Catherine Fray, candidate for Carrboro Town Council

Carrboro voters will elect a new mayor and at least two new Town Council members in November.

Incumbent Council member Eliazar Posada is seeking a second term in office and will compete with four newcomers — Jason Merrill, Catherine Fray, April Mills and Stephanie Wade — for three open seats in the Nov. 7 general election.

Carrboro Mayor Pro Tem Susan Romaine and Council member Sammy Slade chose not to seek another term.

The new council will also fill a vacancy on the board next year, replacing Barbara Foushee, who is unopposed in her race to be the town’s next mayor. Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils decided earlier this year to step down after one term in office.

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: Catherine Fray

Age: 37

Occupation: Solution architect, 360 Cloud Solutions LLC

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Asian Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill

Political or civic experience: 11 years on Carrboro Planning Board, including 2 terms as chair, 2012-present. Carrboro Connects comprehensive plan task force co-chair, 2020-22.

Campaign website: frayforcarrboro.com

What do you think the town’s top three priorities should be? Choose one and describe how you will work to address it.

▪ Affordable housing

▪ Equity

▪ Climate resilience

Climate resilience in Carrboro includes helping keep residents safe from flooding. We need to be proactive about stormwater. This problem can’t be solved just by focusing on new construction, because neighborhoods built before 2007 (that’s most of them!) contribute more to the problem than newer ones built to stricter standards. Carrboro’s Stormwater Utility, established in 2017, is our best tool, and I will work to prioritize places upstream of the worst affected neighborhoods where the town can add retention cells, rain gardens, and other structures that will slow water down.

The future of the Bolin Creek Greenway is a key issue this year. What do you see as its role in the town’s future, and should it be paved?

I see the Bolin Creek Greenway as a way to help Carrboro connect neighborhoods to each other, to key points around town, and to the growing greenway network in Chapel Hill, so that folks can get around without a car.

A narrow strip in the middle of the easement that OWASA keeps clear of trees should be paved. I would also like to see a bioswale running along the side of the path. The easement is badly eroded by heavy foot and bike traffic and OWASA’s heavy equipment, so sediment washes straight into the creek every time it rains. We need to keep people and vehicles on that path and plant the rest of the easement with native species to stabilize the soil.

Carrboro is experiencing more infill development and housing. What would you do to guide town growth and meet current and future housing needs?

This is my area of expertise. Carrboro needs a lot more housing than it is currently getting. I envision a Carrboro where housing costs do not stop anyone from joining or staying in our community.

I would ensure that we overhaul the land-use ordinance to align with our award-winning comprehensive plan. That means making it easier to read for both builders and residents. That means removing provisions that were added decades ago to make housing more expensive (on purpose!) and never corrected. That means making it easier to build a duplex than a mansion. I would also invest more in our programs, which support people who need help to remain in their homes and keep them in good repair.

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 urban services boundary where it is. The purpose of the boundary was to encourage denser development in Carrboro and to prevent the town from sprawling out into the county and straining OWASA’s capacity and budget. Unfortunately, the town then used restrictive zoning to prevent denser development for decades, resulting in much higher housing prices in town.

But it’s not too late for us to do the right thing and build more in Carrboro. By permitting taller and denser housing, we can meet the pent-up housing need in town while keeping Carrboro compact enough to support excellent public services like buses, parks, and affordable water and sewer.

How can the town bring people together who have different viewpoints to find workable solutions?

The town has recent experience doing this for the Carrboro Connects comprehensive plan, our broadest outreach yet. Carrboro used every tool at its disposal to reach as many people as possible, especially those who are not usually heard in town decision-making. In-person and virtual events, website and materials in multiple languages, an invitation to participate mailed to every single home — in all, we gathered input from over 1,600 residents. With so many people participating, there were plenty of disagreements along the way. I was honored to help facilitate in my role as co-chair, and the town gained valuable experience in how to bring people together.

This story was originally published October 12, 2023 at 1:11 PM with the headline "Catherine Fray, candidate for Carrboro Town Council."

Tammy Grubb

The News & Observer

919-829-8926

Tammy Grubb has written about Orange County’s politics, people and government since 2010. She is a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna and has lived and worked in the Triangle for over 30 years.