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Since University trustees approved a new campus plan last month, University
officials have been talking with the town of Chapel Hill about amending or
removing regulations that could block or delay some of the $1 billion worth of
construction projects scheduled for completion over the next decade.
Even before the master plan was completed, Chancellor James Moeser set up a
series of joint town-gown meetings to allow both sides raise their respective
concerns about growth-related issues. The third of these meetings was held on
April 18 and dealt directly with a series of proposals and counter-proposals
that the town and University have made to each other over the past
month.
And on April 23 the Chapel Hill Town Council voted to approve an
accelerated schedule of actions recommended by Rosemary Waldorf, the mayor of
Chapel Hill, that by Oct. 1 will establish a process for approval of actions
related to Carolina's master plan.
"We were pleased with the strong support of the council for this
accelerated program," said Jonathan Howes, chair of the master plan Executive
Steering Team. "It will be a big help to the University in meeting its capital
needs."
In an April 17 letter Moeser wrote to Waldorf in preparation for the
meeting the next day, Moeser outlined a series of actions that the University
would be willing to take to help the city deal with the rising costs associated
with providing services to a growing University.
Among the steps he outlined were:
Selling some off-campus properties the University owns to return them to
the town's tax rolls. This would include some holdings along Franklin Street,
which could be turned into storefronts that would contribute to a more dynamic
downtown.
Hiring a third-party professional who would look at all the issues related
to "fiscal equity" in a fair and impartial manner.
Helping the town to find acceptable sites for new public schools,
including the possibility of sites on the University-owned Horace Williams
property off Airport Road.
At the same time, Moeser reiterated the importance of reaching a "mutually
acceptable resolution" of all zoning and regulatory issues in a speedy
fashion.
Moeser's letter had been written in response to an April 9 "statement" from
Town Council that asked the University to submit a detailed development plan so
that the town could gauge the impact of growth on the town in an array of from
public transit to parking to the need to build more public schools. The Town
Council also asked that the University present strategies in would use to
lessen or "mitigate" the financial impact on the town.
The need for regulatory relief
At the April 18 meeting, Moeser said the sticking point in all this
is that the University and town are both looking from different directions.
"Regulatory relief is our issue, fiscal equity is yours," Moeser said.
The most pressing of those issues for the University is the rezoning of
property north of Mason Farm Road that would allow for the construction of
student family housing and the modification of a special use permit that the
city issued when then Smith Center was built.
The amendment the University is seeking would allow married student housing
to be built in the buffer zone created to separate the campus from nearby
neighborhoods.
The failure to get quick clearance from the city to begin construction on
the married housing units would have a domino effect of interrupting plans to
build new undergraduate residence halls and renovate existing ones.
The town has said that it wants the University to add on-campus housing to
accommodate the addition of 3,000 students to limit the impact on the town. In
order to that, Moeser said, the University needs the town's help through these
zoning changes.
At the same time, existing city law puts a tight lid on the amount of
building space that the University is allowed and that lid has to be removed
before major projects such as the new Science Complex can begin.
The current law allows 14.1 million square feet of floor space. The
University is already close to the limit with 13.7 million square feet of
buildings in place or already under construction. The huge construction program
planned over the next 10 years requires a higher limit be set.
Waldorf presented a proposal for a development plan through which the town
would permit the University to build everything it has planned over the next
ten years, plus an additional 10 percent of square footage. The plan would also
have a provision that would allow for additional square footage to be added if
the need arises.
Joint town and University groups met for the first time on April 23 to
begin work on the new ordinance provisions.
"We will work together to try to meet the objectives of both parties," said
Jonathan Howes, special assistant to the chancellor and chair of the master
planning process.
In addition to planning and zoning issues, fiscal issues will be addressed.
Nancy Suttenfield, the University's vice chancellor for finance and
administration, and Chapel Hill Town Manager Cal Horton were designated to
address these matters.
Waldorf and other members of the town's team said their proposal does not
seek to impede the University's desire to expand, but it does call on the
University to help the town prepare for and pay for some of the costs the town
will bear as the University grows.
`Devil in the details'
Richard Stevens, a University trustees who former served as the Wake
County manager, said it was important that the town not try to link its fiscal
demands to the speedy resolution of the zoning questions that the University
was seeking.
In his remarks, Moeser made it clear that he thought that the various
issues should be worked on simultaneously, but one process should not be held
hostage to the other, he said.
"The devil is in the details," Moeser said.
In its request for a development plan, for instance, the town was asking
for everything from a traffic impact analysis to parking strategies to
"impacts" on storm-water runoff and air quality and noise and what "mitigating
strategies" the University would employ to keep them under control.
How detailed did they want the data to be? Moeser asked. And what would
happen, he wanted to know, if the town expected data the University simply did
not have to provide them?
Council member Kevin Foy told Moeser that the town's interest is not in
impeding the University's growth but to know what's coming so they can
anticipate the costs of providing the array of municipal services that a
bigger, more populated campus will require.
But Richard "Stick" Williams said he was disappointed that town officials
had focused so much attention on negative impacts without looking at all the
many benefits the master plan will foster for the town, from the arts corridor
to an environmental plan that seeks to limit storm-water runoff.
Foy acknowledged that the master plan does all of these things, but he also
said that the community has expectations for the University that are as high as
the University sets for itself.
"Certainly the University needs to be applauded for the work that it's
done," Foy said.
In her remarks at the April 18 joint meeting, Waldorf set the town of
Chapel Hill and the University have between them 200 years of shared history,
most of them harmonious, Waldorf said.
"We value living next to you," Waldorf said, but she said she would not be
a good mayor if she did not focus on the importance of making sure the city can
provide the services that contribute to making Chapel Hill a beautiful,
interesting and safe community.
"It's a good place to live," she said.
Moeser said that he and Waldorf may disagree on the fiscal impact that the
University has on the town, but they agree on the importance of working
together to both assess and address that impact.
When town officials looks at the University, they focus on the financial
burden of providing city services to it. They do so because it's their job to
do so, Moeser said. But when he looks at the University, he sees an economic
engine, not only for the town, but for the Triangle area and the state. And
it's his job to keep that engine running.
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