Lydia Lavelle

Running for: Carrboro Board of Aldermen

Home: 8107 Kit Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (Carrboro)

Age: 46

Family: Partner Alicia Stemper, children Riley (12) and Avery (9)

Education: B.A. St. Andrews Presbyterian College; M.R.R. North Carolina State University; J.D. North Carolina Central University

Occupation/Background: Employed as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, North Carolina Central University School of Law. Chaired the Carrboro New Horizons Task Force, a temporary group created to serve as a liaison and communication conduit between the Town and the newly annexed residents (May 2006 - June 2007). Currently a member of the Carrboro Planning Board, Triangle Land Conservancy, Friends of Bolin Creek and Friends of the Carrboro Library. Member of United Church of Chapel Hill; elected to Church Council 2007. Professionally, a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and the North Carolina Gay Advocacy Legal Alliance. While living in Durham, served on the City of Durham Recreation Advisory Committee, the City of Durham Open Space and Trails Commission, and the Trails Committee, which planned and routed many of the proposed trails and greenways in Durham.

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Top three priorities if elected:
1) I want to support efforts to relieve the tax burden on town property owners. I want to diversify our tax base by encouraging new businesses to come to Carrboro, continuing to educate the public about the need to “Shop Orange,” and nurturing and supporting our existing businesses.

With 89 percent of our tax base from residential property taxes, we need to carefully consider ways to attract and maintain commercial development. The residential developments planned in and near downtown Carrboro (and Chapel Hill) will provide many more consumers for Carrboro restaurants, stores and office space. Proactive economic development will help our existing businesses capitalize on these opportunities for growth, and incentives should be explored to encourage new enterprises.

We should enlighten persons interested in business opportunities about services or areas not currently served (or under-served) in Carrboro. The Main Street project will include a hotel. This will be the only hotel in Carrboro, and it is possible the town and nearby university could support another one. Persons living in the northwest area of Carrboro would welcome a grocery store closer to their homes. Many more residents will be living in this area soon with the development of the Winmore and Claremont properties, among others. The clientele already exists and will continue to grow for these services. We should carefully consider attracting larger retail to help diversify our tax base, but we would need to identify a suitable location for such a store, and then investigate what town resources can make this happen. Efforts should be made to attract a store that will not take away from Carrboro’s existing commercial establishments, cornerstones to the uniqueness of our town.

Carrboro’s economic development plan should be coordinated with a comprehensive plan for Orange County. Because sales tax in Orange County is divided among the municipalities, products bought anywhere in the county benefit Carrboro. The educational campaign to “Shop Orange” must be continued, our residents need to be aware of how their shopping choices affect our tax base.

We have a responsibility to nurture existing Carrboro businesses and we should continue to develop our creative economy. We should be aware of the challenges our existing businesses face, and invoke principles that support the notion that community-based businesses are the building blocks for the vibrancy of our town.

2) I plan to carefully steward Carrboro's growth and development, most of which will occur in the northern area. I believe in environmentally sound “smart growth” and that affordable housing should remain a priority.

The Northern Study Area Plan, which was developed in 1997, encouraged the use of mixed-use floating zones. A review of what has been developed 10 years later shows that this did not result in the variety of development the town had hoped for in the northern area. The plan is currently under review, and should be finalized by late fall 2007. The new plan will be a critical planning tool in determining how Carrboro grows over the next ten years.

“Smart growth” incorporates principles of environmentally and fiscally sound growth. It involves thoughtful land-use planning, incorporating mixed-use development, and encouraging the preservation of open space. It promotes transit use and pedestrian walkways. Smart growth protects the features of their communities that people value.

These smart growth principles must be applied to Carrboro’s plan for the northern area. Specific areas for light commercial growth should be identified. We must connect neighborhoods so that neighbors can travel from one area to the other. As developments are built, transit should be expanded into the northern area. It is important for us to be cognizant of environmental concerns, specifically Bolin Creek and its tributaries. We should continue to value open space; Carrboro’s open space requirement of 40 percent in almost all developments aids us in this in this goal.

We need to continue to carefully review proposed plans for residential growth in the northern area. Not every proposed development should have maximum build-out of density, but where appropriate, this should be encouraged. Such density will increase our residential tax base with minimal extra outlay of infrastructure by the town. It also gives us an opportunity to encourage the building of affordable housing units or homes, an integral priority of our town’s expansion.

3) I intend to continue the town's open space and greenways efforts. When town residents are surveyed about what is most important to them, open space and greenways always rank at or near the top of the list. I am pleased that the town has recently created a Greenways Commission that will be instrumental in many of these discussions.

The town’s greenway master plan should be methodically reviewed and publicly accessible so that residents can see where the greenways are planned. Following are several specific items that need to be fleshed out in conjunction with this.

Standards must be defined for the acquisition of land for both open space and greenways. Acquisition can occur in a number of ways; for example, proposed developments can include greenways in their site plans; landowners can donate land or easements for greenway use; or the town or another non-profit entity can purchase land or easements to be used for this purpose.

We also need to adopt standards for the type of greenways that will be part of the system. For example, all greenways should be of a certain width. There should be uniformity between trails of similar purpose. The plan should allow flexibility, but stress continuity between greenway types.

Responsibility for ongoing maintenance of greenways that are viewed as part of the town’s greenway system must be discussed. Take the example of a greenway that will go through the Winmore development, that connects to other greenways in the system: once it is built, who is responsible for maintaining and monitoring the greenway? The responsible party for ongoing maintenance (such as mowing the grass, cutting foliage alongside the greenways, removing limbs from a hurricane, replacing gravel washed out after a heavy rain) needs to be identified. We should also develop and require uniform signage (another maintenance item) that makes it clear that greenways are part of the Carrboro Greenway system.

These discussions will help the town of Carrboro to develop and maintain a vibrant greenway system.

How to contact:
Phone: 919-942-5640
E-mail: lydia@lydialavelle.com
Web site: www.lydialavelle.com
Campaign mailing address: P.O. Box 1005, Carrboro, N.C. 27510