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Carolina North plan approved

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Chapel Hill — After nearly three decades looking at various options and more than a year of intense negotiations and discussions on the latest plan, the Chapel Hill Town Council approved an agreement with UNC that clears the way for developing the Horace Williams tract.

The plan calls for developing about 250 acres of the 1,000-acre parcel deeded to UNC by Williams, who was the first chair of what became the university’s philosophy department. The development would take roughly 50 years to complete with the first 15-year phase containing about 800,000 square feet of new floor space.

To get to an agreement, town and university officials crafted a unique zone for the Chapel Hill portion of the property, an idea first explored in the early 1990s. The new zone — dubbed University 1, or U-1 — works in tandem with a development plan agreed upon by the two sides to manage construction and build-out on the site.

Town Manager Roger Stancil reminded the council that the development agreement is a “living document and a brand new way of doing business.”

He acknowledged that to reach the agreement, both sides had to shift their thinking from a one-time shot at setting requirements such as might be done for a special-use permit to the idea of an ongoing process.

“It’s an agreement built on processes that continue on for the life of the development, not just a one-time requirement,” Stancil said.
Chancellor Holden Thorp said he was very happy with the terms of the development agreement and underscored that the university will strive to live up to its commitments on transportation planning, greenway access, conservation and other areas.

“I don’t have the slightest hesitation in agreeing to participate in those terms for as long as this development agreement is in effect, and I give you my commitment that the university is part of this living process that we’ve devised,” Thorp said.

Janet Smith, speaking for Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth, said since the agreement requires feedback the town will need to make certain that public input continues. Smith said NRG, which has held neighborhood meetings and worked extensively providing feedback on the plans, was especially pleased that the group’s efforts had led to positive changes in the plan, including more emphasis on alternatives to automobile transportation to the site and better monitoring of how additional parking and building space will affect traffic in the surrounding area.

Final, unanimous approval of the plan proved a bit anti-climatic, with representatives of town and gown offering little comment beyond their gratitude to negotiators and in some cases lingering amazement at how well the process played out.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees is scheduled to take up the development agreement in a meeting today (Thursday).

The trustees must sign off on the latest version of the development agreement. They previously approved a plan for the build-out of the first phase of the campus and last year gave the go-ahead for construction of the 80,745-square-foot Innovation Center, the first building at the new campus. The center will be located near the Town of Chapel Hill’s former public works facility near the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Piney Mountain Road.

In other action, the council:

• heard an update from Stancil on federal stimulus money. Stancil reported that the town has received about $3.75 million in grants for public housing, transit and parks and recreation. The town also has an application for $144,000 in grants in process and is preparing additional requests for grants totaling $584,000;

• approved a request from the Downtown Partnership that would allow for a “beer/wine garden” to be set up at partnership-sponsored events at the James C. Wallace parking deck;

• set a public forum for Oct. 12 on the town’s long-range transportation plan and;

• authorized the use of federal grant funds to help create a regional bus service between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro to be operated by Chapel Hill Transit.

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