URGENT: BOLIN CREEK
We are asking you to take action by contacting the Town of Carrboro’s elected representatives if you share our concern about Claremont South, a development proposal. One of Carrboro’s most beautiful meadows, also a wildlife habitat that backs up to Bolin Creek and UNC’s Carolina North Forest on scenic Homestead Road, could soon become a construction site for a 735-student, for-profit school run by a Michigan company and three-story apartment buildings targeted for students, along with a two-story commercial building. This is what is planned for the latest plan for Claremont South in an area of single-family dwellings and small-farm acreage.
Please contact the members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen (BOA) to tell them what you think about this proposal. Click here to send an email.
Meanwhile we will keep you posted about the March dates proposed for Carrboro’s Advisory Boards (likely in early March) and a possible BOA public hearing on March 21.
The most obvious concerns are increased traffic on an already busy stretch of Homestead Road, the removal of even more trees near Bolin Creek, and the incompatible nature of this school with our local educational system. We’ve described our concerns for each of these topics below. Click the links to read about each one:
On April 17, 2012, based on statements from the developer, Carrboro’s Board of Aldermen granted a rezoning request for Claremont South, allowing what was believed to be the addition of a small commercial building to a residential building site. One-and-a-half months later, after receiving this rezoning, the developer presented a concept plan to the Town of Carrboro that showed a for-profit 735-student school, apartment buildings and the commercial building. This project will clearly change not only the character of Homestead Road and northern Carrboro but also the character of both of our towns – our approach to schools, our neighborhoods, our watershed and the area’s scenic nature.
What will be the tax burden for all of the above? What public services and public resources will have to be increased? Now is the time to consider these questions.