In a 5-4 vote, Council members Bell, Greene, Ward, Rich, and Harrison rejected the proposed rezoning change for the Aydan Court 90-condo luxury development.
We won this close vote because 1200 concerned residents of Chapel Hill were willing to sign petitions and/or contact the Council. And other folks helped spread the word to their friends in Chapel Hill. Our community spoke loud and clear that this was the wrong project for such an environmentally sensitive area, and our voices were heard.
Let's thank the Council members who faced down the developers and did the right thing:
Donna Bell, Sally Greene, Jim Ward (all three of whose seats are up for re-election this year), Penny Rich, and Ed Harrison (who was the Council member to most forcefully advocate against the rezoning).
1. For these thank-you notes, there is no sample e-mail. It will have more impact in your own words. The note doesn't have to be very long - we just want to thank them. There are links to articles about Aydan Court (and Monday night's vote) in the sidebar to the right if you want to learn more before sending your e-mail.
2. Type in your name and address at the bottom of your e-mail so the Town Council members know you live in Chapel Hill.
3. Just like putting the note in your own words, you should create your own subject line. Or use "Thanks for voting No on Aydan Court", or "Thanks for voting for clean water".
4. Cut and paste this string of addresses into the To: field of your e-mail: dbell4ch@gmail.com, sally@ibiblio.org, jimward@nc.rr.com, pennyrich.ch@gmail.com, ed.harrison@mindspring.com
Unfortunately, this threat to Jordan Lake is not gone for good. Like they did in 2009 when the Council previously denied Aydan Court, the developers will be working to elect friendly candidates for Town Council in this fall's elections.
Two years ago, they helped elect Council member Gene Pease, who not surprisingly voted FOR the rezoning on Monday night. Also voting yes was Matt Czajkowski, who is Aydan Court's #1 supporter on the Council and faces re-election in November. One candidate running to replace Czajkowski, recent UNC graduate and former Young Democrats President Lee Storrow, was among the 1200 Chapel Hill residents who signed petitions opposing Aydan Court.
We came together as a community during this Aydan Court fight and stood up for clean water and the waterfowl. And working together we can keep making a difference!
