Carson may have been in back seat of car

CHAPEL HILL -- Two days after Eve Carson was killed about 5 a.m. March 5, police circulated a time-stamped photo to other law-enforcement agencies showing one of the men accused of killing her using her ATM card at 3:55 that morning.

Police Chief Brian Curran won't say whether he thinks Carson was in her SUV when police say Laurence Lovette drove it to the Bank of America near University Mall, the bank identified on the photo sheet.

About an hour after the ATM camera photographed Lovette, police received a report of gunshots. They found Carson minutes later lying in the street in a quiet neighborhood near campus.

The surveillance photos show a shadowy figure in the SUV's back seat that police think is the other suspect, Demario Atwater. When asked why Atwater would be in the back seat, rather than in the front passenger seat, Curran said, "You know I can't go there. Maybe he was chauffeured around."

Police have not discussed any of the locations where Carson's card was used, and Curran said the department would continue to refrain from discussing them until the police hand the case to the district attorney's office.

-- Jesse DeConto, 932-8760; jesse.deconto@nando.com

Town staff to review students' parking study

CARRBORO -- UNC graduate students want to help the town to find its way out of its downtown parking woes.

Nine students pursuing master's degrees in regional planning presented their most recent report Tuesday night. The students hand-counted all the spaces in private and public parking lots around downtown, except Carr Mill Mall's lot -- they weren't allowed to hand-count the spaces "at the request of the owner," student Michael Schwartz said.

They found 2,619 spaces in the Central Business District, which is the downtown area.

In municipal lots, there is a two-hour time limit, but it's not enforced, they reported. Twenty percent of cars were parked beyond the limit, some even for days.

The study also analyzed the scenario if five major developments were to come downtown. They include such multiple-use projects as the already-approved Alberta and Roberson Square, as well as 300 E. Main St., which is being approved in pieces. They estimate that, if all the projects are approved, parking around East Main and East Weaver streets could reach up to 85 percent of capacity.

The Board of Aldermen referred the report to town staff, who will come back with recommendations.

-- Meiling Arounnarath, 932-2002; meiling.arounnarath@nando.com

Builder to break ground on affordable housing

CHAPEL HILL -- Crosland developers will break ground Monday on the second phase of Dobbins Hill, the affordable-housing garden apartments near the intersection of Interstate 40 and the U.S. 15-501 bypass.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be at 11 a.m. State Rep. Verla Insko will speak.

The Town of Chapel Hill committed $120,000 for the project. The Affordable Housing Group, a statewide, nonprofit housing development organization in Charlotte, is a partner in the project.

Crosland owns the adjacent Dobbins Hill affordable-housing community built in 1994 for people earning less than half the area's median income who live and work in Chapel Hill.

Phase 2 will consist of two buildings with 32 units and 54 parking spaces. It will include an activity and exercise room, private patios with outside storage and a community picnic and children's playground area.

Upon completion, the 6.8-acre site will have 87 affordable rental units with two-, three- and four-bedroom floor plans.

Crosland recently won national honors for another affordable-housing project, Laurels of Junaluska in Asheville, from the National Association of Home Builders Multifamily Pillars of the Industry Awards.

Crosland has more than 1,400 multi-family units in the development pipeline, 750,000 square feet of retail space and six single-family communities.

-- From staff reports