Carolina North
Wow. I don't know if I was the cause of it or if it was already planned, but even without having Mr. Moeser over for coffee, there is a great op-ed in the Chapel Hill News. (Source Here)
I credit her for speaking eloquently about the need for this development from a personal and professional level. In a way, this seems similar to Councilman Matt Czajkowski's call for more development to support Chapel Hill. As a parent, who wants involved professors teaching my kids, I understand her plea for a place to work near her research.
I continue to say that I would prefer Carolina North to almost any other use I can imagine for this property. If something has to be built - and it does - this is the best use. We just have to make sure that this land is used best.
Just got an info item that will be on the Chapel Hill Town Council's agenda tonight. Apparently the "Innovations Center" is on next week's agenda (1/23/08), but of course the Council needs to know about the plans for Carolina North to understand the context for this first building. So UNC proposes to toss off a presentation about the Carolina North Master Plan at the same meeting and then go on with presenting the concept plan of the Innovations Center.
I would think the Town would need a moment to actually comprehend the plan before trying to understand something that is supposed to fit into it. But of course that would assume that UNC actually wants
elected officials, staff, or citizens of Chapel Hill (and Carrboro) to analyze, understand, or respond to anything they're doing.
It sounds like UNC's plan is just to do a quick presentation, and listen to public comment at this meeting - with one week's notice - and then just go along their merry way building the first phase Carolina North without any substantial input from the community.
As part of their annual planning retreat this weekend, the Chapel Hill Town Council will be holding a special planning session with UINC officials to discuss Carolina North. The meeting is open to the public, although no public comment will be allowed. I haven't been able to find an agenda or list of attendees, all I know is that it's from 1 to 5pm Sunday at the Southern Orange Human Services Center on Homestead Road.
From the Town eNews (which isn't archived online, grr):
Stated goals for the Sunday meeting are to engage Town and University representatives in a shared discussion about Carolina North. They will identify common interests and decide how to address those interests.
The concept plan for UNC's Innovation Center, a.k.a. Carolina North Stage One, will be presented to the Chapel Hill Town Council in a few weeks. I still think they're jumping the gun by planning this without the big picture vision in place.
On Jan. 13 -- the day after the town concludes its annual planning retreat -- town and university leaders will meet to share information on Carolina North. Evans said it will be the first time some members of the Town Council hear ideas about the development directly from the university.
So far, no part of the approximately 250 acres on the Horace Williams Tract that university officials have tentatively outlined for development has come to the Chapel Hill Town Council for review. That will change on Jan. 23 when the council is scheduled to receive a concept plan for the Innovation Center, a business incubator touted as the first building on the new campus.
"I don't know whether it sets a tone or not," said Chapel Hill Town Councilman Jim Ward. "But 2008 in my mind is going to be the year I'm anticipating some piece or some form of Carolina North will become more real than it is today."
Given that UNC is proposing to build the Innovation Center on MLK Boulevard as the gateway to Carolina North without having submitted their plans for the entire campus, we should all be watching this development closely.
I only live a mile away from where this will be built, but unfortunately I can't go to this "community meeting" next week (I have a date with a Congressman that night). Hopefully some of you will go and report back on what they're up to.
The University and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. are planning the Carolina Innovation Center on the Carolina North property at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and the former Municipal Drive. The Innovation Center will provide an environment where innovation-based companies affiliated with the University can turn laboratory concepts into viable businesses.
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