Thank you for a thorough and accurate reporting of the discussion of the new 2020 comprehensive plan.
The planning board especially appreciates your correct reporting that we had extensively reviewed and submitted recommendations on previous drafts of the plan. The final plan incorporated most of our recommendations, which were accepted by staff, and the revised document was the one approved by council.
There were only two additional changes that were up to the council to enact – one was the “sample citizen comments†on the Future Focus maps. We advocated for objective descriptions rather than comments that were tilted one way or the other. As an example, the downtown comments included, “Downtown could primarily support 4-6 stories with some 8-12 story buildings on Franklin and Rosemary Streets.†This was one comment chosen out of many; some comments with the opposite view, suggesting a more small-scale village-type approach, were made as well. One can only imagine the furor if the comments referenced and codified in the Future Focus chapter were those less growth-oriented remarks! The planning board requested that subjectivity be removed.
The other change involved the implementation process. Without implementation, there is no plan … only a vision document. For example, if a proposal is presented in September, when council returns, I wonder if they will have a clear path on how to proceed.
The planning board’s charge is to prepare and recommend revisions to the Comprehensive Plan for the physical development of the town. The tremendous amount of extra work and dedication put in by the volunteer planning board, many of whom faithfully attended all the 2020 sessions as well, ultimately improved the adopted plan greatly and we are proud of our work.
Del Snow
Chair, Chapel Hill Planning Board