Chapel Hill News Endorsements

"Four for Town Council"

When Chapel Hill voters cast ballots for Town Council in a couple of weeks, they’ll be doing more than filling open seats on the town’s governing board. They’ll also be deciding the course of development of UNC’s Horace Williams tract, the future of downtown revitalization and other key issues.

This year’s Town Council race has been a fairly low-key affair because, unfortunately, no candidates emerged to challenge the mayor for re-election. But the issues couldn’t be greater, particularly town-gown relations and the development of Carolina North. The outcome of those negotiations will require a combination of firmness and accommodation on the part of our elected officials.

Given that context, The Chapel Hill News endorses the following for election to the Town Council on Nov. 4:

-- Sally Greene has been an effective participant in community planning activities, serving in recent years on the town Planning Board, on the Morgan Creek Valley Steering Committee, and on the Merritt’s Pasture Planning Committee. As a member of the Planning Board, she helped craft the town’s land use management ordinance and pushed for streamside protections, stormwater controls and creation of neighborhood conservation districts.

A lawyer, Greene says the town should go out on a legal limb and adopt an inclusionary zoning ordinance that would require developers to include affordable homes in their projects. She supports creation of an economic development office, as proposed by the mayor, to stimulate downtown revitalization.

-- Cam Hill would bring to the council a perspective that has been lacking — that of a Chapel Hill native who has seen a slow change from village to metropolitan exurb.

Since his unsuccessful race for mayor two years ago, Hill has dived into the trenches of local government policy-making, serving on planning committees for both the town and university on development of Carolina North.

Hill says the university should house more of its students on campus, thereby freeing up more housing in the community and reducing pressures on rent and traffic. He said the town gave away too much in its negotiation with the university over parking lots and a chiller plant on the edge of campus.

A downtown resident, Hill can relate to residents of Northside and other in-town neighborhoods subject to growth pressures and crime problems. He would set up an emergency tax fund to help people afford to stay in their homes.

-- In his four years on the council, Bill Strom has been the most outspoken council member on behalf of neighborhood interests against development pressure from the university and commercial sectors. He gained valuable experience, and some rapport with UNC, by serving on town-gown committees that negotiated the UNC campus development plan and the subsequent deal over parking decks and a chiller plant on campus (which he voted against).

He also served on the town’s Horace Williams Committee, which set out community priorities for how that property should be developed. And he has led planning for development of the town-owned parking lots downtown, which will be key pieces in the downtown revitalization effort.

-- Jim Ward also has compiled a solid record of accomplishment as a one-term member of the Town Council. As curator of the N.C. Botanical Garden, he has brought an environmentalist perspective to the council. He served on the Horace Williams Advisory Committee and has urged that UNC set aside natural areas in its development of Carolina North through a conservation easement or other binding commitment.

A university employee, Ward has demonstrated a willingness to go up against his employer on behalf of citizens, most notably when he chided the chancellor over widening of South Columbia Street and advocated on behalf of Elkins Hills residents over a university plan to build a garage and shop near them.

Chapel Hill News, Sunday, Oct. 19, Editorial, p. A8