Staff Writer
There are few residents with roots as deep in this town as Frances Lloyd Shetley.
Though she grew up in Calvander, Shetley has lived on Hillsborough Road in Carrboro for 50 years. Her family has been in the area since the mid-1700s, when Thomas Lloyd – of whom Carr Mill’s original owner Thomas Lloyd is a descendant – purchased land near Calvander.
Shetley went to school in the same building where Town Hall is now located and attended first grade in the same room where, 60 years later, she served as a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen for eight years, taking a stand on controversial town policies that hold strong nearly 20 years later.
How she came to sit on that board is indicative of Shetley’s do-it-yourself way of approaching things.
In the 1970s, “I had something that I wanted to ask the town about,†Shetley recalls. She went to speak with the town manager, who told her he was too busy to deal with her question.
“That should not happen,†she said. So Shetley decided she would take matters into her own hands, becoming a part of the infrastructure of the town. Her first involvement in town government was as one of the founders of the Carrboro Appearance Commission.
“Two or three of us got together and went before the town board,†she said. “They consisted of men, old-timers.
“One of them said, ‘Aw, let’s let the women have some bushes,’†she recalled, and the appearance commission was born. These days, the commission is about far more than bushes, making recommendations to the board of aldermen regarding proposed developments and other projects.
Shetley was also instrumental in saving Carr Mill, which was set to be destroyed and replaced with a shopping center in the mid-1970s.
“The community got together and said, this is something that’s got to be saved,†she said. Without it, “I think the town would be entirely different.â€
She also served on the Board of Adjustment and chaired the Transportation Advisory Board, but eventually she grew tired of simply advising the aldermen on how they should act and decided to run for a seat on the board.
“If I got on the board, then maybe I could have a vote,†she said.
Elected to the board in 1987, Shetley immediately discovered the intensity of the job.
“You really have to do your homework,†she said, remembering the stacks of agenda materials she used to go through on weekends.
During her years on the board, she took on issues like connector roads, development and transportation, almost always determining not to make a decision on issues until after the public hearing.
“Why have a public hearing if you’re not going to listen to people?†Shetley said.
She has notebooks filled with newspaper clippings, letters and photographs from her time on the board and days gone by. Flipping through one such notebook, she came across a letter she received in 1994, when the board was considering extending benefits to domestic partners of town employees and providing a town registry for same-sex domestic partners.
“I can’t talk about this,†she said. “This makes me so mad. … People were terribly upset, and they talked so ugly about it.
“That’s one time that I knew the public hearing wasn’t going to change my mind,†she said. “I voted in favor of it, but I never said anything about how I was going to vote.â€
People were surprised by her vote, because she came from a family that might not have supported such a measure, she said.
“It was just the right thing to do, that’s all,†she said. “It was not political.â€
Shetley was also part of heated development discussions, as she was on the board when the Hogan family was trying to sell for development the land where their dairy farm was located. Residents came out in opposition of the development.
“People wanted to keep [the land] and enjoy it,†Shetley said. But the Hogan’s’ dairy farm was no longer profitable.
“They had been in the dairy business … a long, long time,†she said. “What do you want them to do?â€
The board initially voted down the development, 4-3, with Shetley siding with the developers, but an agreement was reached in mediation, and Lake Hogan Farms was built.
When Shetley left the board in 1995, she found herself with some free time on her hands, but she “filled it up real quick,†continuing her involvement with the town and other organizations.
As Carrboro moves forward, Shetley said, the town continues to face challenges with development and revenue.
“Taxes are a real problem,†she said, adding that she’s known several older residents who have been taxed out of their homes over the years.
“The thing about it is, we want a lot. We want good police protection, we want transportation … and yet we fuss about paying for it,†she said.
“We need more commerce – commercial buildings,†she said.
These days, Shetley stays involved with the Carrboro Community Garden Club, of which she is a founding member. She also finds herself spending more time at the Seymour Center and the N.C. Botanical Garden.
“There are always some classes to take,†she said, “things to learn.â€
But while she’s glad she served on the board, Shetley is happy not to be in the thick of it anymore.
“I must have liked it,†she said, laughing. “Looking back on it, I’m not sure why.â€