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Green Tract master plan endorsed; county hires UNC DFI to analyze subsidies needed for affordability
Summary
Staff reviewed the Green Tract interlocal agreement, recent recombination of the headwaters preserve into county ownership, a master plan developed with public input and a Development Finance Initiative (DFI) engagement to test affordability scenarios and subsidy requirements.
Cy Stover, Orange County planning director, summarized the history and current status of the Green Tract project and an ongoing feasibility engagement to determine how the site could deliver affordable housing.
Stover reviewed the 2021 interlocal agreement among Orange County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro that set goals for public participation, affordable and mixed‑income housing prioritization, preservation of the headwaters, a school site and connectivity. He said a recombination plat recorded in 2022 consolidated the Headwaters Preserve under Orange County ownership for long‑term management and that a master plan developed with Gensler and Thomas & Hutton in 2023 included nearly 200 public participants and was adopted or endorsed by the owners in October 2024.
Why it matters: the Green Tract is publicly owned jointly by the county and two towns and presents a rare opportunity for owners to set affordability and development terms when the site is sold or leased for development.
Stover said the master plan identifies development pods and that the maximum build‑out potential described in the plan is 660 housing units across a mix of multifamily, attached townhouse and single‑family types. The plan’s guiding principles emphasize compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods, equitable access, prioritizing affordability and connectivity.
To set affordability goals and estimate the amount of subsidy needed, Orange County contracted with the Development Finance Initiative (DFI) at UNC School of Government. Stover described DFI’s role as producing a feasibility analysis to estimate subsidy requirements for different affordability scenarios and to advise on structuring a land sale or ground lease to achieve chosen affordability outcomes. He said the owners paid an initial, upfront investment (about $133,000 per the contract) and that under DFI’s model DFI would recoup a small percentage of development proceeds as its fee from a future land sale of development rights; the DFI engagement is planned to run through 2026.
Stover said decisions about how affordability will be distributed across housing types and pods will be made by the owners and that the DFI analysis is meant to inform those decisions. He encouraged interested residents to consult the county’s Green Tract web page for background documents and said the planning group intends to revive a periodic newsletter once substantive analysis results are available.
