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LETTER: Chapel Hill 2020 beyond flawed

Posted on March 1, 2012February 29, 2012 by Staff

After attending a recent “Future Focus” workshop as part of the continuing Chapel Hill 2020 process, I find myself in the company of so many who are both disheartened and outraged by a progression of events completely and blatantly slanted toward accommodating certain developers and their big-box projects.

Throughout this whole 2020 process, the pro-development agenda shamelessly marches along as if all the citizen-participants and stakeholders have agreed this is the best path for the town. At the same time, environmental and neighborhood concerns don’t make it past the theme groups into the more significant reports beyond useless generalities that will have little impact on the new comprehensive plan itself. Citizens with environmental concerns get white boards full of broad environmental goals; the pro-development juggernaut gets five sites already earmarked as best for development. It’s patently absurd how obvious a farce this process is. It’s clearly designed to swiftly trash any environmental protections for the southern area found in the current comprehensive plan in order to expedite getting the bulldozers gassed up and out to Obey Creek as soon as possible. The “just ignore the environmental and neighborhood concerns as if they had never been voiced” strategy is working so well, they barely try to even hide it anymore. I’d laugh at what a joke this process is if not for the fact that it probably means the destruction of the environmentally sensitive area that is Obey Creek, as well as demolishing the quality of life in the small neighborhoods surrounding it.

Considering this, the deliberate agenda being pushed in CH 2020 isn’t funny, not by a long shot.

Joe Buonfiglio
Chapel Hill

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