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Carrboro Downtown Area Plan Continued
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Town Council to continue the legislative public hearing, receive public comment on, and consider the adoption of the draft Downtown Area Plan, which explores opportunities for growth in the downtown area and along Jones Ferry Road in line with the Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan.
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Department
DEPARTMENT: Planning
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Council Direction
COUNCIL DIRECTION:
_X_ Race/Equity _X_ Climate _X_ Comprehensive Plan ___Other
Council Direction Statement
The Downtown Area Plan is a priority project for implementing the Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan (Projects Land Use 2.1 and Economic Sustainability 2.1). The Downtown Area Plan builds on the foundations of climate action and race & equity set forth in Carrboro Connects, including goals specifically related to addressing climate change and equity, the breadth of equitable and strategic engagement completed over the course of the project, and generalized impacts of recommended actions identified in the Implementation chapter of the plan. The Racial Equity Analysis Lens (REAL) completed for Small Area Plans in 2024 is provided (Attachment G); climate action pocket questions have been provided (Attachment F).
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Information
INFORMATION: This is a continuation of the public hearing on October 21, 2025. Council members and community members may wish to review materials provided at the October 21st meeting, which can be found at this link: Town of Carrboro - File #: 25-098 <https://carrboro.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7707814&GUID=A6D84173-82CC-4703-9DC7-B7C40189B9F5&Options=&Search=>
The Town has engaged the consulting firm, Freese & Nichols, Inc. (FNI) to develop a Downtown Area Plan, an implementation project identified in the Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan. The scope of the project is to refine the goals of the comprehensive plan specifically related to the downtown area, to guide future development and inform other work such as the development of a new Carrboro Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).
Outreach activities incorporated a variety of strategies to collect feedback from the community. The plan includes an overview of outreach (pp. 124-134 of Attachment B). A detailed summary of feedback received is provided as an appendix to the plan (Attachment C), and a table and map of engagement efforts has also been provided (Attachment I).
The Town Council held a worksession on the draft downtown area plan on May 13, 2025. Following the presentation from the consultant, the Council requested additional, strategic engagement with community members of color over the summer to garner more feedback on the plan from community members of color. Questions from the community as to how the plan would be used, the relationship between the vision and the representative renderings, and comments from the Town Council worksession prompted FNI to make contextual edits to the plan. Changes to the text since the May worksession have been provided (Attachment D).
Following the opening of the public hearing on October 21, 2025, the Town Council directed the manager to engage neighborhoods outside of the study area and extend the public hearing to ensure community members had a chance to familiarize themselves with the plan and provide comments. Staff addressed this with the following strategies:
• Published a press release, included at the headline in the ‘Carrboro This Week’ email blast, and posted to various social media channels.
• Posted information about the plan and neighborhood meetings in Dr. MLK Jr. Park on Town Information Centers (TICs).
• Emailed Homeowners Associations (HOA) and neighborhood representatives with a project summary and a notification of upcoming neighborhood events.
• Completed interviews by The Daily Tar Heel and on WCOM local radio station.
• Held two neighborhood meetings in Dr. MLK Jr. Park on November 5, and November 8; each event had approximately 50 attendees.
Planning staff answered questions about contents of the plan, its relationship to Carrboro Connects and the New UDO, and engagement for the project. Participants at the neighborhood meetings were informed of the extended public hearing on November 18 and encouraged to provide feedback as public comment to the Town Council.
Attachments to this item include a combined consistency statement and resolution to adopt the Downtown Area Plan (Attachment A), the draft plan (Attachment B), the draft appendix (Attachment C), a compilation of plan edits since the May worksession (Attachment D), a memo response to questions asked by the Town Council on October 21 (Attachment E), climate action pocket questions (Attachment F), the Short REAL for Small Area Plans (Attachment G), recommendations from Town advisory boards and commissions (Attachment H), a summary of engagement efforts (Attachment I), and a copy of the consultant’s presentation (Attachment J).
Minor modifications to the plan can be articulated as part of a motion to approve and added to the resolution (Attachment-A). If the Town Council would like to see more substantial revisions to the plan before taking action, an alternate resolution (Attachment A-1) has been provided with space to describe specific changes. Use of the Resolution for Specific Revisions (Attachment A-1) would likely involve bringing back the draft plan as a consent item for adoption at a future Town Council meeting.
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Fiscal and Staff Impact
FISCAL IMPACT: There are no fiscal impacts associated with the receipt of public comment as part of the consideration of the Downtown Area Plan. Plan implementation will involve fiscal impacts and staff time. Substantial revisions requested to the plan may require additional funding to be allocated to the project.
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Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION: The Manager recommends that the Town Council receive continued public comment during the hearing and adopt the Downtown Area Plan (Attachment A).
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