Chapel Hill Launches Wi-Fi Pilot Project

The Town of Chapel Hill this Friday will activate six Wi-Fi hotspots in the downtown area, giving the public free access to the internet along much of Franklin Street.

The provision of wireless internet service to citizens has ranked as a top priority goal for the Town Council. The launching of wireless hotspots in downtown is considered a pilot project and a step forward toward this goal. The hotspots, which show up on wireless devices as “TOWNofCH-WiFi,” are located at the following (see map at http://www.townofchapelhill.org/DocumentView.asp?DID=1904):

(1.) U.S. Post Office, 179 E. Franklin St.
(2.) Old Town Hall (IFC Shelter), 100 W. Rosemary St.
(3.) Town Parking Lot 5, 108 Church St.
(4.) Hargraves Center, 216 N. Roberson St.
(5.) Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau, 501 W. Franklin St.
(6.) 411 West Restaurant, 411 W. Franklin St.

Bob Avery, information technology director, said users within 300 feet of a hotspot should be able to connect, although the ability to connect will depend on the capability of the user’s device and the amount of obstructions between the user and the antenna. For a street level user, trees, buses, trucks and buildings will all reduce the quality of the connection signal.

The Town will soon provide information to the public by website, media and signage to help promote the hotspots and explain how they may be used. More information will be provided at the homepage of www.townofchapelhill.org.

The hotspots have been installed using Clearwire modems. These are attached to standard Wi-Fi access points with high gain antenna to provide the signal for public use.

The Town will not provide direct user support but does hope to be able to respond to and resolve outages or other service problems as they occur. To report comments and problems, please contact the Town at wifi@townofchapelhill.org.
 

               HOME OWNER ASSOCIATIONS

Do you have one, want one or wish you’d never heard of one? H.O.A. documents are filed at the local court house and have legal backing for enforcement. Many people consider it an advantage and believe that uniformity and conformity help their houses appreciate. For example many people don’t want a purple house nextdoor or RV trailers in the neighbor’s driveway. Others are appalled when they get a letter letting them know they planted too many flowers in their front yard and one neighborhood in particular dictates which color of flowers you may grow. No kidding! I used to live in Southern Village and the HOA  had to approve my house plan and fence, now I have acreage and an old bungalow. I have enjoyed both enviroments for different reasons; The Southern Village parks and streetscapes were all handled for us and looked beautiful. Now I prefer more privacy and my hens provide fresh eggs daily. BTW If pets are important to you be sure to read the fine print to make sure yours are allowed. Many times the city zoning will allow them but your HOA will not. I’ve heard that 12 chickens are allowed inside the city limits but no roosters.You probably aren’t considering chickens and goats anyway but think about it before you buy.

Is there a state contract that agents and builders use for new construction as a standard practice? The answer is “no”. We as agents, have a new construction contract and addenda from the North Carolina State Bar Association which we can use but ultimately it’s the decision of the builder which contract he will accept. Many have their own company contracts that have been written by their own attorneys. Others will use the new construction contract and still some will use the standard Offer to Purchase and attach addenda. You should be able to discuss any of the contracts with your agent and of course an attorney is always recommended. I’d like to suggest two more ideas you might like; try to give your deposit in two to three increments. The dates should follow the builders construction schedule and he can tell you at the initial meeting (when the contract is signed) when to expect to write checks. The other is PLEASE hire an inspector to do a specific new construction inspection. It too will coincide with construction schedules. Usually it’s three or four inspections and the fee is well worth it. It’s very exciting to see a design on paper transform into a building process. Enjoy it! 

This is not a new article but I still found it informative. See below to contact the authors.

The Winmore partners, Phil Szostak, Herman Green and Bob Chapman approached the University to sell them the Horace Williams satellite tract for traditional neighborhood development. Their proposal notes the shortage of appropriately priced, quality housing in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area, making it difficult for the University to attract and retain faculty and staff. Winmore wants to combine the two parcels into a larger joint development would optimize the “new urban” design concept, increase the availability of economical housing, and create a more walkable and integrated community. In preliminary discussions with these developers, Town of Carrboro officials welcomed the idea of a housing development with affordable housing components.

Members of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees agreed to consider the idea, but only with a greater allowance made for affordable and reasonably priced housing for University staff. The Board insisted on controlling some land in perpetuity on which it would build 96 apartments that would meet the legal definition of affordable rental housing. (Under this definition, a worker would not spend more than 30% of their income on rent, meaning a worker making $18,000 a year could only spend between $400-500 a month on rent.) The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees was also interested in negotiating a deal stipulating additional reasonably priced housing, with at least 50-60 of the for-sale units priced at $175,000 or less, and set aside for University and Healthcare System Employees or Town of Carrboro staff.

The Winmore partners must go through the process of obtaining approvals with the Town of Carrboro, dealing with traffic flows, school overcrowding and environmental impact studies. This arrangement keeps the University out of the real estate business, while providing a way to increase the supply of affordable housing opportunities for lower paid Employees.

In return for our land, UNC would receive a $1,250,000 purchase money mortgage at seven percent interest. Also, UNC would participate in 30 percent of any gross revenue over $15 million on total lot sales for the entire 129-acre development, not just the Horace Williams satellite.

The proposal for the development calls for 398 residential units as follows:

• Single Family Units 192
• Town Houses 110
• Apartments 96

The proposal also specifies approximately 50 acres of open green space will be preserved, and offered as a gift to UNC. Additional sites may be available to the University or Hospital for uses such as a child care center or healthcare clinic.There are 7,500 staff Employees on campus, many of whom make less than $30,000 a year. Why didn’t you get more affordable housing units in the deal?
The Town of Carrboro has zoning regulations that limit the number of housing units that can be built in this neighborhood. Also, Town regulations call for 40 percent of the land to be kept as open green space. And the Winmore partners are private developers whose profits are based on the price of the houses sold in the neighborhood. These factors combine to limit the amount of affordable units that can be built. The Town of Chapel Hill has similar zoning regulations, and that’s partly why houses are so expensive here!Remember, this project is only a pilot project for the University. It does not represent the only effort that the University will make to help employees find affordable housing. But when the Winmore developers presented the idea, it looked like a good way to get started.

The 50-60 reasonably priced houses will cost $175,000 or less. This figure is large, but still not as much as the $300,000 average that houses cost in Chapel Hill. And, again the University has stipulated that Winmore would include 96 affordable apartments, all for Town and University staff. So, it’s a beginning, and we’re hoping that it will bode well for future affordable housing projects.Why didn’t you sell the property for more money?
We could have gotten more money for the property if we sold it to developers that would build only expensive houses on the site, but we felt it an important point to try to increase the supply of affordable housing available for University staff in the area.Also, the Winmore partners took on important restrictions with this purchase, and that established an upper limit on how much they were willing to pay for the property.Which department gets the money from the sale?
Horace Williams was a professor in the Philosophy department. His will stipulated that all the property he owned should be used to provide income for fellowships in the Philosophy department. This includes the main 1,000-acre Horace Williams tract.

Also, an April 1999 Memorandum of Agreement between the University and the Philosophy Department called for the University to list for sale the satellite property (the 63-acre tract of land north of Homestead Road). The proceeds from the sale are to be added to two trust funds for fellowships in Philosophy.How will the University select who gets one of the units?
This process has not yet been determined.Does the University have to provide access to water and sewer for the project, or will the builder assume this cost?
Right now there is only dirt, rocks and trees on this property. The Winmore partners must handle all zoning issues and water and sewer hookup and access to all other utilities. They also have to develop all the roads in and around the development.What happens next with the project?
As I understand it, the Winmore partners will present their plans to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in the summer or fall of 2002. If they get all the necessary zoning approvals, the University will sell them the Horace Williams satellite tract, and they can begin building perhaps early in 2003.
One important thing to remember is that there will be a mix of affordable apartments, reasonably priced houses and more expensive houses all over the entire 129-acre development. The lower priced units won’t all be concentrated just on the land formerly owned by the University.