OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Planning Commission Meeting Summary – August 19, 2025

Meeting PortalTuesday, August 19, 2025
BodyChapel Hill, North Carolina
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, August 19, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 4:01:10

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Meeting come to order.

0:06

Okay, first and then second.

0:08

Okay.

0:10

Okay.

0:11

Hello.

0:16

Can you see that?

0:18

Excellent.

0:19

My name is Catherine Shore.

0:21

I'm with the planning department, and I'm here to present the staff recommendation for conditional zoning application at 701 Martin Luther King Jr.

0:30

Boulevard.

0:32

The site is located at the corner of East Longview Street and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard.

0:39

It's in the South MLK focus area.

0:42

It's surrounded by medium density residential and office uses, and it's just south of the Bowling Creek Greenway.

0:50

We recommend this project because we believe it's an alignment with the complete community goals and the comprehensive plan.

0:57

The requested modifications to regulations serve the public purpose.

1:01

And we recommend that the council is considering the approving the project subject to the conditions of ordinance A.

1:10

I'll summarize the project, and after my presentation, the applicant will come up and share more information about their request.

1:15

They're requesting to rezone from neighborhood commercial to and residential three to the mixed use village conditional zoning district.

1:22

Their uh proposed development is a multifamily residential and ground floor retail uh project.

1:28

It would involve up to 200 units in a nine-story structure with about uh a thousand square feet of retail space.

1:35

10% of those dwelling units will be income restricted affordable housing.

1:40

And the ordinance commits the developer to uh provide a public outdoor plaza and a multi-use path that would complement the across the street NSBRT station.

1:52

So procedurally, the reason why this is in front of you is because the requested zoning district accommodates the proposed land uses and scale of development, and the conditional zoning would allow for some site specific standards to make this development possible.

2:08

Uh the applicants also requesting some modifications to LUMO, which we think are appropriate given the location and the comprehensive plan goals.

2:17

So, like I said, it aligns with the complete community framework.

2:21

They're proposing a transit-oriented mixed use development in an infill location, which could reduce overall vehicle trips and support multimodal travel options.

2:30

They're also committing to reducing parking spaces to align with this type of development.

2:36

They're proposing the small retail space in public plaza to serve surrounding residents and transit riders.

2:41

They're also committing to facade transparencies that can create a more inviting environment for pedestrians.

2:48

We reviewed this project with the natural features viewer, and we don't believe it warrants additional uh review uh because this site scored fairly low in the model.

2:57

In addition, a recent stream determination classified the streams on site as ephemeral, which would reduce the scores in the model further.

3:07

So the procedure that we are recommending for you this evening is to receive and provide comment and to consider the consistency uh with the comprehensive plan and consider the ordinance approving the application.

3:20

And I'll invite the applicant up and then after their presentation will be available for questions.

3:28

Is it um projecting?

3:30

Okay, so you can just click that which one this one?

3:36

Yeah, just two things to full screen.

3:44

Yep, but uh good evening.

3:48

I'm Brian Boyles with Landmark Properties.

3:51

Can you guys see the presentation?

3:53

Okay.

3:53

Uh so we're landmark properties.

3:55

We are one of the largest residential developers in the southeast.

3:59

Uh we have several different product lines.

4:01

We have uh multi-family, more traditional multi-family.

4:05

We have a mixed-use uh multi or excuse me, mixed use mid-rise building as close to Charlotte.

4:11

Uh, we have build to rent townhome and uh single-family rental communities from Texas to Florida, and we have student housing across the country.

4:21

Uh we still own and manage two projects that we developed in Raleigh.

4:26

Uh we are vertically integrated, so we have our own management and construction companies, so we build and manage everything in-house, and we are long-term owners of our projects.

4:36

So we uh we take community input and design very seriously on the front end because we live with the decisions that we make early.

4:44

Um as mentioned, our project is located at 701 MLK Junior Boulevard at the corner of East Longview and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard.

4:54

It's a two parcel assemblage, slightly under two acres.

5:00

Uh it's within sub-area C of the South MLK focus area and the future land use map.

5:03

So this uh these properties have already been earmarked for uh multifamily development long term.

5:10

Uh this is just a uh our proposed site plan.

5:13

So when we presented our concept plan to uh to council back in November, the biggest feedback we got was to implement some sort of community gathering area uh to complement the both existing and future bus rapid transit uh stop located right across Longview Street.

5:34

So there'll be a there will be a uh rendering here shortly, but uh we have we will be implementing that community area right at the corner of Longview and Martin Luther King Jr.

5:44

Boulevard.

5:45

Uh we'll have some covered seating and really just invite the public and promote that use there.

5:50

We will have ground level retail with uh outdoor seating as well as a uh 12-foot wide multi-use path to really activate that street frontage along MLK Junior Boulevard.

6:01

The uh parking will be accessed from East Longview Street, and there will be a fire and service access road from Martin Luther King Jr.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Land Use Management███████████████████████████27%
Stormwater Management██████████████████████22%
Affordable Housing███████████11%
Environmental Protection█████████9%
Planning and Zoning████████8%
Transportation Safety█████5%
Procedural███3%
Parking Management███3%
Parks and Recreation███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Planning Commission Meeting – August 19, 2025

The Chapel Hill Planning Commission met virtually on August 19, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. (12:15 UTC) to consider three conditional zoning applications: 701 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, 860 Weaver Dairy Road, and 115 Chapel Point Road. The meeting included staff and applicant presentations, public comment, and commission deliberation. The commission voted to recommend approval of two projects and declined to make a recommendation on the third, forwarding detailed comments instead.

Consent Calendar

  • No consent calendar items were identified. The draft minutes from June 17, 2025, were listed on the agenda but no separate vote was recorded in the minutes or transcript.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • 701 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd: No public comments were made.
  • 860 Weaver Dairy Road: Multiple residents and landowners spoke in opposition, citing concerns about:
    • Health impacts from I-40 pollution (Hank Elkins).
    • Loss of forest canopy, steep slopes, and stormwater runoff (Lois Hallett, Charles Hennage, Tommy Best, Scott Barrows).
    • Inadequate buffers, traffic (Level of Service F), and construction impacts (Chris Burn, Bob Burnt).
    • Specific concerns about the “leg” portion adjacent to Coventry, including road placement, tree buffer, and stormwater design (Chris Burn, Bob Burnt).
  • 115 Chapel Point Road: No public comments were made.

Discussion Items

  • 701 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd: Staff recommended approval, noting alignment with complete community goals. The applicant (Landmark Properties) proposed a 7–8 story mixed-use building with 175–200 units, 10% affordable (5% at 65% AMI, 5% at 80% AMI), ground-floor retail, a public plaza, and a multi-use path. Commission discussion focused on ensuring design commitments (e.g., stepbacks, covered seating) were included in the ordinance. The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of Resolution A (consistency) and Ordinance A, with a recommendation to incorporate design features from Brian Peterson’s memo.
  • 860 Weaver Dairy Road: The applicant (Ernie Brown) proposed a 45-acre mixed-use development with up to 575 multifamily units and 135 townhomes, 10–15% affordable, with a central flex space, greenway, and stormwater detention. Staff recommended approval. Extensive commission discussion covered parking ratios (high), RCD incursions, stormwater management (100-year standard), tree buffers, and compatibility with Coventry. Public comments raised significant concerns. The commission did not make a motion to approve or deny; instead, they voted unanimously to authorize Jon Mitchell to compile the complete community matrix with comments and send to Council.
  • 115 Chapel Point Road: The applicant (Thomas & Hutton for Caraway Village) proposed a third phase with 155–170 units (micro-units and townhomes), 10% affordable, all-electric, EV charging, and a greenway connection. Staff recommended approval. Commission discussion addressed parking (less than 1 per unit), RCD incursion for a stormwater pond (49% disturbance), and preservation of a forested habitat corridor. The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of Resolution A and Ordinance A, and authorized Elizabeth Losos to compile comments for Council.

Key Outcomes

  • 701 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd:
    • Motion to recommend approval of Resolution A passed unanimously (4-0).
    • Motion to recommend approval of Ordinance A, with a recommendation to include design features from Brian Peterson’s memo, passed unanimously (4-0).
  • 860 Weaver Dairy Road:
    • No motion on approval. Motion to authorize Jon Mitchell to compile the commission’s comments and send to Council passed unanimously (4-0).
  • 115 Chapel Point Road:
    • Motion to recommend approval of Resolution A passed unanimously (4-0).
    • Motion to authorize Elizabeth Losos to compile comments passed unanimously (4-0).
    • Motion to recommend approval of Ordinance A passed unanimously (4-0).
  • The meeting adjourned at 11:05 p.m. The next meeting (retreat) was scheduled for August 24, 2025.

Meeting Transcript

Meeting come to order. Okay, first and then second. Okay. Okay. Hello. Can you see that? Excellent. My name is Catherine Shore. I'm with the planning department, and I'm here to present the staff recommendation for conditional zoning application at 701 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The site is located at the corner of East Longview Street and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. It's in the South MLK focus area. It's surrounded by medium density residential and office uses, and it's just south of the Bowling Creek Greenway. We recommend this project because we believe it's an alignment with the complete community goals and the comprehensive plan. The requested modifications to regulations serve the public purpose. And we recommend that the council is considering the approving the project subject to the conditions of ordinance A. I'll summarize the project, and after my presentation, the applicant will come up and share more information about their request. They're requesting to rezone from neighborhood commercial to and residential three to the mixed use village conditional zoning district. Their uh proposed development is a multifamily residential and ground floor retail uh project. It would involve up to 200 units in a nine-story structure with about uh a thousand square feet of retail space. 10% of those dwelling units will be income restricted affordable housing. And the ordinance commits the developer to uh provide a public outdoor plaza and a multi-use path that would complement the across the street NSBRT station. So procedurally, the reason why this is in front of you is because the requested zoning district accommodates the proposed land uses and scale of development, and the conditional zoning would allow for some site specific standards to make this development possible. Uh the applicants also requesting some modifications to LUMO, which we think are appropriate given the location and the comprehensive plan goals. So, like I said, it aligns with the complete community framework. They're proposing a transit-oriented mixed use development in an infill location, which could reduce overall vehicle trips and support multimodal travel options. They're also committing to reducing parking spaces to align with this type of development. They're proposing the small retail space in public plaza to serve surrounding residents and transit riders. They're also committing to facade transparencies that can create a more inviting environment for pedestrians. We reviewed this project with the natural features viewer, and we don't believe it warrants additional uh review uh because this site scored fairly low in the model. In addition, a recent stream determination classified the streams on site as ephemeral, which would reduce the scores in the model further. So the procedure that we are recommending for you this evening is to receive and provide comment and to consider the consistency uh with the comprehensive plan and consider the ordinance approving the application. And I'll invite the applicant up and then after their presentation will be available for questions. Is it um projecting? Okay, so you can just click that which one this one? Yeah, just two things to full screen. Yep, but uh good evening. I'm Brian Boyles with Landmark Properties. Can you guys see the presentation? Okay. Uh so we're landmark properties. We are one of the largest residential developers in the southeast. Uh we have several different product lines. We have uh multi-family, more traditional multi-family. We have a mixed-use uh multi or excuse me, mixed use mid-rise building as close to Charlotte. Uh, we have build to rent townhome and uh single-family rental communities from Texas to Florida, and we have student housing across the country. Uh we still own and manage two projects that we developed in Raleigh. Uh we are vertically integrated, so we have our own management and construction companies, so we build and manage everything in-house, and we are long-term owners of our projects. So we uh we take community input and design very seriously on the front end because we live with the decisions that we make early. Um as mentioned, our project is located at 701 MLK Junior Boulevard at the corner of East Longview and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard.

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