Glen Lennox residents seek preservation status

CHAPEL HILL -- The Town Council voted Monday night to allow the homeowners of the Glen Lennox neighborhood to start the process to become a Neighborhood Conservation District.

The homeowners must demonstrate that a majority of them wants to designate the neighborhood as a conservation district by submitting a petition with at least 51 percent of their signatures to the town. Once the petition is submitted, phase one can begin, which includes the town holding a public information meeting for the residents on conservation district guidelines and establishing a preliminary boundary of the district.

Monday night, the council set preliminary boundaries for the petitioners: Fordham Boulevard to the east, N.C. 54 to the south, Sugarberry Road to the west, and a little beyond Indian Springs Road to the north.

Grubb Properties, the company that owns the shopping center and apartments, recently submitted a concept plan to the town, proposing to tear down the shops and apartments in phases and replace them with a multiple-use village, including townhouses, single-family houses, apartments and condominiums.

By Monday, at least 24 e-mail messages were sent to the town from Glen Lennox residents opposing redevelopment. At the Town Council meeting, more than 50 supporters of a movement to preserve Glen Lennox attended, while six of them stood up to speak on the matter.

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

Coffee shop shut down by Courtyard owner

CHAPEL HILL -- Coffee aficionados jonesing for a cup of Ethiopian yirgacheffe at 3Cups coffee shop Monday found a locked door covered in conflicting letters about the shop's closure.

The ones taped to the inside said 3Cups hasn't been paying its rent.

The letter taped to the outside said the landlord had illegally locked the shop's employees and customers out.

The Courtyard is owned by Spencer Young. Most of the parking behind it is owned by P.H. Craig. The two have been at loggerheads: Young won't pay Craig rent, and Craig won't sell Young the parking lot.

Craig has blocked off his section of the lot, reducing the spaces from 79 to 23. Craig said Monday that he plans to turn it into a private pay lot.

In a letter on the door, Young wrote, "As of this writing, your balance due, including that of your sublessee (Sandwhich LLC) is $85,802.48 ..."

3Cups owner Lex Alexander said he has been paying his rent into an escrow account instead of sending checks to Young or a management company. He argues Young is in violation of 3Cups' lease, which guarantees a certain amount of parking.

In another note, Alexander promised to pursue legal options to get the doors open again.

-- Samuel Spies, 932-2014; samuel.spies@nando.com

Judge places limits on sccess to Carson case

PITTSBORO -- Most court records in the Eve Carson murder case remain under seal following a judge's order Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled that making search warrants and supporting materials available to the public would endanger two confidential informants and interfere with the police investigation into the UNC student body president's March 5 slaying.

"The public has a right to information in criminal proceedings," Baddour wrote, "but not in this specific case at this specific time when it interferes with the public's interest in the investigation of crime, or the defendant's right (and public's right, for that matter) to a fair process, free from undue prejudice."

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