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University, town hashing out differences on Carolina North

Posted on January 15, 2009January 15, 2009 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Chapel Hill — Housing, transportation and stormwater fees were among the topics discussed at a weekend Carolina North retreat by the Chapel Hill Town Council and town planners.

During the four-hour briefing and policy discussion at the town’s Operations Center Saturday, council members reviewed negotiations with university planners and officials, fleshing out concerns as the two sides continue to hammer out a development plan for the roughly 630 acres in Chapel Hill’s jurisdiction. (A joint meeting on the plans was due to begin Wednesday night as The Citizen went to press.)

In its discussions on the next phase of negotiations, council members discussed how to draft an ordinance to handle as much as three million square feet of new buildings on the site. The two sides are scheduled to have a development agreement before the council by summer.

Highlights from the discussions included:
• Housing — After reviewing housing plans, council members explored but ultimately rejected a proposal by council member Matt Czajkowski to ask the university to consider undergraduate housing at Carolina North. Council member Jim Ward said housing for employees, including service employees, should be included.

• Land preservation — Council members discussed requiring that certain key natural areas be put under preservation or that permitted uses for those lands be very limited.

• Energy — Council members wanted to see more information from the university on building standards, how energy would be generated and where utility lines would run. Czajkowski said the university’s plans to use methane from the landfill should be encouraged. Ward and others said they want to make sure that the university doesn’t convert a power generation station to coal once that source runs out.

• Transportation — The council agreed to insist that no northern access road be built on the site. University officials have said they may want to reserve a route for a northern connection with Weaver Dairy Road Extension.

• Stormwater — Council member Bill Strom said the university should pay fees into the town’s stormwater utility just as any other developer would.

In an interview Wednesday, UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees chair Roger Perry said he does not think UNC should participate in the town’s stormwater program for the main campus since it is mostly downstream of the town’s stormwater system. But he agreed that some participation, including paying fees, should be worked out for Carolina North.

Perry also said that he agrees that housing at Carolina North should not include undergraduates. Housing, he said, should be focused on graduate students and researchers, as well as junior faculty and employees.

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