Planning & Transportation

Town Council scheduled to receive 2020 Plan on May 21

Chapel Hill 2020, Carolina North: Serious Questions

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. 

Lining the corridors?  The dice are heavily loaded in favor of thinking first in terms of transportation corridors to serve commercial interests and on that basis planning neighborhood changes to best serve those corridors.  This is being framed as if it's the rest of the town saying "leave us alone and just develop along 'major corridors."  A politically savvy spin, pitting potential NIMBYs against each other, but there's more going on than that.

Chapel Hill 2020 Process Changes Directions

Chapel Hill town manager Roger Stancil opened tonight’s Chapel Hill 2020 meeting by describing where we are in the process. As part of that description, he mentioned that the town was moving out of the “intensive engagement” part of the process and into the “refine and review” process. Tonight’s meeting and some recent developments in the process seem to clearly point out that this is indeed the case.

Commissioners Delay Transit Vote Past Primary

The Orange County Board of Commissioners again considered transit earlier this evening at its biweekly meeting. After a litany of other agenda items, county planning director Craig Benedict outlined a timeline for placing the transit tax on the ballot. At the remaining work session and regular meeting in March, the commissioners will presented with information on the cost sharing for the regional transit program and agree to some conception of it. In April, the town will hold two public meetings and draft the official transit plan for the country. 

Walmart Submits Plan for Northeastern Chatham County

This press announcement has been making the rounds today:

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."

According to Walmart, the average hourly wage for its regular, full-time employees in the state is $12.39 per hour, as of October 2011. This does not include benefits. Walmart's statement said that more details on job opportunities will be available toward the end of the construction phase.

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.