Update: This meeting is not open to the public. Apologies for the error.
This afternoon, UNC is hosting an informational meeting about Carolina Commons at 3:30 pm. This is a development on Homestead Road with a number of housing units for UNC faculty. This proposed development will go through Carrboro's review process. I urge anyone interested in the Carolina North development to attend.
Carolina Commons is an attempt to provide housing close to the University so faculty won't have to drive so far. I'm encouraged that they're at least starting to address the widespread concern about future traffic and congestion problems. It's only a start though - there will be lots of University staff and workers at CN that won't live in this new development.
Meeting location – the Global Cup Cafe in the new Fed Ex Global Education Center. The Center is located on the corner of Pittsboro and McCauley St. in Chapel Hill. It is next door to the School of Social Work and behind the Pharmacy School. Directions below.
Chancellor James Moeser described some of UNC's vision in a Sept 2005 posting on UNC's Community pages:
“About 60 percent of Carolina faculty and staff live outside of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and we know from surveys that some of them would like to live here. For many, housing prices in this community have precluded their owning a home.
We intend to build new housing for UNC faculty and staff on a portion of a 63-acre tract that we own close to Carolina North.â€Â
…
“As I told the Board of Trustees this week, if we do this well and do this right, it will inform the process for what we plan to do on a larger scale at Carolina North.From a practical standpoint, increasing the number of UNC employees living within the Chapel Hill Transit service area is key to our transportation strategy. We know, too, that campuses thrive when faculty and staff are positioned to easily and naturally include the campus and surrounding areas in their non-work activities and time.
While salary is most often cited when talk turns to faculty/staff recruitment and retention, quality of life, too, is a strong factor in the equation. Meeting the expectation of faculty and staff that they might actually be able to afford to live and raise their families near their campus home would benefit the university.
For those faculty and staff members who are choosing to drive to Carolina because cost has represented a barrier to homeownership in the area, we want to provide Carolina Commons as a viable alternative to longer commutes.â€Â
- http://www.unc.edu/community/chancellors_column_9_05.html
This meeting is in a coffee shop, rather than a lecture hall or other academic setting, UNC's usual custom. Maybe this will foster more interactive communication…
Directions to meeting from Franklin St:
Turn LEFT onto S. Columbia St. from Franklin St. Follow the road through a couple of lights, it will force you to go right, and then take a LEFT turn onto Pittsboro St. you will pass the Carolina Inn on your left. At the next light, you will see the UNC Fed Ex Global Education Center building in front of you.
Some background on the meeting location:
Press Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/fedex052306.htm
Their website: http://gi.unc.edu/aboutus/
Issues:
Comments
I never heard anything about
I never heard anything about this, but hoepfully I will be able to swing by today.
Yes Robert, kind of
Yes Robert, kind of percolating then bam! Sometimes the dead of Summer can be a big time for UNC development proposals.
A quick reminder on next weeks CN Community Outreach meeting: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. (School of Government, room 2603)
The agenda (and press release the CHN had) are NOT available as of yet on the research.unc.edu/cn website. I understand the the draft design document that will be presented to the UNC BOT this week is either nearly or completely finished (depending on whom you listen to).
As long time observers of the UNC development process well know, the BOT can accept or completely modify the underpinnings of this report. Their response, especially considering the recent resurgence of AHEC as part of the calculus, will serve as a signpost towards this Fall's final proposal.
Two other quick comments.
One, I appreciate UNC doing the outreach but it would be GREAT to get the proposal and the BOT agenda in a timely fashion (like before their meeting).
Two, as we roll towards the end-game on this pass of the CN proposal, UNC's community outreach efforts would be well-served by having MORE meetings with the community, releasing MORE information as it comes available instead of waiting for the meetings and use MORE technology - like GoogleEarth - to help folks visualize the impacts on the HWA site.
Here's the Google Map link.
Here's the Google Map link. It's the stainless steel looking place to your left as you travel south down Pittsboro. Parking? Good question.
Sorry guys, this is a
Sorry guys, this is a misunderstanding. Today's session was not planned as a public info session, rather, it's to brief members of Friends of Bolin Creek on the Carolina Commons plans in regards to Bolin Creek.
So read the post and follow the links, but please don't go downtown for the meeting.
Thanks for clarifying,
Thanks for clarifying, John.
There is no meeting this afternoon. We are planning to meet for a cup of coffee and show a few members of Friends of Bolin Creek the plans for Carolina Commons per their request.
The Global Cup is a lovely place (and locally owned), but not appropriate for any kind of meeting that involves more than the folks who can fit around a small table - there are other people having similar meetings there and we would be very disruptive of their work if we were to have any kind of gathering.
In terms of Carolina Commons, we have submitted a concept plan to Carrboro but it is in staff review and has not progressed to advisory boards. We are in the process of responding to staff comments.
That being said, if anyone is interested in the plan, please let me know directly and I can fill you in or be sure you know when we have something ready for Carrboro to consider. My email is Linda_Convissor@unc.edu. We're very excited about taking our first steps towards offering faculty and staff housing but we still have a lot of program details and design issues to work out.
Linda Convissor
Thank you for the
Thank you for the clarifications John and Linda, I was just headed out the door.
Linda, would you consider posting the same material you're providing the Friends of Bolin Creek somewhere on UNC's website? Or, I'd be more than happy to host it from citizenwill.org. It would be nice to see what ideas are being developed, even if they're in a very early stage (bite size pieces) instead of trying to consume a big chunk at the end of the process.
Carolina Commons has moved
Carolina Commons has moved to advisory boards in Carrboro as of August 2:
http://www.unc.edu/community/carolinacommons.html
The connectivity issue with the Colleton Crossing project which abuts the Carolina Commons property is a critical issue. The entire northern area of Carrboro and Chapel Hill has been and continues to look like one enclave next to the other.
The environmental issues of both projects need to be carefully considered as well as both projects impact Bolin Creek and its tributaries. In the current drought it is easy to overlook the threat that development of low lying, wet lands areas can adversely effect the creek and also the homes of those who have already built in the area. The fear is of flooding for those homes and the further destruction of the creek.