Council OK’s Innovation Center

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The Chapel Hill Town Council unanimously approved a special-use permit for the three-story, 80,745-square-foot Innovations Center, the university’s first project at Carolina North.

The vote came after several months of negotiations between the town, UNC and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., the university’s partner in the project who will build, own and operate the center.

University officials said they were eager to get on with the project, especially since they have a partner willing to move forward even in light of the slowing economy. Since it will not be owned by the university, the center will be added to the town’s tax rolls.

The approval of the center comes while the town and university officials continue to work on an overall development plan for the first two phases of the Carolina North project, which are estimated to include three million square feet of building space.

Before granting approval of the permit, town council members said they wanted to make sure they had a clear understanding of how a development agreement on Carolina North would affect the project.

Council member Laurin Easthom said she was concerned about what would happen to the stipulations the town put into the Innovations Center permit once agreement on the overall development plan is reached.

University architect Anna Wu said the building would then become part of the larger Carolina North project.

The special-use permit approved includes language that would require the stipulations to be carried over to the project.

Although the permit was approved, there were several points of contention, including a discussion about energy efficiency that led to a brief, sharp exchange between council member Jim Ward and Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor of facilities and planning.

Ward pressed the university to commit to a higher energy-savings standard than proposed. When Runberg offered an alternative, Ward said he did not want to get into “horse trading” when it came to measures on global warming and climate change.

“If we are concerned about global warming and climate change, then doggone it, let’s make this innovative,” he said.

Runberg said the university has a solid record on energy efficiency and would likely surpass the goals set for the building.

Another point yet to work out is how much the university will pay into the town’s stormwater utility.

Easthom said she wanted to see the university pay into the utility just as any other developer. In addition to infrastructure, she said, the fund helps cover the costs of community-wide programs, such as information campaigns and soliciting public input and involvement.

University officials have said they intend to participate in the program, but the level of contribution to the fund has yet to be worked out.

Asked about how the new building will affect nearby Horace Williams Airport, Runberg said its construction would not lead to the closing of the airport.

Previous university-commissioned reports on the airport have said that construction in the area where the center is to be built might affect instrument approaches under Federal Aviation Authority requirements.

In other action, the council:

• received a technology update, including an early look at the design and functions in a proposed update of the town’s website;

• modified the town’s affordable-housing policy to allow for a payment-in-lieu of all or part of a development’s affordable-housing requirement.