Chapel Hill officials want to tear down the town's aging Fire Station No. 4 and replace it with a modern facility, while building up to 105 affordable apartments right next door on the same town-owned land. The current station, at the corner of Weaver Dairy Road Extension and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, opened in 1981 and would be demolished along with an adjacent fire training center and burn tower to make room for both projects.
The plan, first reported by the News & Observer, would put a new fire station on part of the four-acre site while an affordable apartment building rises on the corner facing Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. According to the paper's reporting by Tammy Grubb, the housing could include 65 to 105 affordable units, ground-floor retail, parking and outdoor space. Town staff could bring a potential development partner to the town council this fall, per the same report.
A Site Shaped by Slopes and a Stream
The parcel isn't a blank slate. The News & Observer's coverage notes that steep slopes and a stream cross the western end of the property, leaving only about half of the site buildable. A 2020 plan had once envisioned a new fire station, the Chapel Hill Police Department and a civic building all sharing the four acres, but the police department has since moved to nearby Millhouse Road off Eubanks Road, and the town has not decided whether or where it will build a civic building, the outlet reports.
Combining housing with a fire station on a constrained lot brings engineering tradeoffs. The project would double the amount of rooftops and other impervious surfaces on the site, according to the News & Observer, which would increase stormwater runoff and change the site's drainage patterns. The town plans a stormwater pond at the bottom of the hill to manage the added runoff, the paper reports. Separately, municipal bidding documents reviewed for this story indicate the new fire station and the affordable housing complex are planned to share on-site infrastructure, including access roads and stormwater systems, a coordination step that could help hold down site preparation costs on the hilly parcel.
Rezoning and a Streamlined Path for Affordable Housing
Because the site is currently zoned Office-Institutional-2, the town council must rezone the land to accommodate dense housing, the News & Observer notes. Town of Chapel Hill records show the town intends to shift the parcel to its Residential - Community Priority - Conditional Zoning District, a streamlined classification the town created in 2023 for projects with substantial affordable housing, which requires at least 25% affordable units in exchange for expedited review. That same zoning tool underpinned Longleaf Trace, a 48-unit senior housing project approved in 2024 that became the first Chapel Hill development to use the district and went on to secure $11 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from North Carolina, according to The Local Reporter.
Chapel Hill and its partner will apply for federal low-income housing tax credits for the Weaver Dairy Road project as well, the News & Observer reports. A Town of Chapel Hill Request for Qualifications issued in June specifies a preference to keep the site in public ownership through a long-term ground lease, targeting households earning an average of 60% or less of Area Median Income. A separate town ordinance passed in January eliminated citywide vehicular parking minimums, expanding on an earlier policy that had already cut parking requirements by 20% for developments using the same affordable-housing zoning district, according to the Parking Reform Network.
Funding and a Fall 2026 Timeline
The projects draw on a $44 million general obligation bond that Chapel Hill voters approved in November 2024 with 73% support, without raising local property tax rates. That bond included $15 million for affordable housing and $15 million for public facilities, according to the News & Observer's report. The new fire station is expected to cost roughly $10 million, and bond funds will reserve the remaining $5 million from the public-facilities allocation for a future project to replace Fire Station No. 3, located at East Franklin Street and North Elliott Road, per the paper.
Jay Mebane said Chapel Hill is excited to build a new station to serve the community and create a modern home for crews, according to the News & Observer. Ted Voorhees said the projects will advance Chapel Hill's complete community strategy and community safety goals, the paper reports. Demolition of the fire training facility is scheduled for later this year ahead of construction bidding in mid-2027, according to Chapelboro.com, with emergency crews continuing to operate out of the 1981 building until the new station is finished. Chapel Hill already opened a new fire training facility on Millhouse Road, the News & Observer notes.
Transit Plans and Wider Housing Pressure
The site sits along the route of NS RAPID, a planned $197 million, 8.2-mile fare-free bus rapid transit line along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that has been recommended for $140 million in federal funding and is targeted to begin service around 2030, according to STV. The News & Observer reports Chapel Hill plans a future bus-rapid transit stop and multi-use path near the boulevard, folding the fire station and housing project into the town's broader push to modernize facilities and build affordable housing along the corridor.
The project follows a pattern of rapid growth nearby. In February, the Chapel Hill Town Council approved a separate development at 860 Weaver Dairy Road in an 8-1 vote, adding up to 575 multifamily units and 135 townhomes with 10% to 15% reserved for affordable housing, according to The Daily Tar Heel. Chapel Hill's 2023 Affordable Housing Plan and Investment Strategy estimates that fully funding the town's five-year housing goals will require $50 million to support up to 900 new affordable units and preserve 400 existing homes, a target that puts the Weaver Dairy Road Extension project's 65 to 105 units into context.
A virtual public information meeting on the fire station and housing proposal is scheduled for 5 p.m. on August 20, giving residents a chance to weigh in before the town council considers rezoning the land. Whether the parcel's steep slopes, stream and limited buildable area will reshape the final design remains to be seen, as does which developer the town selects this fall and whether the project secures the competitive state tax credits it needs to move forward.
