Title
Public Hearing on the Carrboro Downtown Area Plan
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Town Council to hold a legislative public hearing and receive public comment on 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.
end
Department
DEPARTMENT: Planning
end
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 C); climate action pocket questions have also been provided (Attachment D).
end
Information
INFORMATION: 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 engagement is provided as an appendix to the plan (Attachment C).
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. 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).
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), climate action pocket questions (Attachment E), the Short REAL for Small Area Plans (Attachment F), a copy of the consultant’s presentation (Attachment G), recommendations from Town advisory boards and commissions (Attachment H), and a summary of engagement efforts (Attachment I).
end
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.
end
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION: The Manager recommends that the Town Council receive public comment during the hearing and consider the attached resolution scheduling the adoption of the Downtown Area Plan for November 17, 2025 (Attachment A).
end