
{"id":26019,"date":"2012-05-24T11:02:33","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T15:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=26019"},"modified":"2012-05-24T11:02:33","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T15:02:33","slug":"residents-praise-criticize-2020-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/05\/24\/residents-praise-criticize-2020-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents praise, criticize 2020 draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>CHAPEL HILL \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0Following the release of the latest draft of the Chapel Hill 2020 plan, residents spoke both in praise and critically of the draft, offering several hours of public comment before the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill 2020 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new comprehensive plan \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was launched last fall as a process to reexamine the vision for the town and craft a plan for what Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future should look like. From the outset, one of the primary goals of CH2020 leaders was to involve a large, diverse group representing all niches of the community, which they have seemingly accomplished through wide outreach. <\/p>\n<p>The plan was intended to serve as a planning and visioning document creating a framework for the community to guide the council in managing the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future over the next decade. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting down to the wire on the plan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s timeline, which proposed that the final document be ready in June. <\/p>\n<p>The document, available at chapelhill2020.org, lays out six themes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0A Place for Everyone; Community Prosperity and Engagement; Getting Around; Good Places, New Spaces; Nurturing Our Community; and Town and Gown Collaboration. For each theme, the plan identifies goals and an action plan.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the themes and correlating action plans, CH2020 includes six \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Future Focus\u00e2\u20ac\u009d discussion areas \u00e2\u20ac\u201c downtown, north Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard\/I-40, south Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard\/Homestead Road to Estes Drive, N.C. 54, north 15-501 and south 15-501 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with key considerations, action steps and community comments for each.<\/p>\n<p>The future focus exercises have drawn criticism from some members of the public, who said the resulting maps and documentation were not representative of all residents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 views. <\/p>\n<p>Amy Ryan, a member of the Chapel Hill Planning Board, said she felt the plan would provide the town little guidance in making decisions going forward. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The process was too quick and the discussion too diffuse to produce concrete results we can apply to town decisions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We never had the opportunity for the hard discussions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill resident Janet Smith urged the council to view the document as a work in progress, noting that the plan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vision statement \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fails to mention the single defining characteristic of Chapel Hill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c namely that we are a university town.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The university defines our very existence,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she continued. <\/p>\n<p>A number of residents and stakeholders spoke to the council in praise of CH2020, noting, in particular, its success at reaching a large number of residents. <\/p>\n<p>Whit Rummel said he viewed the plan as a jumping-off point for the town. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m excited and enthusiastic about the role this plan is going to play in Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the quicker we get moving on the next stage of this, the more exciting it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Council member Gene Pease said he thought the plan did a good job of representing the goals and values of the community, but that he would like to see a plan laid out for the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s next actions. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do we do with this from a council policy point of view would be very helpful,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.  <\/p>\n<p>Council member Matt Czajkowski said he felt CH2020 was the most exciting thing that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seen happen in Chapel Hill since he joined the council, noting the level of community engagement. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a huge burden now as the council to take all of that enthusiasm, all of that commitment and \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the hopes and dreams of the community and shape it into a more defined and specific vision,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. The next step, he said, is for the council to look at the various areas identified for development or redevelopment and to create small-area plans. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We will be able to say we know how we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to grow,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Czajkowski added.<\/p>\n<p>The final plan will come back before the council for approval on June 25. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the release of the latest draft of the Chapel Hill 2020 plan, residents spoke both in praise and critically of the draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26020,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26019\/revisions\/26020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}