By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
CARRBORO — With strong objections from neighbors and a wide array of questions from the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on the table, the continuation of a public hearing on rezoning the county’s chosen site for a library is only tentatively scheduled for April 19.
At the close of a lengthy public hearing Tuesday night at Carrboro Town Hall, Mayor Mark Chilton qualified the board’s decision to schedule the next session on the 2.69-acre site on Hillsborough Road.
“It depends on how much more information there is,†he said before the board closed up shop for the night.
About 30 residents, many who live in neighborhoods near the site, weighed in on the proposal to rezone the property. Last fall, Orange County signed a contract on the parcel, which is adjacent to Carrboro Elementary School. The county wants Carrboro to rezone the property to allow for the construction of a 20,000-square-foot single-story library. Details of the library’s design and site plan would not come before rezoning and not until the county seeks a conditional-use permit for the project.
Despite the lack of details, there were plenty of strong opinions on the proposed location.
“I long for a new library,†Gordon Mitchell told the board. “This is just not the site.â€
Pine Street resident Marty Mandell said she was one of many residents who have pushed for many years for a library in Carrboro, but found herself opposing it because of a site she described as “dreadful.â€
“I think this is the most unusual public hearing,†she said.
Other longtime library supporters said they thought the location could be made to work.
Nerys Levy presented the board with a petition in support of the rezoning with 330 signatures. She said in gathering the signatures, supporters found a high degree of enthusiasm about a library within walking distance.
Not knowing the plans and how it would impact the neighborhood concerned residents as well as their elected representatives.
Several board members said they did not have enough information to make a decision and asked town planners for a report on traffic impacts and how parking would be provided.
Board member Dan Coleman said he wanted to know how clear an idea of the affect on the area would be possible given the town’s time and available resources.
Board member Randee Haven O’Donnell cited letters from school officials indicating they were cool to the idea of sharing access or a driveway. She said the school’s cooperation was important and the lack of it added to her hesitancy on the site.
“We want a library, but we don’t want to be backed into a corner to get one,†she said. “It saddens me that a library could divide the community, and I really don’t want to see that happen.â€
The county is under time pressure on the site, with the expiration of its contract set for April 21, with a 90-day extension possible if the county is willing to put down additional earnest money.
If the county buys the site, it would come off the tax rolls. A town report estimates that $8,976 in annual property taxes would be lost as a result. The report also notes that the Carrboro Cybrary, now located in the Carrboro Century Center, would move to the new facility.
Kirk Ross has written an accurate and informative account in your March 24th issue of The Citizen regarding the discussions now being held concerning the rezoning of a piece of land on Hillsborough Road for the purpose of building a Carrboro Branch Library. It does, however, raise some questions.
1. Thirty people have presented the town with a petition against the rezoning. How many of these people are users of libraries or are they just vocal opponents? The names on the petition presented by the proponents are library users. Most of the names were signed at the library or the book fair.
2. How much is this costing the town to have the cybrary located in The Century Center. Having the cybrary consolidated with the library would save the town in that regard, wouldn’t it?
3. Are the taxes on this property really $8,976? I own a house in this very same neighborhood and the taxes are less than $3,000. The acreage in question is undeveloped.
4. My last question is, what is the town’s “time and resources” to which Alderman Dan Coleman refers when he talks of the library’s ” affect on the area”? I am interested in what the answer is to this question too.