Will Another Block of Main Street, Chapel Hill, Be Paved? Nov. 20, 1924

Main Street Paving. . . Considerable Speculation as to What Property Owners Want

Since there began to be talk of paving the main street between the post-office and Andrews corner, people have expressed curiosity as to the desires of the owner of the property along this block. Nobody has canvassed them all yet, to find out whether a majority favor the improvement.

Not only do the owners of 51 per cent of the footage have to join in a petition to the board of aldermen in order to have the work done, but a majority of the whole number of owners have be willing; that is, if the usual practice of assessing part of the cost upon the property is followed.

If the ownership of frontage alone decided it, there would be no question, because more than half the frontage on both sides is controlled by W.S. Roberson and the University, and both are known to favor the paving. But will 10 of the 18 owners sign the petition?

The owners, on both sides, are: Mrs. Tankersley, Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Co., Robert L. Stroud, A.A. Kluttz, Clyde Eubanks, Bank of Chapel Hill, People’s Bank, L.D. Lloyd, E.P. Cates, W.B. Sorrell, J.T. Durham, Moody Durham, Mrs. S.M. Pickard, H.D. Leigh, S.J. Brockwell, University of North Carolina, Methodist church, and the A.B. Roberson estate.

Edward M. Knox, the town manager, has estimated that the cost of laying asphalt on both sides, from the central concrete strip of the state highway to each curb, would be $9,000. If the cost were divided in thirds—one third being borne by the town as whole, one third by the property owners on one side, and one third by the property owners on the other—here is the way it would work out:

Suppose that X owns 100 feet on one side and Y owns the 100 feet immediately opposite on the other side. According to the estimate, the total cost of the asphalt pavement along this distance would be $1,000. Each owner would then pay $333.33 and the town would pay $333.33. But the owner could pay in 10-year installments instead of all at once. Under the partial payment plan he would pay the first year, $33.33 plus interest on the balance, or $51.33 altogether. The next year he would pay another $33.33 and the interest on the balance would fall to $16; and so on, the interest payment diminishing by $2 each year.

The owner of 20 feet of frontage would pay a fifth as much; that is, 10 annual installments of $6.66 each; his interest payments would begin at $3.60 and diminish 40 cents each year.

All this is assuming a total of $9,000. The estimate and the exact cost for the hole block of $9,000 would of course not be exact.

From page 3 of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073229/1924-11-20/ed-1/seq-3/