Chapel Hill is somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible to deal with when it comes to commercial retail development.

Some argue that this is a good thing so we don’t just roll over for those "evil developers." As a consequence, we have an empty lot where there used to be a movie theater on Elliot Road, a former gas station that has been empty for several years while the town has tried to figure out how to accommodate a Starbucks (what could be so hard about that?) and an eyesore of an empty gas station that several tenants have tried to work out something with the town, and finally given up. These are hard facts.

The incumbent town council members will give all sorts of reasons for why these situations have occurred – but the outcome – the measure of success – is that they are still empty. These empty buildings and abandoned lots are symbolic of the general sentiment of the town; it would rather have no retail development than work collaboratively with retail developers. The consequence is that a woefully low percent of our revenue comes from sales tax which is increasing the property tax burden and making Chapel Hill even less affordable. As residents, we are forced to drive to Durham or Chatham County, which flies in the face of the town’s stated goal of reducing automobile traffic.

Chapel Hill needs to change this for two simple reasons. The first is that we will shortly desperately need additional taxes. The town manager’s budget projections show that we will need 25% of our budget to pay for interest alone in the next two years. The second is that good retail development can make Chapel Hill an even more enjoyable place to live.

We need to take three steps to achieve this:

   - Create an outreach program to retail developers. This doesn’t need a lot of discussion and planning.
   - Specify clear timelines and requirements for approval of proposed retail development. The current process is opaque and fickle. There is never an excuse for ineffective process! This will require a clear directive from the town council to the development staff.
   - Create a vision for what we want the Chapel Hill retail environment to be. Currently we are purely reactive. We can readily engage retail developers in a dialogue to achieve a vision that is attractive for Chapel Hill and developers and can begin that dialogue immediately.

What are we waiting for?