Teardown of the week (weeks ago that is)

This house on Claremont has been available for pre-sale for a pretty long time.

It has now joined the ranks of empty lots in Anderson Heights. Right now I count 5 in the immediate area. Three of them have sat a very long time.

In the golden days, that would be when this was a desirable neighborhood rather than a speculative market (say 2-3 years ago), a house like this would sell within 3 months to someone eager to move right in and improve the home. This neighborhood has sustained and grown on its own merits for the past generation or so.

The problem we have now reminds me of that trend on the highway where two lanes have to merge and some people pass the waiting line to jump in front. Are they not aware that it is them that is causing the problem they are trying to avoid? If we did not have to stop and let them in, the traffic would flow on its own. Same thing for real estate over here. The change of character over here is stunting sales for many a seller and buyer.

The return of the NCOD process took 2 years, the same 2 years that allowed Anderson and Claremont to tip to million dollar plus digs. The same 2 years that Brooks Avenue began to lose its classic character. The list can go on and on. How many unsold homes can ITB live with ... this is a new phenom.

It was not broke, and we did not need fixing. Now we are in a fix.

Glen Lennox neighborhood conservation

Glen Lennox neighborhood conservation effort moves forward

Jul 3, 2008 News

by Rich Fowler | Staff Writer | The Carrboro Citizen - Carrboro,NC

Glen Lennox area residents are one step closer to getting a Neighborhood Conservation District. At its meeting last week, the Chapel Hill Town Council allowed residents to go forward with the NCD process, which allows the planning department to hold an informational meeting for area landowners.

The NCD petition was filed soon after Grubb Properties, the owner of the Glen Lennox apartments and shopping center, announced a plan to redevelop the area into a high-density neighborhood similar to Meadowmont.

But at the council meeting, Clay Grubb, president of Grubb Properties, said he didn’t think the plan was sensitive to the history of Glen Lennox.

“I apologize,” Grubb said. “We were not prepared to submit that plan, but we felt like we had no choice at the time. That was a plan that was done hastily.”

He said he’d be happy to halt plans while all parties involved talked it over.

Grubb said he didn’t feel the NCD process was fair, because his company owns the 440 apartment units and shopping center, which make up a little more than one-third of the area.

Mary Dexter, who filed the original petition, said the proposed Glen Lennox redevelopment plan wasn’t the only reason for an NCD. “We’re working on saving a neighborhood, not just apartments,” she said. Dexter said area residents were concerned about teardowns and “McMansions” in their neighborhood.

“We have common historical values, we have common architectural values,” she said. “We are a neighborhood, and you are part of it.”

The next step is that the planning board will schedule a meeting to tell landowners how the NCD process works, what it protects and what it doesn’t protect. Notices will be sent to all landowners within a 500-foot radius of the proposed NCD before the meeting.

There are currently six NCDs in Chapel Hill, including one in Northside and the most recent one in Coker Hills.
The council took no action on a proposed moratorium on development along NC 54 east of 15-501 up to the town limits. Projects already under construction as well as those still in the application phase would not be stopped by a moratorium.
Because of the way the development process is set up, the proposed redevelopment of Glen Lennox, along with any other future proposed projects along NC 54, would still be subject to a moratorium if the council chooses to pass one when it meets again in the fall.

Michael Collins, vice chair of the planning board, said the board unanimously supported the original petition for a moratorium on NC 54. “The applications seem to be coming fast and furious,” he said. Collins said that perhaps it was a good time to step back and discuss what the council and citizens want along the road.

Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward said that passing the moratorium now wasn’t an either/or issue. He said that passing one right now wouldn’t be effective, because the town would wind up losing a lot of time under a moratorium when the council wasn’t in session.

“It has our attention, and it will gain more attention and thought over the next few months,” he said.

“We have common historical values, we have common architectural values,” she said. “We are a neighborhood, and you are part of it.” Yup, that is what this is all about.

A Positive Development

Raleigh City Council voted in the expedited NCOD on July 1. A round of applause is in order...

The OTT/ITB Award for June goes to the Raleigh CIty Council for this Positive Development.

WTVD:
Victory for McMansion opposers
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 | 4:37 PM

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Raleigh homeowners hoping to protect their neighborhoods from so-called McMansions can claim victory.

The infill debate about how to regulate tear downs in older neighborhoods has been going on for more than one year.

Tuesday the city council agreed to adopt new rules about how neighborhoods create standards for homebuilding in their communities.

Until now it took neighborhoods two years to amend guidelines for how new homes could be built. The process has been streamlined to take about six months.

Under the new rule, older neighborhoods are able to have a say about nine different categories when it comes to rebuilt homes. Among the categories are housing height and the distance homes are set back from the road.

For more information, visit the City of Raleigh's Website.
(Copyright ©2008 WTVD-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6239195#bodyText

N&O:
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1127168.html

WRAL:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3136711/