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Shelton Station good for Carrboro

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Staff

By James Carnahan
On Jan. 24, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen will be considering the siting of Shelton Station, a mixed-use project with important economic and environmental considerations for all Carrboro residents.

Regardless of where you live in Carrboro, close to downtown or far beyond, and even if you don’t often come downtown, increased economic activity in the downtown directly affects how much you pay to live in Carrboro. Shelton Station would bring a big increase in economic activity, helping to keep our cost of living down so that Carrboro is affordable to more folks. Projects like Shelton Station are exactly what we need to achieve a sustainable community.

A key objective expressed in Carrboro’s Vision 2020, our blueprint for how the town changes and grows, is doubling the commercial square footage in the downtown. Thirteen years after Vision 2020 was adopted, residents still foot the bill for about 90 percent of services. As things stand, our property taxes are bound to go higher – this at a time when personal incomes are stagnating. My own property taxes have doubled since I moved here in 2002; my income hasn’t matched that, and, at age 65, I’m not likely to experience an increase in income.

Recognizing the project’s consistency with Carrboro’s vision for downtown, the aldermen last November approved a zoning change requested by the developer, but postponed until Jan. 24 a decision on whether the zone could actually be used at the proposed site.

There is some opposition from residents adjacent to the proposed project; yet, if it were built as proposed, it would have many benefits for everyone living in Carrboro. The LEED-certified project would benefit us environmentally by having fewer carbon emissions and less stormwater runoff per resident, and it would benefit us economically by increasing and diversifying our tax base and providing customers for downtown retailers. If you care about sustainability in Carrboro, it is critical to let the aldermen know you want this exciting and innovative project to happen.

Increasing Carrboro’s commercial tax base is a laudable goal, and is absolutely necessary for those of us living close to the bone. Sadly, the recession of 2008 has stymied construction of several projects that have already been approved for the downtown.

Now comes Shelton Station, offering Carrboro 115 apartments and 24,000 square feet of retail/office space, and the developers have their financing arranged. The apartments would house about 200 people within a very short walk of downtown businesses, services and bus routes. Shelton Station would put people to work in construction, provide office and retail space, boost the income of downtown merchants and contribute around $160,000 in property taxes each year, divided among town, county and city schools coffers. And remember, rental property is taxed as commercial activity.

Our commercially zoned land is the very limited resource on which we as a community can expand our economic base. A speaker at the November public hearing said Shelton Station was too urban for our downtown – but urban is exactly the sort of built environment we said we wanted in downtown. “Build up, not out” is the prescription in Vision 2020, and we spent considerable time and effort figuring out how to do this to obtain a vibrant and livable outcome. In 2001, we collaborated to produce the detailed “Downtown Carrboro: New Vision,” and then worked several years to enact changes to our development rules to implement it.

We did all this because we recognized that putting housing, businesses and civic amenities in walkable proximity is the best way to conserve our ecosystems. Multi-family buildings like Shelton Station are more efficient to heat and cool than detached, single-family dwellings – and that’s even before you add all the “green” features the project will incorporate.

In downtown, we already pay for infrastructure, services, transit and parking. We can leverage these investments to achieve meaningful reductions in per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases if we upgrade public transit by adding evening, weekend, holiday and regional services, thereby eliminating the need to own a car altogether. To do this without increasing taxes on current residents, we have to expand the tax base by adding homes and businesses with projects like Shelton Station. Seniors, low-income residents, those with a disability and teenagers especially would then enjoy greater mobility and economic opportunities.
Carrboro hasn’t had something new on its horizon for quite some time, so it’s exciting that we are finally on the threshold of resuming our quest to expand our community’s vitality and ensure our economic health while taking a big step in our efforts to address climate change and local sustainability.

James Carnahan is a founder of The Village Project and former chair of the Carrboro Planning Board.

1 thought on “Shelton Station good for Carrboro”

  1. David Bellin says:
    January 13, 2012 at 10:38 am

    It’s exciting to see a Carrboro resident, with experience (example: Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh & downtown Charlotte) put in the effort, patience, and dollars to make Carrboro a more vibrant town. This is the way to go and after nearly a year of discussion I hope the alderpersons will decide to move this project forward to the permitting stage – which will still be another year or so of detailed citizen comment and review of the actual look and feel of the site and buildings.

    Great summary of a great visionary project that can actually be built!

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