Storyline · 1980–1982
In 1980 Carrboro's aldermen fought a Wendy's drive-in at Main and Greensboro streets, first in court and then with a zone for drive-in restaurants that a judge struck down; the restaurant opened that September under a restraining order. Chapel Hill barred most drive-in businesses that April, repealed the ban in September and then could not agree on standards, and in 1982 it granted Wendy's a drive-in window on the bypass.
In late March 1980 Orange County Superior Court Judge Coy Brewer Jr. ruled for Carrboro's Board of Adjustment in a suit the town's aldermen had brought to revoke its conditional use permit for a Wendy's drive-in restaurant at Main and Greensboro streets. On April 14 the aldermen answered by voting 4 to 2 to create a new B-4 business zone as the only district where a drive-in restaurant could be built, saying a Wendy's there would cause traffic hazards. The same night the Chapel Hill Town Council voted 5 to 4 to prohibit all drive-in businesses except gasoline stations and car washes, which had earlier been allowed only in unified business developments and planned shopping centers; Planning Director Mike Jennings said the change was meant to save energy and discourage automobile-oriented development.
By July 3 Brewer had ruled Carrboro's B-4 zone, which banned drive-in windows only for restaurants, unconstitutional, so the new Wendy's could keep its pick-up window, though the town's traffic ordinances against left turns and nearby driveways stood. The ruling capped a months-long fight between the town and Wendy's parent company, Wenco, and town attorney Michael Brough said Carrboro would appeal to the N.C. Court of Appeals. Wendy's opened its Carrboro restaurant at noon on September 8 under a temporary 10-day restraining order, after its representatives and the Board of Adjustment failed the day before to agree on revised curb cuts and on left turns into the lot; Mayor Robert Drakeford said board members had been summoned to Raleigh by Judge James Pou Bailey.
Also on September 8 the Chapel Hill council voted 6-3 to repeal its April ban and, in two more 6-3 votes, granted special use permits for a new North Carolina National Bank branch on Chapel Hill-Durham Boulevard and a third drive-in lane at the Wachovia bank on South Estes Drive. On September 16 the Planning Board approved a drive-in and walk-in photo booth at Kroger Plaza and left it to the council to set standards for the drive-ins it had allowed again. After denying drive-in windows at Wendy's and Burger King over traffic and pedestrian safety, the council defeated such standards 5 to 4 on January 12, 1981; Bev Kawalec, who voted no, wanted rules that would let the town turn drive-ins down, and on February 9 the council deadlocked 4 to 4 on a policy allowing drive-ins only in large shopping centers. On February 8, 1982, after turning the request down in 1979 and in October 1981, the council granted Wendy's a drive-in window at its restaurant on the U.S. 15-501 bypass; Jennings said it could now be granted because some policies of the town's comprehensive plan had been rescinded.
Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.
No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are the most widely held histories of the theme it is filed under, so they may not discuss it. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Thomas E. Ross's geographic study of American Indians in North Carolina. It examines Native peoples' history, cultural assimilation, and social and economic conditions across the state, with statistics. Published by Karo Hollow Press in 1999, eleven preliminary pages and 242 pages with illustrations and maps.
Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.
Stewart E. Dunaway worked through Hillsborough, N.C., lot by lot, giving each town lot a synopsis of its history, a plat showing where it sits and transcripts of the deeds he could locate for it. The second issue runs to 720 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.
Stewart E. Dunaway's 2015 addendum to his history of Hillsborough's town lots, adding deed records arranged by lot number and further town history, with the expansion of the 1890s covered for the first time. Self-published in North Carolina as version 1.0, 446 pages with illustrations, facsimiles and maps. Topics include deeds, court records, land titles and real property in Hillsborough.
Stewart E. Dunaway's abstracts of civil suits over land heard in the Hillsborough District Superior Court between 1778 and 1806. The district covered Orange, Wake, Granville, Caswell, Person, Chatham and Randolph counties, and the papers concern boundaries, ownership and disputed tracts. Published through Lulu in 2011, 337 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.
William M. Rohe's history of Research Triangle Park and the region around it, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2011. Topics include regional planning and the economic and social conditions of the Research Triangle Park region, one corner of which is Chapel Hill and the university. 298 pages with illustrations and maps.
Stewart E. Dunaway's two-volume edition of the Orange County land entry book, the register in which settlers first claimed vacant land from the state before a grant was surveyed and issued. Volume one covers the first thousand entries, all made in 1778; volume two runs from 1779 to 1795. Each entry is reproduced from the original in the State Archives with an abstract of its contents. Self-published through Lulu in a second version dated 2010, two volumes at 28 cm with facsimiles and maps.
Edward J. Kaiser's history of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1945 to 2012, published by the department in 2013. The title nods to John A. Parker, 1909 to 2001, who figures in the book. One hundred eighty-six pages with illustrations and portraits at 28 cm.
Mark Chilton's short history of transportation planning in the North Carolina Piedmont, drawing lessons from earlier projects. Subjects include the Cape Fear Navigation Company and river navigation, and the railroads of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, including the State University Railroad Company whose spur brought trains to the two towns. Chilton was mayor of Carrboro when the book appeared. Published by Hand Made Books, Carrboro, 2012, 92 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
Stewart E. Dunaway's four-volume set of ejectment cases from Orange County, reproducing the original documents and maps from the North Carolina State Archives with partial transcriptions. The volumes cover 1778 to 1814, 1817 to 1832, 1833 to 1849 and 1850 to 1902. Ejectment suits contested title and possession of land, and the cases include surveys and plats. Self-published in 2010.
Stewart E. Dunaway's transcription of letters exchanged between Jesse Benton and Thomas Hart from 1780 to 1790, concerning Hart's affairs at Hartford, his place at Hillsborough. The letters concern the economic and social conditions of Hillsborough in the eighteenth century and the Revolution in North Carolina. Self-published through lulu.com in 2009, 68 pages with illustrations and facsimiles, and part of the library's Wall Local History Collection.
Albert N. Link's early history of Research Triangle Park, published in 1995 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in the state, with the park's own history at the center. 149 pages with illustrations and maps.
Each dated event above names its source, the place to start. For finding more on an event across newspapers, records and histories, see the research guide Follow an event across several accounts. Ask at the North Carolina Room of the Orange County Public Library for help with local sources.
Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “Curbing drive-in businesses in Carrboro and Chapel Hill, 1980–1982.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/drive-in-curbs-storyline-1980/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
