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Ask people around Chapel Hill what they know about the Horace Williams
tract, and few could probably say much more about it than it has an airport.
Ask University officials about the same property, and they would likely tell
you it is 979 acres of sloping woodlands where much of the University's future
will unfold over the next century.
Ask Adam Gross, a consultant with Ayers Saint Gross who has drafted "concept
plans" on how to develop the Horace Williams land, and he will talk of an
extraordinary opportunity that no other university in the world can match.
On Nov. 30, Gross and his team of consultants met with members of the Horace
Williams Advisory Committee to present an interim report that detailed some of
the possibilities.
The land, which extends about two miles in length, has been described as a
"glass waiting to be filled with purpose, promise and innovating thinking." As
it is taking shape now, that thinking calls for the creation of a workplace for
some 25,000 people and a home for some 3,000 residents. Education and research
envisioned here includes the areas of biotechnology and genomics.
The Nov. 30 presentation covered the gamut -- from building locations to open
space to street networks to the kind of mixed-use design that will allow people
to work and play and even shop close enough to where they live to be able to go
about their day without getting into a car. Buildings that people would need to
get to on a routine basis would be located within a five-minute walk.
The land's value is enhanced by a location that makes it easily accessible to
both the main campus and Interstate 40.
To the east of the property is Airport Road, which is now four lanes from I-40
to downtown Chapel Hill.
To the south, the property is bounded by Estes Drive, a major east-west
connection between Franklin Street, Airport Road and Carrboro.
Homestead Road wraps around the northern and western flanks of the site and
leads to several nearby public schools. Also on the west is a rail corridor
that runs through Carrboro to the University cogeneration facility on West
Cameron Avenue. This corridor could serve as a future transit route.
More land left natural
The concept plan put forward by Ayers Saint Gross and presented to the
advisory committee last month calls for much less land to be developed than did
a plan drafted two years ago by JJR Inc., a landscape design, engineering and
environmental firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ayers Saint Gross is the Baltimore-based architectural firm that has also been
spearheading work on a new master plan for the main campus that is near
completion and could be approved by the University Board of Trustees as early
as January.
The Ayers Saint Gross plan calls for a narrower, more compact street network
that will leave more land in a natural state.
The JJR study identified 550 acres of the tract as developable. Ayers Saint
Gross calls for developing only 295 acres. The plan also proposes that 59 acres
be developed as public open spaces.
The street network would be contained inside a winding oval that loops around
on the west, with the ends to the east emptying onto Airport Road to frame the
main entrance.
Like the property itself, the loop would run east to west. Gross said the
curves in the road were designed not for aesthetic effect but in order to keep
natural slopes as undisturbed as possible.
The network of streets and open spaces would form the framework for five
distinct "precincts," each with its own distinct identity and functions.
The "East Precinct" would adjoin Airport Road and be located on the present
site of the Chapel Hill public works and bus facility. It would be designed as
a stand-alone research campus. Seven distinguished buildings would frame an
open space along Airport Road similar in look and dimension to McCorkle
Place.
The "North Precinct" would feature a northern entrance from Homestead Road,
which would create access to the site from I-40. The proposed plan calls for
six large research buildings and four parking garages fronted by retail shops
on the ground level.
The "Hilltop Precinct" would be organized around a linear open space that
starts at a transit bus stop and extends out toward an open landscape. A town
square surrounded by retail buildings is planned for the transit stop. The
western edge of the precinct may be reserved for multi-family residential
buildings.
The "West Precinct" is planned as predominantly residential and would be
designed to capitalize on both the transit system and an existing elementary
school and high school located immediately to the north, as well as a middle
school under construction in the area.
The "Central Precinct" is envisioned as a traditional neighborhood with a grid
network of streets. The linear-shaped precinct would be organized around three
public spaces: a crescent-shaped park marking the town center, a seven-acre
recreational park of softball fields and tennis courts surrounded by commercial
and residential buildings, and a parkway that would run along the dedicated bus
lane.
The Central Precinct would lie between the two east-west connector streets and
the two north-south streets that provide access to the North Precinct.
Perhaps the best way to envision the scope of the project is to compare its
concept plan to what already exists on the main campus.
The plan calls for creating about 8.25 million square feet of building space,
with 5.8 million square feet for instruction and research, 2.3 million square
feet for residences, 120,000 square feet for retail space and about 30,000
square feet for civic and community space.
Existing buildings on main campus total 13 million square feet.
Next steps
A key question left to be answered is how the University would pay for
it all. Susan Ehringhaus, vice chancellor and general counsel, said that will
be the next step. The task of figuring out how much money will be needed and
where it might come from will fall to Stonebridge Associates Inc., a consulting
firm hired to perform program opportunity and financial analysis.
Another important step will be to present the plan first to the University
community and then to townspeople and business leaders to see what they think
of it.
In the weeks leading up to the Nov. 30 meeting, several newspaper stories
appeared that suggested town leaders might not be consulted about the plan
before it was presented to the University trustees for consideration in
January.
Chancellor James Moeser and other University officials have made a concerted
effort to set the record straight.
In fact, town leaders and staff in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been briefed
on preliminary plans, said Jonathan Howes, special assistant to the chancellor
for local relations.
Detailed work had to be done in order to make sure each facet of the plan made
sense before it was presented to the public for review and possible revision.
There had never been any intention to present the plan to the trustees in
January as has been reported, Moeser has said.
Committee members agreed at the end of the Nov. 30 presentation that the plan
was ready for viewing before a wider audience.
"The sooner we get this out the better," said Sue Estroff, the chair of the
faculty who serves on the Horace Williams Advisory Committee. "It's ready for
prime time."
Estroff's wish will soon be fulfilled, as the next steps will be community
meetings on and off campus, Howes said.
The advisory committee consists of administrators, faculty, staff and students
and was created more than two years ago by the late Chancellor Michael
Hooker.
The committee has been led by Ehringhaus, Howes and business professor John P.
"Jack" Evans, who recently ended a stint as interim vice chancellor for finance
and administration.
Nancy Suttenfield, the new vice chancellor for finance and administration, will
now join Ehringhaus and Howes as co-conveners of the committee.
Moeser, on the same day the committee met, named Evans to fill a new role as
special assistant to the chancellor on the Horace Williams tract. In this
capacity, Evans will work with the committee in formulating its recommendations
for the tract and in receiving input from the University and town
communities.
Evans also will return to his post as Ruth and Philip Hettleman professor at
the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
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