
{"id":10234,"date":"2010-04-29T16:36:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T00:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=10234"},"modified":"2010-04-29T16:37:19","modified_gmt":"2010-04-30T00:37:19","slug":"mayor-lays-out-case-for-smith-level-road-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/04\/29\/mayor-lays-out-case-for-smith-level-road-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor lays out case for Smith Level Road plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_10258\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10258\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"smithlevelb\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb-112x84.jpg 112w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/smithlevelb-106x80.jpg 106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10258\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pierre Monnet (left front) and a group of his neighbors talk with DOT representatives Jim Dunlop and Ed Lewis before a hearing at Town Hall on the new design for Smith Level Road.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<em><strong>By Kirk Ross, Staff Writer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>CARRBORO  \u00e2\u20ac\u201d After a public hearing Tuesday night at Town Hall in which more than a dozen residents along the Smith Level Road corridor expressed their strong opposition to a new widening plan for the road, Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton recognized himself and gave a sometimes-passionate plea for the plan along with several testy retorts to some of the charges residents made about the project.<\/p>\n<p>Chilton, who bounded to the podium in support of the project after it was pointed out no one had spoken in support of it, said he believes the compromise for a two-lane road with bike lanes and sidewalks is likely a now-or-never deal for the town to improve the road.<\/p>\n<p>Chilton acknowledged his willingness to compromise last year on a possible four-lane design \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he was the lone \u00e2\u20ac\u0153yes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d vote for the plan, which was defeated 6 to 1 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but said he has been adamant with state Department of Transportation officials since then that the town would not accept a four-lane road.<\/p>\n<p>The latest plan, Chilton said, came after he had a tense exchange last year with DOT Chief Operating Officer Jim Trogdon at a conference in Charlotte. Trogdon had been explaining to a group of mayors how the DOT was trying to be more responsive to communities\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 priorities and Chilton cited the stalled Smith Level plan and the DOT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unwillingness to compromise in response.<\/p>\n<p>Chilton said a few months after the exchange, he was invited to a meeting in Raleigh where he was shown three more four-lane plans and a two-lane plan similar to the one before the board.<\/p>\n<p>In making his case Tuesday night, Chilton explained the process for allocating various types of transportation funding and said if the town rejected the plan it would likely never be able to afford to build the sidewalks and bike lanes on its own.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153[DOT officials] have come a hell of a long way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chilton said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It would be a tremendous mistake to throw the baby out with the bathwater.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The town, he said, has been waiting on the bike lanes and sidewalks for more than two decades.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to Chilton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments, several residents said they believed the DOT really wants to build a four-lane road, citing DOT planners who contend that they believe a wider road will one day be needed. Part of the compromise between the town and DOT allows for the state to acquire enough right-of-way to eventually widen the road to four lanes. DOT officials have said they would not add lanes unless the town asked it to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Gregg Dito, who said he had lived in the area around Smith Level Road for 17 years, said because of that he did not believe the road would stay two lanes.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a wolf in sheep\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clothing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Pierre Monnet said it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make sense for the road\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right-of-way to be wide enough for four lanes.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who needs a four-lane road for a quarter-mile length,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the opposition expressed on the new design came from residents in the Berryhill neighborhood. The road\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s design calls for a median that would prevent a left turn onto Smith Level Road out of the neighborhood at Willow Oak Lane. Berryhill residents said they believe the added number of cars traveling through the neighborhood to BPW Club Road would be unsafe.<\/p>\n<p>Linda Levitch said the change doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make sense.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Almost everybody, when they leave the neighborhood, heads north toward Carrboro,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>After Chilton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s testimony, the board took up next steps on the plan. Alderman Jacquie Gist, who has long opposed the various widening plans, said she was swayed by the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appeal.<\/p>\n<p>She said since much of the traffic on Smith Level Road is local traffic, the community should take some responsibility for the DOT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistence that it be wider. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have to take some responsibility,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Most of the traffic congestion is people driving their kids to school.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The board continued the public hearing until June 1 and asked for a review of the project by the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Transportation Advisory Board, as well as accident-report and traffic information on the Berryhill neighborhood. Board members also asked for a review of how many trees along the route would need to be removed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chilton, who bounded to the podium in support of the project after it was pointed out no one had spoken in support of it, said he believes the compromise for a two-lane road with bike lanes and sidewalks is likely a now-or-never deal for the town to improve the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10260,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234\/revisions\/10260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}