Renuka Soll, candidate for Chapel Hill Town Council
Chapel Hill will elect a new mayor and four Town Council members this year, giving voters a chance to check or continue the town’s current management and growth.
Council member Amy Ryan is the only incumbent seeking re-election. Council members Michael Parker and Tai Huynh will vacate their seats in December.
Council member Jessica Anderson’s seat is also open, as she runs against Council member Adam Searing to replace outgoing Mayor Pam Hemminger. Searing is supported by a bloc of four council candidates who have pledged to reverse some town decisions about housing and development.
Searing will remain on the council until December 2025 if he loses the mayoral race.
The Searing-aligned candidates — David Adams, Renuka Soll, Elizabeth Sharp and Breckany Eckhardt — are competing against Ryan and five others — Melissa McCullough, Jeffrey Hoagland, Erik Valera, Theodore Nollert and Jon Mitchell — to fill four council seats.
Early voting in the nonpartisan Nov. 7 election starts Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 4..
To find polling places and full details on early voting, visit co.orange.nc.us/1720/Elections or contact the Board of Elections at 919-245-2350 or vote@orangecountync.gov.
Name: Renuka Soll
Age: 56
Occupation: Tutor, New Hope Elementary School
Education: Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry, Wellesley College; Master of Science in Computer Information Systems, Bentley College; Master of Business Administration, University of Chicago
Political or civic experience: Treasurer, North Carolinians against Gun Violence (Effie Steele Memorial Award “in recognition of tireless advocacy for the safety of North Carolinians”); organized three local gun give back events; chair of Parks, Greenways and Recreation Commission; high school mountain biking team parent coach; policy chair for Duke University’s Campus Club; co-founder of program to help the underserved apply to college; former PTA president; former GED tutor; former HOA treasurer.
Campaign website: RenukaSoll.com
What do you think the town’s top three priorities should be? Choose one and describe how you will work to address it.
▪ Creating affordable housing
▪ Becoming an environmental leader
▪ Investing in parks and greenways: Our parks and greenways have been systematically underfunded for years. Chapel Hillians are leaving town to recreate. This is an equity issue. We need to start prioritizing parks and greenways and implementing our many parks and greenways plans. This includes building more fields, proving more public courts, renovating and upgrading our existing facilities, and connecting our neighbors and parks with safe greenways.
What do you think the town is doing right to create more affordable housing? What would you do if elected?
The town has invested $9 million in affordable housing projects. I applaud this. If elected, I would build on this progress. I would partner with UNC to develop more affordable housing for their employees and students, protect our stock of affordable housing from development into luxury units, adjust the form-based code to allow affordable housing in the Blue Hill District, and consider increasing the inclusionary zoning units in downtown to 15%, similar to other parts of Chapel Hill. Affordable housing must come before developer profits. Thus, I am not accepting donations from developers. I do not support the elimination of single-family zoning because the evidence suggests it will not work.
Do you support keeping Orange County’s rural buffer, where the lack of water and sewer limits growth? How do you see the town growing with or without the buffer?
I support keeping the rural buffer. I want Chapel Hill to be an environmental leader, and a rural buffer is critical to this vision. Rural buffers preserve significant tree canopy and natural habitat to help offset our carbon emissions. They protect our water supply, and they help keep our local farms afloat. Chapel Hill can still grow while preserving the buffer; it is not a binary decision. We do not need sprawl to grow. Instead, we should push developers to be more creative with designs and build in a way that is appropriate for our surroundings and environmental goals.
Would you consider a tax increase to pay for rising costs and delayed public projects? If not, what specific changes to the town’s budget would you support?
Our current Council just implemented one of the largest tax increases ever. We also have substantial debt. Before considering any tax increase or new debt, I want to ensure we are being as fiscally responsible as we can. I want to scrutinize our budget and streamline questionable spending. This includes eliminating the millions our town spends on consultants, understanding why the town isn’t better preventing budget overruns on projects, and ensuring developers pay for what they should pay for (e.g., an access road for the Hartley apartments.)
How can the town bring people together who have different viewpoints to find workable solutions?
Chapel Hillians are complaining loudly about not feeling heard by our current Council. Petitions go ignored, emails unresponded to, some advisory boards eliminated. This is not how I want to lead. Chapel Hill has passionate, creative people. We should leverage this. Council decisions involve difficult trade-offs, and not everyone is going to get what they want. However, decisions should reflect our citizens’ voices, should be transparent, and should make sense. I want to use the town’s boards more effectively. I want better community engagement and meet more often with residents. I want people to know they can always reach out to me and I will respond.
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