Full name: Jess Anderson
Party affiliation: Democrat
Campaign website: www.jessformayor.org
1) In 300 words or less, please give our readers your elevator pitch: Why are you running? Why should voters entrust you with this position? What prior experience will make you an effective mayor?
I’m Jess Anderson, and I’m running for re-election as mayor of Chapel Hill.
This town has been my home for many years. I’ve raised my family here, served eight years on the Town Council, and I teach at UNC. Chapel Hill isn’t just where I live—it’s where I’ve invested my heart and energy.
Serving as mayor is a great honor, and I’m deeply grateful to our community for the opportunity.
When I first ran for mayor two years ago, I made two promises that have guided every decision I’ve made:
First, to be a mayor for all.
Second, to make real progress on Chapel Hill’s bold vision of a Complete Community.
Over the past two years, I’ve worked hard to listen, lead, and deliver. And together, we’ve made meaningful progress:
We’ve expanded affordable housing so more families can call Chapel Hill home.
We’ve invested in greenways and sidewalks to connect neighborhoods and make walking and biking safer.
We’ve built an inclusive playground where children of all abilities can play side by side.
We’ve mobilized resources and recovery assistance during unprecedented storms to support residents and small businesses.
And we’ve hired a new town manager—someone with deep experience and a shared commitment to our values—who’s already helping us move forward.
Now, I’m running for re-election not just to build on this foundation, but, also, to help lead us through the complex and significant challenges ahead.
2) What would your priorities be as mayor? Please identify three of the most pressing issues Chapel Hill currently faces and how you believe the town should address them.
As mayor, my top priorities would be addressing budget challenges, strengthening environmental resilience, and implementing the Complete Community framework with fidelity.
First, our town budget. Chapel Hill deserves excellent services—but we must be honest about rising costs and shrinking revenues. With less income from sales tax, commercial activity, and federal grants, we’re relying more on property taxes, which burdens families, renters, and seniors. We need to be strategic—prioritizing essentials, living within our means, and recognizing that, for now, we may need to do less, but do it better.
Second, environmental resilience. Recent storms have exposed serious weaknesses in our infrastructure. We must modernize stormwater systems, remediate coal ash, and preserve environmentally sensitive areas. Climate change is bringing more extreme weather, and we must be ready—not just to respond and recover, but to build smarter and more sustainably.
Third, implementing Complete Community. This framework provides an integrated approach to addressing affordability, sustainability, quality of life, and economic vitality. We need to expand housing options, grow our commercial tax base, and invest in critical infrastructure like Bus Rapid Transit, the Everywhere-to-Everywhere greenway network, and improved stormwater systems. The Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO) rewrite is a key step—but progress also depends on creative, proactive solutions that go beyond regulation.
The key is committing to the hard work of comprehensive, forward-looking long-term planning—something we’ve discussed but not yet acted on.
3) What’s the best or most important thing the Chapel Hill Town Council has done in the past year? Additionally, name a decision you believe the town should have handled differently. Please explain your answers.
This year, the Chapel Hill Town Council made significant strides in affordable housing amid economic uncertainty. A major achievement was the approval of Hillside Trace, a 190-unit development—the largest 100% affordable housing community ever approved in town. Council also allocated $4 million in bond funding to support the developer’s application for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Thanks to the town’s expedited review process, the project advanced in just six months, much faster than previous efforts. In total, the September allocation will help build or purchase 194 new affordable homes, demonstrating the strength of Chapel Hill’s multi-pronged housing strategy.
However, I had concerns about the budget process and voted against the final budget and tax increase—not just because of the outcome, but due to how it was handled. We anticipated a revaluation and discussed the chance to “right-size” the budget. Yet when the revaluation shifted more of the tax burden onto residents—especially those on fixed incomes—we didn’t sufficiently explore efficiencies to lower the proposed tax rate. This budget fell short of our stated goal of affordability.
Looking ahead, we must be more strategic. That means prioritizing essential services, evaluating programs based on impact rather than tradition, operating within our means, and recognizing when temporary scaling back is necessary. I’m particularly interested in implementing priority-based budgeting next year, aligning expenses with outcomes, strategic goals, and community priorities
4) President Trump is working to ramp up deportations and curtail visas. At the same time, the state legislature has passed laws requiring agencies to cooperate with ICE. What do you think Chapel Hill can or should do to ensure safe, welcoming communities for immigrants in light of these policies?
Chapel Hill is safer when every resident feels confident reporting crimes, sending their children to school, going to work, and accessing basic medical care without fear. To truly serve our community, we must listen to and collaborate with those most impacted ensuring, our advocacy reflects their wishes and best interests.
As a Councilmember and now as mayor, I’ve seen how vital transparent, consistent communication is—not just with immigrant residents, but also with the nonprofits and advocacy groups who support them. These trusted partners are often the first to hear concerns and are uniquely positioned to provide timely, culturally informed assistance. When we work together, we create responses that are effective, trusted, and aligned.
Local government has a duty to foster safe, informed, and welcoming communities. Building trust through clear communication and active listening reduces fear and empowers people to seek help. It’s also essential that immigrants understand their rights—from remaining silent to accessing legal counsel and public services without intimidation. This knowledge builds resilience and helps individuals navigate uncertainty.
Most importantly, this work must be ongoing. When we center trust, transparency, and shared values, we don’t just respond to crises—we strengthen the foundation of our community. This commitment will carry us forward, especially as we strive toward a future where civil liberties and constitutional freedoms are fully protected.
5) Faced with federal funding cuts, rising costs, and a revaluation that saw home values skyrocket, the town council (in a 5-4 vote) approved a $164 million budget funded by the fifth tax increase in as many years. For current council members, please explain how you voted and why. For non-incumbents, please explain how you would have voted and why.
I voted ‘No’ on the budget and tax increase. As I shared at the time, I support the priorities in this budget – from community programs to employee raises and overdue investments in our infrastructure. It aligns with our five-year plan, our values, and our goals.
However, this is an expansion budget at a time when many institutions around us – UNC, Duke, the EPA, RTI – are making cuts and laying off workers, including many of our own residents. We also heard from community members on fixed incomes worried that higher taxes might force them to leave town.
My vote reflected serious concern about placing additional burdens on residents during a period of economic uncertainty. A tax increase of this size, especially following recent hikes, conflicts with our commitment to affordability.
Looking ahead, I believe we must be more strategic – focusing on essentials, looking for efficient new ways to offer existing services, evaluating our programs and services for impact, working within our means, and accepting that we may need to do less for now. I’m interested in priority-based budgeting next year, where we ensure what we fund is the best way to achieve our strategic plan, and I believe we must reinvigorate our economic development efforts to grow our commercial tax base.
Finally, I support continued investment in our downtown and exploring new partnerships to help build a more vibrant, year-round economy.
6) The town has prioritized climate action and climate resiliency, but the catastrophic flooding from Tropical Storm Chantal shows that the town and its residents continue to be vulnerable to these disasters. How can Chapel Hill best help impacted residents and prepare for future disasters? How should the council deal with the coal ash at the police station, which has been impacted by separate flood incidents?
Five years ago, Chapel Hill adopted its first Climate Action and Response Plan. Since then, we’ve made progress on clean energy and emissions—but we’ve lagged in stormwater management and land use planning, both critical to long-term resilience.
As our town grows, we must modernize stormwater systems to reduce flood risks and protect the natural systems that safeguard our health and safety. Two years ago, we updated requirements for new development to account for 100-year storms. But recent events—like Tropical Storm Chantal—show that more intense storms are becoming the norm.
For too long, development decisions have moved forward without a clear understanding of local watersheds or vulnerabilities. Through the Complete Community initiative—which I lead—we’re changing that. This year, thanks to the Planning Commission, we launched the Natural Features Model, integrating hydrology, habitat, and land use data to support smarter planning.
Now it’s time to put that model to work: improving water quality, reducing flooding, protecting our tree canopy, and preserving sensitive ecological areas. We must also prepare for climate-driven disasters and ensure our community is ready to respond and recover.
One persistent barrier has been the false choice between environmental protection and growth. In truth, sustainability, resilience, and justice require all three.
My top priorities include:
● Strengthening stormwater policies and programs
● Securing funding for vulnerable communities
● Adopting a plan to remediate coal ash at the police station site
We have the tools. We have the momentum. Now we need the leadership to act.
7) As with most places in the Triangle, Chapel Hill is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing. How should the town address housing affordability over the next few years?
In 2020, the Town of Chapel Hill and UNC launched a joint housing study that sparked a more focused response to our housing shortage. Since then, we’ve taken key steps:
• Adopted a Complete Community framework with clear housing goals
• Planned for Transit-Oriented Development along major corridors
• Supported “gentle density” like duplexes and townhomes
• Extended water and sewer in southern Chapel Hill to enable middle housing
Early data shows these efforts are working, but more progress is needed. Over the next two years, we must stay focused on implementation and adjust as needed. A top priority is completing our Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO) rewrite to make it easier to build the housing we need.
In the meantime, Council is considering interim LUMO updates to make building Accessory Dwelling Units more feasible. There’s also growing support for allowing 30–40 middle housing units by right in select areas—an encouraging step forward.
On affordable housing, we’ve made real progress through our five-year plan and multi-pronged strategy: using town-owned land, launching a revolving loan fund, and securing federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits with partners.
An unmet need is transitional housing for our unsheltered residents—something we can address through models like California’s Dignity Moves.
Lastly, housing is just one part of the affordability puzzle. To make Chapel Hill more affordable overall, we must manage our budget wisely, grow our tax base, and expand cost-effective transportation options.
7) Last year, the council voted to eliminate several advisory boards and commissions. How can the town best improve its community engagement process, especially to reach residents who do not have the time or resources to attend town council meetings on weekday nights?
The 5–4 vote to eliminate most of our advisory boards last fall was disappointing—especially because it happened without a clear plan for how we would continue engaging the public.
I understood my colleagues’ concerns about equity in the board system. However, meaningful public engagement remains essential—for better decision-making, shared accountability, and nurturing future community leaders.
With that in mind, I’m committed to rebuilding a stronger, more inclusive approach to engagement—one that values both access and impact.
My priorities moving forward include:
Rebuilding working groups to reconnect residents with town leaders in flexible, meaningful ways.
Supporting community-based outreach, including the excellent work of our Community Connections team and initiatives like Wheels of Wellness, which bring programs and information directly into neighborhoods and community centers.
Launching public dashboards to make it easier for residents to track progress and stay informed.
Piloting creative ideas—like pop-up parks, mobile art spaces, and walk-up input stations—that make it easy for people to participate where they are.
This isn’t about returning to the old system—it’s about moving forward with more intentional, accessible, and community-driven engagement. Everyone should have a voice in shaping the future of our town, even if they can’t attend a council meeting on a weeknight.
8) The Orange County commission is responsible for levying taxes to fund Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS). That said, what role (if any), should the town council play in supporting CHCCS given the school district’s ongoing budget issues and threatened federal grant cuts?
On the financial side, I’m very open to exploring partnership opportunities down the road such as shared facilities or improving safe routes to school. Helping more students walk or bike reduces transportation expenses and promotes healthier, more sustainable habits.
At a broader level, the most impactful tools the Town Council has are land use and economic development decisions. Through our Complete Community initiative, we’re working to diversify housing options so that more families with school-aged children can afford to live in Chapel Hill. This helps stabilize and grow enrollment in our public schools.
We also need to expand our commercial tax base. Growing local business means more tax revenue for our community—including our schools. These strategies allow us to support CHCCS indirectly but effectively, especially in the face of uncertain federal funding.
9) UNC is a major employer and landholder in Chapel Hill. How would you rate the relationship between the university and the town? What would you like to see change?
Chancellor Roberts and I began our roles around the same time, and I’ve appreciated the strong, collaborative relationship we’ve built. Our staffs also work closely together.
The Town and UNC partner in many areas to address challenges and pursue shared goals. Two strong examples are our work with Launch Chapel Hill and efforts to grow a downtown innovation district—boosting job creation and economic vitality—and the Good Neighbor Initiative, which supports students living off campus in residential neighborhoods.
We also collaborate on public safety and emergency response. Since taking office, I’ve seen those working relationships continue to strengthen.
Housing is a shared priority. In 2021, we completed a joint housing needs assessment that helped inform Chapel Hill’s Complete Community framework. With the University adding 500 undergraduates each year, pressure on our limited housing supply continues to grow. To support our economy and reduce commuter traffic, it’s essential that students and workers can find affordable housing locally. Meeting this demand requires urgent and sustained collaboration.
Another emerging focus is University development on properties like Carolina North. Just last week, the General Assembly removed the Town’s zoning authority over UNC-owned land. This is a significant change, and we’re working to ensure continued communication and cooperation.
Overall, the relationship between the Town and UNC is strong and grounded in mutual respect. As both continue to grow and evolve, ongoing partnership and open dialogue will be more important than ever.
10) If there are other issues you want to discuss, please do so here.
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