Planning board recommends rezoning for 60‑unit affordable senior housing at Chapel Hill Road

Town planner Josh Michael presented a rezoning application at the board meeting requesting a conditional town center commercial designation for 102 & 12 Chapel Hill Road to enable a 60‑unit affordable senior rental development.

Josh Michael said the applicant, MK Property Holding LLC, proposes a 60‑unit multifamily community using Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit financing with all units reserved for households earning at or below 60% of area median income and age‑restricted to 55 and older for a 50‑year affordability period. "All units will be reserved for households earning at or below 60% AMI and will be age restricted to individuals 55 and older," Michael said while outlining site details and the development conditions staff supports.

The project as presented would provide 30 one‑bedroom and 30 two‑bedroom units, a minimum of 68 parking spaces (roughly 1.1 spaces per unit, a 10% reduction from the UDO standard), and a maximum building height of three stories/45 feet under the proposed conditions (the current TCC limit is 35 feet). The application requests relief from certain UDO standards that staff and the applicant said are cost‑prohibitive for LIHTC financing, and the proposal does not include required EV parking or EV‑ready infrastructure as part of the current conditions.

Developer Tim Morton of Evergreen Construction said similar senior LIHTC communities in the Triangle have leased rapidly: "Our overall portfolio is 96% occupancy year to date" and the senior projects "lease up fast," he said. He also noted schedule and investor timing risks that LIHTC projects carry.

Board members raised questions about unit mix, impacts on emergency medical services and site orientation relative to future NC‑54 expansion. Josh Michael acknowledged EMS impacts had not been evaluated at this rezoning stage and said operational and fire marshal concerns would be addressed in the site development review: "We have not reached out to EMS for the — we're in just the rezoning" and said that EMS/service impacts would be examined during site development.

After discussion, Board member Arthur moved to recommend approval of the zoning map amendment (ordinance referenced in the motion); a board member seconded. The board voted by voice to recommend approval and the chair called the motion passed with no recorded opposition.

Next steps: the board's recommendation will be forwarded to the Town Council for final action; staff noted additional technical review (site plan, EMS/fire review, and final design) will occur if the Council approves the rezoning.