By Ann Ansley
Carrboro Commons Writer

Carrboro no sooner wants a bar or restaurant in its residential areas than it wants high rises in its downtown.

At a March 25 public hearing, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen unanimously voted for conditional use rezoning for the property located at 102 Center St., a move intended to restrict the potential commercial uses for this historic mill house.

This house at 102 Center St. could be the first of many to be rezoned for conditional commercial use. As a result, the house will only be able to serve specific commercial uses in order to maintain the historic and residential aura of the neighborhood.
Staff photo by Ann Ansley

The decision comes on the heels of a Feb. 19 board meeting in which Jane Hamborsky, founder of Center Street Preservation and owner of 102 Center St., requested that the property’s zoning classification be changed from residential, or an R-7.5 zoning district, to fringe commercial, or a B-2 zoning district.

At the hearing, many Carrboro residents and board members expressed their concern not only for this specific rezoning of 102 Center St., but for what could become an increasingly “slippery slope” for the looming commercialization of Carrboro.

“My main concern is creep,” said board member Jacquelyn Gist. “Every time you change something, then what’s next to it becomes more susceptible to commercialization.”

Several other community members voiced their worries about maintaining the historical value of the neighborhood if the property were rezoned to allow commercial use.

“Once you have a B, then what will you have next?” said Jeff Herrick, who has lived since 2000 at 109 Center St. in what was originally Carrboro’s first schoolhouse. “I’m here to say this is a residential neighborhood and we really like living here, and we’d like to keep it residential at all costs.”

Michelle Rivest, of 100 Oak Ave., agreed.

“We’ve got a lot of valuable, historic residential homes,” said Rivest. “Once you build two stories or more, you can’t get this back. We need a zoning ordinance that would protect the neighborhood.”

Protection is perhaps one of the most important aspects to consider when discussing the rezoning of 102 Center St. for commercial use, said Herrick and Rivest. Both are concerned with the wide range of businesses that B-2 commercial districts allow.

B-2 zones permit businesses for institutional and community service uses as well as child and senior citizen day care centers. But they also permit restaurants, bars and nightclubs “with or without outside service or consumption,” according to the Carrboro Planning Department.

Due to the allowances that B-2 commercial zones make for potentially late-night hangouts, the board voted for conditional use zoning. Under conditional use, the board will be able to specify which types of businesses will be allowed and which types will be prohibited, according to the town attorney.

“You really don’t want to have late-night things next to where there are homes,” said board member Randee Haven-O’Donnell.

In addition to ensuring and maintaining the residential feel of 102 Center St., the board must also affirm that the rezoning is consistent with Carrboro Vision 2020. These policies “call for preservation and protection of historic areas and older neighborhoods and do not specifically prohibit the expansion of the commercial districts,” according to the Carrboro Planning Department.

At the hearing, Hamborsky emphasized her desire for this protection.

“We all come from it, the whole thing, as a preservation,” she said. “We wanted to save the house at all costs.”