planning
Does anyone remember how all those charts and graphs of Carolina North never showed much about what lies outside the campus -- i.e., the rest of the town and county? I remember thinking, "hey, the world doesn't end along the MLK/Airport Rd. median strip!" Town planners seemed much exercised about the general town-wide impact of CN, but there seemed to be a general shrug about the impact on proximate neighborhoods except from the point of view of bus and bicycle lanes.
Back in June, you may recall that I wrote a blog post (and a commentary on WCHL) about that month's planned decision by Chapel Hill Town Council on the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for Triangle Transit's proposed light-rail line connecting Durham and Chapel Hill. To recap briefly, the two choices are (a) running the light-rail line through a transit corridor reserved when Town Council approved Meadowmont in 1995, with a station right in front of the Harris Teeter on Meadowmont Lane; or (b) running the light rail line down the south side of NC-54 with a stop in the proposed Hillmont development (formerly known as Woodmont) just east of Barbee Chapel. For various reasons, the decision was delayed, but it's coming up again.
Don't like what I'm writing on Chapel Hill 2020? Well there's good
news. The town recently launched a new blog, 2020 Buzz, which will keep you
abreast on all the changes in the process if you don't find my reporting
sufficient :) Here's the good news on the blog: it provides another avenue
to have your voice be heard. You can comment on virtually anything once you
navigate away from the main page and you don't have to been a fancy Wordpress
whiz to figure out how to do it. I think it can also be harnessed to be a
wonderful tool for disseminating information. I would encourage the town
to use a lot of multimedia if possible. People respond to images and videos in
ways that they don’t respond to text, and I know a lot of people out there
learn better through pictures and graphics than they do through words (myself included).
Earlier this evening the first meeting of Chapel Hill 2020’s
leadership team was held. So far there seems to have been much confusion on how
the whole planning process will work, so I’m going to try to clear that
muddiness up with all my newfound knowledge.
As many of you know, the Chapel Hill 2020 planning process
is getting underway. This new Comprehensive Plan for Chapel Hill will affect you—the roads you drive on, the places you work, the parks you
visit, etc. so it’s important that you share your perspective to help the town
craft the best vision possible. The more perspectives included in the plan, the
more accurately the plan will reflect our community’s diversity, so be sure to
contribute!
The town has already publicized seven different ways to get
involved. You shouldn’t feel limited by this list, but it serves as a great
jumping off point:
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