UNC
Faster than a eigth-year senior. More powerful than an 800-pound gorilla. Able to leap over local government in a single bound. Look, up on Airport Road... It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Carolina North!
Yes, tonight UNC officially unveiled it's long-awaited "draft" plans for a gigantic new campus to be built on the Horace Williams property. I have a cold and I'm tired so I'll try to be brief. Pardon any goofyness, typos, etc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 22, 2003
Cam Hill to Explain UNC’s Pursuit of his Cameron Ave Property
Cam Hill, newly elected member of the Chapel Hill Town Council, is in negotiations with UNC regarding the possible sale of his property at 606 Cameron Avenue to the university.
The sale of Hill’s house to the university has caused much discussion, confusion and misinformation. With this in mind, Hill is announcing a press conference to explain all details of the deal and to answer questions about his negotiations with the university. The press conference is scheduled for 3:00 pm on Monday, November 24 at Hill’s 606 Cameron Avenue property.
Briefly, in Hill’s own words, this is the story: “Negotiations started about 5 years ago when the university approached me about buying my Cameron Ave. property, which is located between two parcels owned by UNC. Negotiations ended when I rejected the university’s offer. At that time, UNC officials told me they wanted the property for a future inter-modal transport station, a place where people would get off trains and onto buses.
Breaking news! UNC has announced that they will begin an 8-year clean-up process for the former chemical waste dump at the future site of Carolina North. I would suggest we should take this announcement (below) with a grain of salt since it comes straight from the horse's mouth.
From a UNC press release:
The universitys consultants, Arcadis Inc., will plan and manage the soil clean-up efforts expected to take up to eight years and cost an estimated $10.4 million as part of the Registered Environmental Consultant (REC) Program managed by DENRs Inactive Hazardous Site Branch. Under the program, the university and DENR enter into a three-part administrative agreement with Arcadis, which supervises the clean-up according to state standards.
Well some folks are starting to get pretty worked up over the story of Cam trading property with the University. So let's discuss. I know emotions are high around this issue, please keep it civil!
The Chapel Hill News reports today that Town Council Member-Elect Cam Hill made a deal with the University to trade his house on Cameron Avenue for a nicer one on Rosemary Street. I think there are two issues here (correct me if I'm wrong). (1) Is Cam being hypocritical for criticizing the University and it's associates, and then cutting a deal with them? And (2) should this deal have been disclosed before the election?
Many folks, including Eric Muller at IsThatLegal.org, have taken issue with the fact that this deal was kept quiet for six weeks leading up to the election. However, I'm not convinced that this constitutes a "conflict of interest." (And yes Eric, there is a recall provision, ask Joe Herzenberg about it.)
The N&O reports that UNC is considering getting much more involved with commercial properties downtown. It sounds promising, but it raises some serious concerns. And I'm still a litle suspicious about the Mayor's hand-picked "steering committee" that has superceded the long-standing Downtown Commission.
As Chapel Hill officials focus on revitalizing downtown, UNC-Chapel Hill administrators are floating an idea that could give the university a large role in where shops, restaurants and businesses would go. ...In recent weeks, Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor of business and finance at UNC-CH, has been touting the concept of using a university foundation to invest in commercial real estate, with the notion of keeping the properties on the tax rolls and creating an opportunity to control how key buildings are used.
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