September 2012

Public Information Session: Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard Focus Area [Morning Session]

The Town of Chapel Hill invites the community to participate in information sessions about zoning opportunities for the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard area.

To reach as many residents as possible, meetings with identical presentations will be held on Thursday, Sept. 20, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Church of the Holy Family, 200 Hayes Road.

Current community discussions about the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard area are being initiated by the Town of Chapel Hill as part of its work to implement the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan. In a collaborative community process, residents and Town staff will identify appropriate form and zoning regulations in and near Ephesus Church Road and Fordham Boulevard. Technical assistance with the focus area initiative will be provided through a $20,000 grant to the Town from the Mayors Innovation Project.

At the Sept. 20 meeting, the Mayors Innovation Project consultant team, comprising Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Hazel Boyrs of PlaceMakers, will present information about zoning opportunities for the area. All community members are invited to participate in the process and share their ideas. It is anticipated that the consultant team will return to Chapel Hill to present their initial recommendations for community consideration.

The 123-acre area surrounding the intersection of Ephesus Church Road and Fordham Boulevard was the subject of an earlier study adopted by the Town Council on Feb. 28, 2011. The Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard Small Area Plan, led by the Town's Economic Development Division, defines land future land uses and offers solutions to the transportation network to encourage reinvestment.

The focus area is located near the intersection of Ephesus Church Road and Fordham Boulevard and extends from South Elliott Road to north of Ram's Plaza. It was one of six areas included in Future Focus community discussions that took place in spring 2012 during the development of the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan. The plan focused on areas most likely to change in the future due to vacant land, underdeveloped sites, and their location along transportation and transit corridors.

Questions and ideas are welcome. For those unable to attend the information session, there will be opportunities for future involvement. To be added to the email distribution list for the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard Focus Area, contact compplan@townofchapelhill.org or 919-968-2728. To find more information, visit www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?page=1656

Date: 

Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 8:00am to 9:30am

Location: 

Council Chamber, Chapel Hill Town Hall

Public Information Session: Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard Focus Area [Evening Session]


The Town of Chapel Hill invites the community to participate in information sessions about zoning opportunities for the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard area.

To reach as many residents as possible, meetings with identical presentations will be held on Thursday, Sept. 20, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Church of the Holy Family, 200 Hayes Road.

Current community discussions about the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard area are being initiated by the Town of Chapel Hill as part of its work to implement the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan. In a collaborative community process, residents and Town staff will identify appropriate form and zoning regulations in and near Ephesus Church Road and Fordham Boulevard. Technical assistance with the focus area initiative will be provided through a $20,000 grant to the Town from the Mayors Innovation Project.

At the Sept. 20 meeting, the Mayors Innovation Project consultant team, comprising Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Hazel Boyrs of PlaceMakers, will present information about zoning opportunities for the area. All community members are invited to participate in the process and share their ideas. It is anticipated that the consultant team will return to Chapel Hill to present their initial recommendations for community consideration.

The 123-acre area surrounding the intersection of Ephesus Church Road and Fordham Boulevard was the subject of an earlier study adopted by the Town Council on Feb. 28, 2011. The Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard Small Area Plan, led by the Town's Economic Development Division, defines land future land uses and offers solutions to the transportation network to encourage reinvestment.

The focus area is located near the intersection of Ephesus Church Road and Fordham Boulevard and extends from South Elliott Road to north of Ram's Plaza. It was one of six areas included in Future Focus community discussions that took place in spring 2012 during the development of the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan. The plan focused on areas most likely to change in the future due to vacant land, underdeveloped sites, and their location along transportation and transit corridors.

Questions and ideas are welcome. For those unable to attend the information session, there will be opportunities for future involvement. To be added to the email distribution list for the Ephesus Church Road-Fordham Boulevard Focus Area, contact compplan@townofchapelhill.org or 919-968-2728. To find more information, visit www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?page=1656

Date: 

Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location: 

Church of the Holy Family, 200 Hayes Road

Orange County delegation photoblog

Here are a few photos of and by the Orange County delegation at the DNC here in North Carolina.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

First Impressions of Bloomington and Inter-City Visit

If you've followed the wealth of tweets that have come out of this first day of the Inter-City Visit you know that three groups of participants got up early this morning and made our way to Indiana by bus, plane, and bus again. We took a bus tour of Bloomington, had an opening reception, and then split into groups to have discussions about housing, downtowns, sustainability, education, and the arts. Over 60 members of the Bloomington community joined us for these conversations.

Here are my impresssions so far.
- Many of the buildings downtown and on Indiana University's campus are made of locally quarried limestone and are really lovely.

- Bloomington has a very large downtown that is laid out in a much more grid-like configuration than Carrboro or Chapel Hill.

- Bloomington is home to IU and is the county seat and has a lot of associated reasons to bring folks downtown.

- Bloomington City Hall is located in a renovated factory (the Showers Factory) that is very attractive.

#ICV2012 Day One

Today 70 Orange County residents traveled to Bloomington, Indiana for a Inter-City Visit to learn how their community deals with challenges related to public policy, student housing, economic development, and other questions. These trips are only as valuable as the information we bring back to Orange County, and I hope that through my tweets, posts on Orange Politics, and work when I return to Chapel Hill, I can provide insights into our trip and improve our community.

Most of the first day was travel from Chapel Hill to Bloomington. I started the morning by boarding a shuttle bus from University Mall at 7:00 AM, and didn’t arrive in Bloomington until 2:30 PM. That being said, I already have ideas and thoughts about how we can improve Chapel Hill based on experiences in Bloomington.

Charterwood Setting Terrible Precedent

Sent to the Chapel Hill Town Council on 9-10-12:

 

Dear Chapel Hill Mayor and Town Council:

 

I wish to thank those of you planning to vote against approval of the Charterwood development on September 12, 2012.  It shows your recognition of the terrible precedent being set by the developer’s legal maneuver of merely recombining property tracts in order to circumvent neighborhood rights associated with the protest-petition.

 

Joint meeting of BoCC and both school boards

SAPFO isn't perhaps the most interesting topic the BoCC deals with, but it will become critical if we have to stop all development in town.  Agenda (link below) for our joint work session with the county and both school systems includes discussion of some modifications to SAPFO.

 

Date: 

Thursday, September 13, 2012 - 7:00pm

Location: 

Southern Human Services Center

Inter-City Visit to Bloomington - Day 2

The 2nd day of our Inter-City visit was really fascinating, with interesting presentations and lots of good dialogue and ideas. We started with a panel discussion on economic development. Some tidbits from that discussion:

Historic Political Campaigns in N.C. (Conference at UNC)

North Carolina political junkies can immerse themselves in Tar Heel politics past and present during a conference Sept. 14 and 15 at Wilson Library at the Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The event will feature talks about ten political campaigns in the state from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Registration is $10 per person.

 

Date: 

Friday, September 14, 2012 - 12:30pm to Saturday, September 15, 2012 - 1:00pm

Location: 

Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The county reckons with new-fangled technology

Tonight the Orange County Commissioners had a work session including two items related to technology. In the first, a consultant from the UNC School of GOvernment (how many of those are there?) presented Strategic Information Technology Plan which prioritized investments in tools for citizen engament and delivery of services. They also heard a brief update on the county staff's attempt to make agendas more electronically accessible through clean, searchable PDFs.

Pages

 

Community Guidelines

By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.

 

Content license

By contributing to OrangePolitics, you agree to license your contributions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

 
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.