January 2012

The Chapel Hill 2020 team invites the public to “Future Focus,” work sessions scheduled Feb. 15-16 at the UNC-Chapel Hill Friday Center to explore ideas about growth, change and visualizing our community in 2020.

The input and results of the work sessions will be incorporated into the ongoing Chapel Hill 2020 planning process. Chapel Hill 2020 is the community-wide effort to create a new comprehensive plan. The Chapel Hill visioning process is open to all residents – and others who live, work, play, study and invest in Chapel Hill.

The February special event will include facilitated roundtables focused on areas of potential growth.

Participants will look to the ongoing Chapel Hill 2020 conversations for ideas about potential types of change.
Participants will explore the fiscal trade-offs for the scenarios. There will be opportunities for the community to comparee scenarios and identify preferences.

The work sessions and analysis will be led by Seven Hills Town Planning Group Inc. and Urban Collage.

“Future Focus” community modeling and visualization sessions:

• Wednesday Session: The work session from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, will be held in Trillium A of the Friday Center. The session will include an overview of current conditions in the community, a discussion about growth areas and a focused exploration of the future vision for downtown. Participants can expect to learn and share their vision for where change could happen and what change might look like in Chapel Hill.
• Thursday Sessions: Two identical work sessions will be offered on Thursday, Feb. 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again from 6 to 8 p.m., both in Trillium A of the Friday Center. These sessions will be facilitated “roundtables” focused on areas of potential growth. Participants will evaluate growth areas, using several scenarios as a starting point, and propose their ideas about potential types of change. The scenarios will include financial information, current conditions and potential changes based on the Chapel Hill 2020 process.

Participants’ input will be collected and analyzed after the work session and the results will be shared at the Chapel Hill 2020 meeting scheduled for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at Estes Hills Elementary School.

The community will have an opportunity to consider the analysis of the work session results, including fiscal trade-offs. They will compare new scenarios, identify preferences and make recommendations to the 2020 process. After the Feb. 23 meeting, information will continue to be available for review and reaction to the work session materials.

For Chapel Hill 2020 meeting materials and news updates, visit the website at www.townofchapelhill.org/2020

To catch the latest comments and posts, visit the blog: www.2020buzz.org

Please help us involve more people who care about our community in planning its future. Contact compplan@townofchapelhill.org or 919-969-5068.