by Kennedy Carruthers
Carrboro Commons Writer

At Tuesday’s business meeting, the Board of Aldermen adopted a resolution submitted by the Planning Committee to modify maximum light levels in two downtown zoning districts.

The Board of Aldermen discuss the Planning Committee’s proposal to increase light intensity in two downtown zoning districts at Tuesday’s business meeting. The resolution passed despite concerns about light invading residents’ privacy.
Photo by Jenny Tenney

The modification will mean foot candles in the residential properties in the B-1(c) and B-1(g) zoning districts will increase in light intensity from the current 0.2 foot cap to 2.0 feet.

The zones include Carrboro locales such as Carr Mill Mall and Carrboro Town Hall.

Lauren Van Sant of Main Street Properties originally requested the modification to the light ordinance. According to Alderman Lydia Lavelle, Van Sant is part of the team heading the 300 E. Main St. project, a mixed use building that will sit within the zones affected by the resolution (where the ArtsCenter is currently located).

But despite the approval for the resolution, board members expressed concern about the future impact of the increased light intensity.

“I can think of all sorts of concerns,” Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said. Gist predicted residents of mixed use buildings to be concerned with the foot candle’s increased light level.

Aldermen Dan Coleman and Randee Haven-O’Donnell also expressed concern with future repercussions. Coleman suggested that the higher light levels could reach residents’ windows and therefore be seen as intrusive.

“I think Jacquie is right,” Haven-O’Donnell said of Gist’s concerns, “that, sooner or later, this may come around again.”

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by Tracey Theret
Carrboro Commons Co-Editor

A new bike path available to Carrboro residents will help pave the way for a family to purchase an affordable home in town.

The path, which begins in the back of Roberson Place, runs behind a long strip of the neighborhood’s backyards and snakes up to a piece of property on Eugene Street, formerly owned by Piedmont Electric.

The new Roberson bike path runs from the bottom of Roberson Place up to the old Piedmont Electric property on Eugene Street. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen transferred remaining property to the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, which will build an affordable home on the land.

Photo by Tracey Theret

When the Carrboro Board of Aldermen initially discussed purchasing this property in efforts to complete the path, members said they wanted to use the remaining Eugene Street land to build an affordable home.

“Anytime we get an opportunity to add even one affordable unit we want to take it,” Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said.

The board unanimously passed a resolution transferring the remaining property to the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust in a meeting Feb. 5.

The Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that works to provide affordable housing to people who live or work in Orange County and make less than 80 percent of the area’s medium income. It has provided 13 units of affordable housing in Carrboro since 2000.

Executive Director Robert Dowling said plans are in the works to build a single-family bungalow-style house at the Eugene Street location. The house will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, comprising about 1,400 square feet.

It will cost approximately $190,000 to build the house, Dowling said, but it will be sold at about $125,000. The trust uses federal and state subsidies to make affordable housing available to Orange County residents.

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By Meghan Cooke
Staff Writer

Carrboro High’s fields are empty now, but the athletics department faces a busy off-season. The school board has approved three coaches so far.
Commons Photos by Meghan Cooke

In a few months, athletes will don purple, black and white jerseys and take the field for the first time at Carrboro High School.

But in the meantime, there is plenty of work left to be done.

Steven Reinhardt, who assumed duties as athletic director of Carrboro High School in February, has his work cut out for him.

When it comes to building up a new athletic program, Reinhardt said his first responsibility is to hire coaches before the school opens in August. He said that finding the right coach for the future Jaguar teams is the biggest challenge.

“My first thought when we hire a coach is always, ‘Would I want that person to spend two hours a day with my son or daughter?’” Reinhardt said.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board has already approved three coaches. Jason Tudryn, a former defensive coordinator at Curry College in Milton, M.A. and high school head coach from Florida, will take the reigns as the first football coach at Carrboro High School. Tudryn will also work as an exceptional education teacher at the school.
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Kerri L. Ockwood, 25, a resident of Carrboro uses the Main and Greensboro Street crosswalk after the siren volume has been turned down.
Commons Photo by Liz Thomas

By Liz Thomas
Co-editor

Springtime is the perfect time to enjoy Carrboro’s scenery. By leaving the comfort of personal cars, citizens of Carrboro and Chapel Hill can truly enjoy this beautiful season.

And the town’s growing usage in public transportation, pedestrian and bike travel allows for more alternate transportation funding. This year, Carrboro citizens and visitors can expect more developments in alternate forms of transportation. Participating in these new advancements promotes a healthy environment, less traffic and a greater sense of community.

Carrboro by bus

“Without buses to Carrboro, my crew team would be at a loss” said Danielle Litt, a UNC first-year student on the rowing team from New York City.

Although she prefers the public transportation that large cities offer, she said she enjoys using public transportation in Carrboro.

Buses in Carrboro are part of the Chapel Hill Transit system. Compared to other North Carolina Transit Systems, Chapel Hill Transit has by far the most passengers. According to the National Transit Database, Chapel Hill Transit has about 5.4 million annual passengers. Durham Area Transit only moves about 3.9 million annual passengers.

The Web-based, real-time transit information system called NextBus aids in the rising popularity in the bus system, according to the Chapel Hill Transit presentation at the
Carrboro Board of Alderman’s March 20 meeting.

By selecting a location and requested route, users of the NextBus Web site see actual bus arrival and departure times immediately. Users can also choose to receive computer pop-up alerts when their requested bus is about to arrive, or they can watch a live map of the exact location of the vehicle.

Because of the growth of the transit system, 20 new buses are planned to be added 2007. Of the 20 new buses this year, three are diesel-electric hybrids, according to Chapel Hill Transit.

For more information about the real-time bus system, visit http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=397.
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By Christina Lopez
Staff Writer

Executive director at El Centro Latino, Ben Balderas, has new ideas for more collaboration with in Carrboro and the Latino community.
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By Kristen Pope
Staff Writer
Commons Photos by Kristen Pope

“If these buildings could speak…” reads the sign posted directly beyond the arched entry ways of Carr Mill Mall, hinting to visitors that there is history in the rafters, bricks and hardwood tiles of the modern shopping mall.
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By Taylor Stanford

A front view shows the construction that continues at Carrboro High School, located off of Rock Haven Road. The school, with a capacity of 800 students, opens in August 2007. Photo by Taylor Stanford

When school starts on Aug. 27, 2007, almost 600 students will call Carrboro High School home

The new high school, built off Rock Haven Road, cost $35 million to build. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools saw the need to relieve crowding at Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill High Schools and to create a balance in distance among the schools in the district.

“From the beginning, there was strong support for the school,” said Lisa Stuckey, chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board. “There was debate over where it should go, and it took years to secure the site. But it was always understood that the school would be in the south (of Carrboro).”

The location of the school isn’t the only part of planning that got a response from the community. Naming the third high school proved difficult.

The name South Chapel Hill High School garnered a lot of support, even though the school sits within the Carrboro town limits. In a memorandum issued to Superintendent Neil Pedersen on Dec. 5, 2005, proponents for South Chapel Hill High School said, “It preserves the national recognition and strong reputation associated with our other two high schools.”

These two qualities, however, were the two that supporters cited for naming it Carrboro High School.

“Many supporters (of the second name) also contend that community pride is on the line as Carrboro seeks to grow its name recognition and reputation,” the memo reported.

The School Board decided on Carrboro High School in January 2006, but not after a handful of less-than-usual suggestions. Among them were Dean Smith High School, Ronald Reagan High School, Robert E. Lee High School, Carrboro Tie Dye High School and James Brown Funk Spirit High School.

Someone even a suggestion to name it after the superintendent.

“I think it only got one vote,” Pedersen said, laughing.

With the name decided, the next hurdle dealt with the student assignment plan. As with any high school opening, controversy surrounded the rising senior class and the students’ ability to stay at their respective high schools for their last year.

Several plans were suggested, but on Oct. 19 the School Board approved a plan that allows seniors to be graduated from their current high schools. The plan also allows junior siblings of rising seniors to remain at their current high school for both the junior and senior years. Under this plan, there will be no Carrboro High School class of 2008.

“It’s going to be a wonderful opportunity for the junior class,” Principal Jeff Thomas said. “They get to be seniors for two years. They can use this time to improve their class standing, attain leadership positions in organizations or start organizations of their own.”

With the building nearing completion and assignments done, a majority of the planning now shifts to Thomas, who served as assistant principal of Chapel Hill High School for five years. He said he is excited about the opportunity.

“I have credibility in the community,” he said. “I have a lot of support from parents and students, and I knew that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

He first assembled a “design team” of seven teachers from various academic departments, students from the existing high schools, parents and a guidance counselor, all of whom will design and help implement programs at the high school.

He also said the school will run two new programs not seen in the other district high schools: an Academy of International Studies and a Freshman Academy.

Thomas based the Academy of International Studies on a program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Springs, Md. Through the program, students start taking courses in the Academy during their freshman year. They would then take the “Introduction to International Studies” course as sophomores, two related electives as juniors and two more courses as seniors.

“It’s going to be open to all kids,” Thomas said. “It could one day involve international travel, and I hope to have the introductory classes in place next year.”

His main concern, however, is attracting minority students to the program.

“I want to devise courses for African-American and Latino students,” he said. “These students would ideally want to find out about themselves and their heritage.”

The Freshman Academy is also an academic experiment and one that Thomas hopes will make the transition for freshman students much easier. The school will work closely with the middle schools that feed into it in order to make sure students are as successful as possible.

Thomas also said that he wants every student to participate in at least one co-curricular activity.

“This isn’t going to be voluntary,” he said. “Research shows that students do better when they’re involved in their school. It establishes a sense of belonging.”

But the most cutting edge aspect of the school is its size. The school is built to accommodate only 800 students, much fewer than the other schools in the district. He also said that parents want their kids to attend Carrboro High School for the smaller, more personal learning environment.

“Even parents who aren’t in the Carrboro assignment area want their children to go here,” he said. “My guess is that (the School Board) will look favorably on these transfers if space is available. It’s really a win-win-win situation. Parents will have their kids where they want them. The school will benefit from having kids there who want to be there, and there will be fewer students at the other high schools.”

Some parents and students have expressed concerns about athletics, a staple of high school life. According to the school’s Website, Carrboro High School will be part of the 2-A conference. Conference assignment is based on enrollment, according to the N.C. High School Athletic Association.

Athletic fields will be available, as well as practice fields at Lincoln Center off Merritt Mill Road. But there won’t be a football stadium, which was part of a compromise reached with the residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the school. Instead, there will be a competitive field with a track and bleachers but no press box. Thomas said that this was done to keep noise levels down, but he does not expect it to detract from the school’s athletic program.

“We’re still going to offer a variety of sports for our students,” he said.

But what are sports teams without a mascot and colors?

Thomas said that this decision is still in the works. He charged each student on his design team to come up with three suggestions for a mascot and colors. The parameters were that the mascot can’t involve warriors, Indians or any mascot used in their conference or the school district. The same goes for the colors.

He said that suggestions have been made to keep the mascot within the feline family – Chapel Hill High School is home to the Tigers, and East Chapel Hill High School is home to the Wildcats.

“I know the name Jaguars has been suggested,” he said. “If you’re for alliteration, we could go for the Carrboro Cougars. But then again, there has been talk of maybe choosing something indigenous to Carrboro.”

But the decision won’t be made for a while. Once all the suggestions have been collected from the design team and from suggestion boxes in the existing schools, the future students and staff of Carrboro High School will vote.

“The mascot and colors are important because it’s the beginning of giving the school its identification and sense of pride,” Thomas said.

This identification and pride, he said, also carries over to the town.

“I’m looking forward to this experience where I can share in the community,” he said. “This is going to be a welcomed addition to the town of Carrboro.”

By Joe Collevecchio

You wouldn’t know it walking down Weaver Street, but the Carr Mill property is some of the most expensive in the area.

And although the town’s population has declined slightly in the past five years, property values in Carrboro continue to increase.

With town leaders expecting an upsurge in population over the next few years, managing growth to keep Carrboro a close, affordable and livable community is a must.

“Our growth rate in the current decade has been fairly low,” said Trish McGuire, Carrboro’s planning administrator. “Our population density has gone down slightly, but it’s still high. It’s been high for many years.”

Carrboro is the most densely populated municipality in North Carolina. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools have submitted plans to build a new elementary school even as Carrboro High School is set to open at the start of the next academic year. The school system stated in an October report that two additional schools, one elementary school and one middle school, will have to be constructed in the next 10 years to keep up with increased enrollment.

Carrboro also faces a problem stemming from a lack of commercial development.
“The town’s tax base here is primarily residential,” McGuire said. “We have some small portion that’s not residential, but primarily that’s where the burden is, and that’s a problem.”

She said balancing growth with Carrboro’s commitment to protecting the environment and maintaining the area’s aesthetic beauty has resulted in development proposals that emphasize growing Carrboro up as well as out. For Carrboro residents, that means mixed-use projects, as well as taller buildings.

“We’ve got a number of (mixed-use facilities) proposed for Carrboro near Cat’s Cradle,” said Marty Roupe, the town’s development review administrator.

“There are probably a few others, situations downtown where people have been living for years and years. They’re just to get people living downtown, reduce dependency on the automobile and everything that goes along with that.”

He said that one of the stated goals of the Board of Alderman is to double Carrboro’s commercial tax base within the next six years, and that mixed-use developments will help achieve that goal efficiently.

“A few of the applications in front of us now are for four- or five-story buildings,” Roupe said. “It seems to be heading in that direction.”

James Harris, director of community and economic development in Carrboro, said Carrboro may be home to taller buildings in the future, but the town is intent on making sure that they don’t overshadow existing historic properties.

“We had a whole conversation about it, because the concern is that if you go up too high … what effect would that have on the small mill houses?” he said. “We took a whole year and a half to discuss that.”

The result of that discussion, Harris said, was a plan to step the buildings back one story at a time from neighborhoods until they got to five stories downtown.
“That way, it doesn’t look like a tall building up against an ittie-bittie mill house,” he said.
Harris also said the commercial square footage in the Northern Transition Area, a development zone in northern Carrboro, might be increased.

“Right now we have about 5,000 square feet designated out there. That really isn’t enough,” he said. “We have to have a conversation with the public. We can’t just say, ‘We’re going to put 50,000 square feet out there, and that’s it.’ You have to deal with the people, because they live out there.

Carlos Reyes, left, and Alfonso Ramirez check the grade on a newly leveled road in the Claremont development near Homestead Road. Photos by Joe Collevecchio

“Around here, everybody has a voice in how things will grow and develop, so you have to take it step by step.”

The town also is concerned with keeping housing affordable for residents despite rocketing property values.

“Carrboro doesn’t have an affordable housing requirement per se,” Roupe said. “But there is an expectation that 15 percent of affordable housing will be included (in a development).”

Keeping housing affordable is the responsibility of Orange Community Housing Land Trust, a non-profit group created in 2001 when two separate land and housing entities merged. Robert Dowling is the Trust’s executive director.

“Affordable housing tends not to stay affordable here in Chapel Hill and Carrboro because the property values are raised so quickly,” he said. “It shouldn’t be affordable only to the first buyer, but to all subsequent buyers.”

To further this end, Dowling said the Trust leases land to prospective buyers for 99-year terms. Lessees have the same rights and tax privileges as homeowners, but the Land Trust retains all deeds. That way, when a family moves on to another home, the Trust can lease the home again for an affordable price.

Affordable housing units in Carrboro are built to the same quality standards as other homes in a development, and Dowling said the Trust makes sure the homes they lease are well-maintained.

As Carrboro grows, keeping the town’s unique spirit and sense of community alive is on the forefront of local leaders’ minds.

“We have all kinds of people,” Harris said. “We are a very diverse community here in Carrboro. Just go down to Weaver Street on a Thursday afternoon, and you’ll see all the different cultures just blending in together.

“This is a community where all people are involved.”

From left to right: Hector Reyes Lara, Alfonso Ramirez, Carlos Reyes

By Kyle Curtis

Christmas decorations at Carr Mill Mall beckon customers to start their shopping early this holiday season. Photo by Kyle Curtis

With the Christmas season fast approaching, Carrboro residents face the sometimes difficult decision of where to shop. Carrboro small business owners have a much more daunting task at hand; convincing residents to spend their money on Main Street rather than at the mall or Wal-Mart.

This Christmas season will be the twenty-ninth for the Carr Mill Mall. Located in an old cotton mill in downtown Carrboro, Carr Mill doesn’t feel like a normal mall. The floors are still old wooden planks and the wide, arching windows bathe shoppers in comfortable sunlight during the afternoon shopping hours. Boutiques and specialty shops are the mainstays at Carr Mill, along with Elmo’s diner and the Townsend Bertram Outdoor Outfitters.

Everything is not all peaches and cream for small businesses these days in Carrboro, though. Small business owners have faced difficult times in recent years as they struggle to remain competitive with corporations. Typically, a corporation can supply a product at a lower cost to the consumer than a privately owned small business. Therefore, the privately owned business needs another angle to attract the consumer.

Bill Simmons owns Head over Heels, a hair salon at Carr Mill. He says that he is the only remaining owner still in business from when Carr Mill opened in 1977. Staying in business and remaining fiscally competitive is a real challenge for the small business.

The picture is not all bleak for these businesses, though. Jayne Coats at Shades of Blue characterized Carrboro as “an activist community dedicated to buying local products and keeping Carrboro dollars in Carrboro.”

Anna Pepper, owner of The Painted Bird, showed off some local artwork she is selling. Pepper said she tries to keep her customers happy by offering things that are distinct and have been largely produced by local artisans and craftsmen. The Painted Bird sells a variety of items, ranging from women’s clothing to artwork and novelty items.

Pepper and The Painted Bird moved to Carr Mill four years ago from University Square in Chapel Hill. She had been at University Square for 28 years, but grew dissatisfied with some of the changes that had taken place and decided to try her luck in Carrboro at Carr Mill. Pepper said she really likes the new location, especially the sunlight from the large windows.

Having been in business for such a long time, Pepper had some valuable insights into the world of the small business owner, as well as the customer. She identified three primary customer types. The first is the early shopper that really wants to shop around and make sure he or she is getting the right present. This type of shopper will often take notes on the merchandise and return later to make the purchase. The second type is the after mall-sale shopper. This shopper will arrive on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, burned out from the mall sales of the day before. Finally, the third shopper of the season will be the last minute shopper. This shopper will arrive in the last two weeks before Christmas. The last two weeks before Christmas are the busiest for Carr Mill, and the stores stay open until around 8 or 9 o’clock instead of the normal six.

Pepper is a little bit worried about how this season will go at The Painted Bird. She says that customer service is a big selling point for her store, and that she always tries to staff with “people that like people.” She said that there is a fine line between offering good customer service and getting a little pushy. Pepper says that if you go too far and oversell your product you can alienate the customer and they will leave and never come back, so you have to be careful.

Worrying Pepper in particular about this Christmas season is the high cost of gas. More on gas means less disposable income to spend on gifts, which could really hurt the small business this Christmas. Furthermore, Pepper expressed that online shopping is becoming more popular and was uncertain what role that would play in the future of her business.

Everyone knows what is available at the mall. This Christmas season, spend a little time shopping at a small business as well. You may find a great gift that you would otherwise never have found. You will definitely help strengthen the community by keeping Carrboro dollars in Carrboro. Even if it costs a couple extra bucks, it is worth it.