The question on our minds this week: Does Chapel Hill want people to live downtown?
Martin Johnson unpacks some of the difficulties in building housing downtown in advance of Council hearing a proposal (for the third time) to build a 150-unit apartment building on the corner of Rosemary and Columbia.
Join NEXT: A conversation on housing with Jenny Schuetz
On Tuesday June 21, Dr. Jenny Schuetz, a Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro and the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems will join Stephen Whitlow, who serves on the Planning Commission for the Town of Chapel Hill, is a member of NEXT, and writes for Triangle Blog Blog, for a wide-ranging discussion focused on housing affordability and zoning reform nationwide, as well as in the Triangle region.
Last November, (then) Chapel Hill Town Council candidate Adam Searing wrote a widely referenced column in the News and Observer claiming that Chapel Hill “comes out dead last in every category compared to our neighbors [for park space.]”
Councilmember Searing’s information was taken from the Trust for Public Land (TPL)’s website, which uses crowdsourced data to create Park Scores – rankings of communities based on demographic data and proximity to parks. Not surprisingly, many folks were upset about Chapel Hill’s relative ranking compared to our regional peers. Some other folks were a little confused and took a closer look at TPL’s assumptions. And, as it turns out, the TPL website was missing some key parks in Chapel Hill!
Perhaps in response to feedback about the inaccuracy of the data, TPL updated their website. And, with the new data, the town looks.. actually …pretty darn good compared to our neighbors!
As Chapel Hillians increasingly recognize our moral obligation to address the housing affordability crisis, inspiration may come from an unlikely source: pickleball.
FAQ
1. I’m concerned about stormwater. Won’t more pickleball courts lead to more flooding in town?
No, well-designed pickleball courts take up no more room than a single tennis court, and would not add new impervious surface.
2. Don’t pickleball courts attract criminal elements?
No. In fact, because pickleball courts hold more people than a single tennis court, you might experience a reduction in crime due to – paraphrasing Jane Jacobs – more eyes on the court.
3. Can’t people just go to Durham or Burlington to play pickleball?
It’s important for people to be able to play pickleball near where they live and work. Driving long distances to play pickleball wastes fossil fuels and exacerbates climate change.
