town. The policy seeks “to ensure that old and new developments and businesses in town connect to each other, both to disperse newly generated traffic and to give a sense of connectivity and unity to the town as it grew.”

According to the developer, Parker Louis, the development is expected to generate 58 vehicle trips per day through the Colfax Drive connection.

While several residents spoke in favor of the connection from Wexford to Claremont IV and V, the majority of speakers opposed the connection.

Scott Christie, president of the Williams Woods Homeowners’ Association, spoke on behalf of the presidents of the Wexford, Cates Farm and Cobblestone homeowners’ associations in opposition to the proposed connector road.

“This plan will not disperse traffic, but instead focus and funnel it through narrow streets never intended to carry a high volume of traffic,” he said. “The only way unity will be created is to allow pedestrian traffic like cyclists [and] joggers, which we do support.”

Mortimer Alzoma, president of the Wexford Homeowners’ Association, encouraged board members to walk through the neighborhoods to get a feel for the traffic.
“More cars will be a problem,” he said. “It will be a tragic problem for some unsuspecting kid, and it will destroy a parent.”

Giles Blunden, an architect who develops sustainable communities, said the connector roads policy helps reduce the total number of miles driven, contributing to the public good.

“All those things that go with those miles – the carbon, the pollution, the traffic, the danger – all of those are reduced [with connector roads], and that is why the public is served by connector roads,” he said.

Blunden added that the connector road would provide another way out for residents of the established neighborhood, reducing traffic using the current entrance to the neighborhood.

Matthew Barton, chair of the Carrboro Planning Board and a resident of Wexford, said he supported the connection from Claremont to Wexford.

“I believe there’s a lot of advantages to connectivity as long as you don’t endanger safety,” he said. “These roads were built with sidewalks. They are not built just to be children’s play areas.”

Residents also spoke in favor of the developer’s proposed bridge under Homestead Road, saying it was necessary to provide a safe crossing for children traveling from Phases IV and V to the recreation areas in Claremont’s first three phases.

The board voted to postpone a decision on the proposed development until March 17.

Colleton Crossing

The board also heard from residents regarding the Colleton Crossing development, which is proposed for 8400 and 8420 Reynard Road. The developer, MBI Development, proposes a 39-dwelling subdivision on 31.6 acres. According to the developer, the project, if approved, is projected to open in 2010.

Initially, the developer proposed a connector road from the development to Claymore Road in the Highlands. They later revised the proposal to include another access point via a connector road between two homes on Huntsman Court after the town requested that they look at other access options.

Residents have opposed both connector road options, citing unsafe conditions created by increased traffic on roads not designed to handle it. Residents of Huntsman Court said they felt blindsided by the proposal to build a road between their homes, adding that the developer never contacted them to discuss the easement.

Board members questioned whether the developer could legally use the easement to connect to Huntsman Court and said they couldn’t make a decision on the proposal until they knew which connection option would be pursued.
The board will revisit the proposal on April 28.

3 thoughts on “Residents question connector road policy”

  1. Leigh Anne King says:
    March 3, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    As an urban planner that recently conducted land use/transportation research in several high growth communities in NC, I highly recommend maintaining the town’s connector policy. The representatives of the community’s that I recently spoke with said that connectivity was their #1 transportation priority. Several of these communities have had to spend public dollars to retroactively connect neighborhoods and areas of their town that were developed years ago. Limiting access, as a rule, is not preferable for moving traffic. Disbursement of traffic is a better rule of thumb. Connected neighborhoods are more active, are easier to access (important for emergency vehicles), and have less traffic backup.

  2. Sophie King-Lowe says:
    March 4, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    Have you been to the neighborhood in question and asked the residents what they want? Isn’t that what is really important here?

  3. Steve Peck says:
    March 5, 2009 at 7:38 am

    The balance is to make neighborhoods into a community without destroying neighborhoods. If neighborhoods become limited access enclaves within Carrboro we have no community. As a concept I embrace connectivity. The problem is that many of the roads in the annexed area of Carrboro, Fox Meadow and Claymore as examples, are DOT roads, narrow and without side walks. They are not ideal for connectivity argument.

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