Family Dollar Site up for Rezone by Susan Dickson Dential
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This Weekend FRIDAY 10% Chance of Precip 82/59 °F SATURDAY 0% Chance of Precip 79/55 °F SUNDAY 0% Chance of Precip School’s out! 81/57 °F See page 5 carrborocitizen.com JUNE 14, 2012 u LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED u VOLUME VI NO. XIV FREE Family Dollar site up for rezone BY SUSAN DICKSON dential. The Carrboro Board of Adjust- longer be needed, but the property Staff Writer Board member Dan Coleman pro- ment last week voted 5-2 to deny a would still need a special-use permit posed the changes. variance needed for a Family Dollar approved by the board of adjustment. CARRBORO – In a move that could “I think it was abundantly clear store proposed for the intersection. However, if the property is rezoned lead to the rezoning of property pre- from all the discussion we heard … However, the developer recently ap- to residential, a commercial developer viously proposed for a Family Dollar around the Family Dollar proposal pealed to the town to debate the ex- would have to seek a rezoning from site, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen that the B3 [neighborhood business] istence of an ephemeral stream on the the board of aldermen in order to de- voted unanimously on Tuesday to set zone is not appropriate for those property – the reason that a variance velop such a project. a public hearing regarding the rezon- properties,” he said, adding that the to the town’s land-use ordinance was Raleigh-based Stronach Prop- ing of land at the intersection of Jones rezoning wouldn’t preclude future ap- needed. Should the town determine erties had proposed building an Ferry Road and Alabama Avenue. plicants from proposing commercial that the ephemeral stream does not 8,100-square-foot, single-story Family The proposed changes would re- projects there, but that they would exist, or that the developer could make zone 100, 101 and 105 Alabama Ave. have to request a rezoning before the changes to the property such that it SEE FAMILY DOLLAR from neighborhood business to resi- board of aldermen in order to do so. would not exist, a variance would no PAGE 5 It’s hard to believe that this pressed flower is vivid-pink trailing phlox. Photo by JocK LautERER floRA BY KEN MOORE Great Aunt Myra Baldwin’s pressed flower Six weeks ago I was all set to tell a story about sundrops, Oenothera fruticosa, my identifi- cation for Jock Lauterer’s great aunt’s pressed four-petaled, yellow, early-May wildflower in “A Thousand Words.” However, other spring occurrences kept pushing that story to the back- burner. Finally it’s now up front and wow, what a long flowering season sundrops are having. You may still find a few late ones out in the Mason Farm fields and other places you explore. But there’s one slight problem with this story – Jock’s aunt’s pressed flower is not a sundrop. CONgrATULATIONS, grADUATes — Recently retired and much-loved Carrboro High School guidance counselor Mary Gratch (left) celebrated with Thankfully I sought assistance Carrboro High graduates including Rachel Hare on Saturday. Carrboro High, Chapel Hill High and East Chapel Hill High conducted commencement exercises on from staff at the botanical gar- Saturday at the Dean Smith Center on the UNC campus, and more than 800 students received their diplomas at the three ceremonies. Photo by Alicia STEmpER den. Before I was able to stick my neck out, I learned first from Carol Ann McCormick and then Abbey from J.C. Poythress and Chris County to increase school funds Liloia that the pressed plant is Phlox nivalis var. hentzii, trailing BY ROse LAUDICINA week for the Orange County Central agreed, cautioning the board that in- Court sold Staff Writer Library. They did so by drawing on creased levels of funding might not phlox. the discretionary fund built into the be sustainable without a property-tax BY ROse LAUDICINA Well now, trailing phlox is Although the entire budget re- budget. increase, something the county hasn’t Staff Writer neither four-petaled nor yellow; quests of the county’s two school dis- While the commissioners all seen in four years. tricts will not be funded, the Orange agreed they wanted to allocate more At a previous public hearing on the Ken Lucas of Tar Heel Companies it has five pink petals! So there’s no longer owns Abbey Court Condo- a different story to tell. County Board of Commissioners were money to the schools, some were un- budget, residents from both the Cha- able to find an additional $1,280,500 sure of where to find the funds and pel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Dis- miniums; in fact, Abbey Court tech- Assistant herbarium curator to allocate to the schools for 2012-13. were hesitant to increase funding to trict and the Orange County Schools nically no longer exists. Carol Ann McCormick is my On Tuesday night, the board ap- unsustainable levels. District said they would rather see In a recently finalized transaction, proved a resolution of intent to adopt “I am concerned,” Commissioner an tax increase than underfunded NEPSA operating group and its af- Sherlock Holmes of botanical filiate Aspen Square Management, a sleuthing. I have yet to offer a the FY 2012-13 Orange County An- Steve Yuhasz said. “The more we in- schools. nual Operating Budget, which in- crease the funding this year, the great- County Manager Frank Clifton national property-management firm, botanical mystery that she can- cluded an increase of $1,524,676 to er the shortfall we are going to have told the board on Tuesday that next purchased the Abbey Court Condo- not unravel with the amazing the county manager’s recommended next year.” year they could be looking at a 3-cent miniums and changed the complex’s resources at hand in the UNC budget, bringing the county’s operat- “I don’t want to raise expectations tax increase to keep education fund- name to Collins Crossing. ing budget to $180,002,776. too high and have to come back next ing at the same level. Condominium owners were invit- Herbarium (check out herbari- ed to a meeting on June 7, where they um.unc.edu). Without raising taxes the board year with a significant tax increase to However, Commissioner Barry Ja- was able increase the budget to fund fund expectations or come back next cobs referenced the past when looking were introduced to the complex’s new Following are Carol Ann’s own services such as the Dispute Settle- year and say to the schools we are forward at the budget, saying that for owners and given a letter providing words describing how she imme- ment Center, Freedom House, a com- going to have to decrease per-pupil the past four years a tax increase has them with some limited details of the diately recognized that pressed munity center on Rogers Road and spending,” Yuhasz said. ownership change. four additional operating hours per Commissioner Valerie Foushee SEE BUdgeT PAGE 2 Lucas’ lawyer, Bart White, did not specimen as Phlox nivalis in spite return calls for comment about the of the four yellow petals. change. ”It was the long tube that said Laura Perry is the new manager of ‘Phlox’ to me and the narrow IFC Good Neighbor Plan approved Collins Crossing. According to Ce- leste Grippo, a traveling manager for hairy leaves that said ‘nivalis.’ The BY SUSAN DICKSON Last May, the council approved Some residents of neighborhoods Aspen Square Management, the new bloom date (May 2) is also good Staff Writer plans for the IFC’s Community around the site – many of whom management moved into the com- for Phlox nivalis. The four petals House Men’s Shelter, which call for a have opposed the shelter on that site plex’s offices on Monday and started are bothersome, but after look- CHAPEL HILL – Following a year- two-story, 16,250-square-foot facility from the get-go – said they felt that inspecting units Tuesday to assess cur- ing at the 50-plus N.C. speci- long process that drew criticism from with 52 beds and 17 emergency cots the committee had been stacked with rent conditions. some neighbors, the Chapel Hill Town for use on “white-flag” nights during shelter supporters and that the plan Aspen Square Management owns mens, lots of them press so that Council on Monday voted unani- inclement weather, on 1.8 acres at did not address some of their con- and manages Berkshire Manor and the number of petals is difficult mously to approve a Good Neighbor 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. cerns, including issues with the shel- Berkshire Manor West in Carrboro to discern. One has to be very Plan for the new Community House The council then required that the ter’s drop-in policy and identification and Ashford Lakes in Hillsborough. careful when pressing Phlox to Men’s Shelter, to be built near the cor- IFC develop a Good Neighbor Plan requirements for shelter residents and Grippo said she could not com- hold the flower just so to get all ner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boule- for council approval. The plan out- “guests.” Guests are those who stay ment at this time on future plans for vard and Homestead Road. lines the community house program; overnight in emergency beds. the development. However, Carrboro the flaring lobes spread out and In addition, the council voted safety, health and security rules for “We’re not here to dispute the site Town Manager David Andrews said 6-1 to approve a 50-year land lease shelter residents; control of loitering of the shelter.