By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
CARRBORO — After a long negotiation over design, pricing and what would happen to current residents, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved a rezoning to allow the Pine Grove Mobile Home Park on Old Fayetteville Road to be redeveloped as a cluster of 39 energy-efficient homes.
The board, which last year had sparred with those managing the project over affordable-housing requirements, unanimously approved rezoning 4.66 acres for a mix of small homes ranging from 1,100 square feet to 1,350 square feet. The water- and energy-efficient homes would also share in a large photovoltaic array, which would sell power back into the grid to help generate revenue for Veridia’s homeowner association.
Trip Overholt, a partner in the project, said its just one of a number of ways the project would help make it more affordable for residents.
As part of its agreement with the town, home prices for Veridia would be less than $300,000.
The land could have been redeveloped without seeking approval from the town. In 1970, the previous owners of the mobile home park successfully sued the town and received a special zone allowing for a high-density development. Ultimately, Overholt and his partners opted to seek a rezoning so that individual lots could be created.
Overholt said that in the current lending market, it’s easier to get a loan for a home built on a fee-simple lot than if the project would offer condominiums and the land was held jointly.
Overholt praised the town for sticking to its positions in the negotiations, saying that while he disagreed with some of them at first, the new version of the project is much more viable.
Among the special rules put into the rezoning are the price and size limits as well as a requirement that current residents of the mobile home park be given at least three months notice.
Veridia’s David Bell said he intends to go all out to help residents relocate, including providing ample notice and the first month’s rent for their new homes. Residents will also be given the option of keeping their homes if they have a place to move them.
Bell said consideration had been given to upgrading the facility and keeping it a mobile home park, but that too much of the infrastructure was in disrepair and many of the trailers were far too old to fix up. He said he did not think the group could have gotten financing to upgrade the park in this market.
Several board members urged a reconsideration of the project’s parking plan, which provides 68 spaces for the 39 homes.
Despite racks for bicycles and easy access to bus routes, board members said the parking would likely prove inadequate.
Board member Jacquie Gist said she understood the intent, but, in a thinly veiled reference to the troubles at Greenbridge, she said the market may force Veridia to change its thinking.
“It’s not that I don’t get it,†she said, adding that there have been “really, really green†developments that just didn’t sell.
In other action Tuesday night, the board approved a new section of the town’s land-use ordinance that would prevent subdivisions from placing restrictive covenants on energy- and water-saving devices such as rain barrels, clotheslines and solar panels.
The new rules are the result of a successful push in 2009 to modify the town charter to allow for adoption of the new rules.