The intersection of Alabama Avenue and Jones Ferry Road is the first impression of Carrboro for visitors entering town from Highway 54. It is important to the Central Business District and the Farmer's Market that this section of Jones Ferry Rd makes a good first impression. This is the Gateway to Carrboro.

In their continuing mission to confuse the hell out of me, the Town is holding a meeting for "neighborhoods" to comment on the draft 2020 plan. Do they mean people who live in neighborhoods? If so, isn't that everyone in town? What is this really?

The Downtown Partnership and Chamber of Commerce were invited last fall to submit their goals for Chapel Hill’s Comprehensive Plan for publication on the Town’s official Chapel Hill 2020 blog. Although we were not personally invited, the editors of OrangePolitics decided to compose our own list of goals and priorities, which we have submitted this morning for publication on the Town website. What's YOUR vision for Chapel Hill's future?

The comprehensive plan is Chapel Hill’s guiding vision. In the past it has been used to guide land use policies and other programs, and in the future it is expected to also directly influence the Town’s budget. It has never been more important to articulate a clear vision of a Chapel Hill in which we all hope to live. As much as we love Chapel Hill, and look back fondly on the days we first came to know this wonderful community, we also accept the fact that more people fall in love with this town every day and growth is an inescapable part of our future. The choice before us now is not whether to grow, but how.

Many general principles are broadly held by most residents in and around Chapel Hill. It’s good to protect the environment, to have a diverse community, to teach our children well. But where we don’t all agree is how best to make these things happen. The Comprehensive Plan needs to address these difficult issues if it is to be of any use in guiding future decisions. The hard discussions about these areas of difference have been notably absent from the 2020 process, but we are ready to have them. To that end, we offer the following suggestions as starting points for real conversations about our future.

In the context of concern about development of neighborhoods proximate to Carolina North, about last night's (3/20) session: 

A threat?  There's much to be wary of, not the least the strong implication that unless we accept fairly sweeping increases in commercial use and density in the very near future along MLK, Estes, 15-501 and 54, we will bring down the wrath of economic gods on us -- making property values plummet and real estate taxes skyrocket.  Of course, the consultants do not use such threatening terminology, and words like "modest" obscure the true extent of alterations in critical neighborhoods. 

The next few days will see the Carrboro, NC newspapers full of pictures of happy-clappy family folk merrily planting what appears to be a community garden, in peaceful protest of controlling corporatist America, and in the name of Carrboro Commune, whose stated ambition is ostensibly no more than to invite casual passers-by to partake of herbs and fragrance.

Walmart Submits Plan for Northeastern Chatham County Location
Posted Date: 3/2/2012

Chatham County received a site plan today for a second Walmart location in Chatham County, a 148,400-square-foot, full-service store off of US 15/501 just south of the Orange County line. Walmart's official statement said that the store will be part of its Buildings Sustainable Value Network, with a focus on energy-efficient design and operations.

"Walmart's announcement of a second store in the county means approximately 300 new jobs and we need every one of them," said Commissioner Chairman Brian Bock. "Given how many of our residents must commute outside the county to work, often for long distances, this is very good news."

Last night, the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to set June 30, 2013, as the closing date of the county’s municipal waste landfill, and to pursue a costly interlocal agreement to ship our trash to Durham’s waste transfer station.