TABLE OF CONTENTS |
FRONT PAGE
| NEXT ARTICLE |
PREVIOUS ARTICLE |
UNC HOMEPAGE
Editor's note: The following question-and-answer with University Chancellor James Moeser examines his thoughts on town/gown relations and what they mean to implementing the campus master plan.
Q Relations between the University and the Town of Chapel Hill were strained
recently when some of the University's supporters in the state Senate pursued
legislation that would have exempted Carolina from local zoning authority and
allowed the University to move ahead with the implementation of the campus
master plan without the town's approval. You and the University Board of
Trustees supported that effort. The legislation since has been withdrawn at
your request. Why did you change your position, and why -- ultimately -- is
maintaining good relations with the town so important to the master plan?
A We asked the Senate to withdraw the special provision that would have
eliminated the town's authority over the campus for the following reasons.
First, the town decided that it would be possible after all for us to submit
our development plan as a single package for one up or down vote, rather than
in nine separate parcels. They did not make that offer until the proviso was
submitted. Second, I received strong assurances from the mayor that the will
was there on the council to pass the ordinance and approve the development
plan. Finally, while we have demonstrated that we have the capability of
legislative remedy, we are all best served if the process of negotiation is
allowed to work. Ultimately, the process itself is important in our
relationship with the town as we learn to trust each other and to respond to
the other's concerns in an atmosphere of good faith.
Q What is the importance of the master plan to current and future University
faculty, staff and students?
A The master plan is absolutely critical to the future growth and development
of the University. It is a wonderful land use plan that will help in the
building of community on the campus. It is environmentally sensitive; it will
provide design guidelines for future construction, traffic, parking, stormwater
and other critical planning issues. The bond issue provides for three new
buildings and renovations of many more. In addition, we are building on-campus
housing for our undergraduate and married students. Without the master plan, we
would move into a period of major construction one building at a time, with
potentially chaotic results. With it, we can take a visionary look forward at
the next 50 years, and it offers a striking view of how the campus should exist
to meet the needs of students, faculty, staff and the community. It is a vision
worthy of a public university aspiring to be America's best. The master plan
and the controlled, responsible growth it envisions will make Carolina more
beautiful, efficient and intellectually vital.
Q The Chapel Hill Town Council is scheduled to vote July 2 on whether to
permit a new zoning classification that would allow the University to move
ahead with implementing the master plan. Many Carolina employees are local
residents. What would you say to them -- as local residents -- to reassure them
that it would be in their best interest for the town to approve the new
classification and that the town and University will move ahead as partners?
A The plan respects a community that is every bit as much an asset to the
University as the University is to the community. The community will benefit
from the plan. One anchor is an arts corridor better linking Franklin Street
and merchants with arts enthusiasts visiting an expanded Ackland Art Museum,
the Institute for Arts and Humanities, a new performing arts center built
around a renovated Memorial Hall and a new music library. Likewise, the
community will benefit from strict attention to environmental concerns such as
reducing stormwater running downhill into the community. The campus will become
more beautiful as this plan is realized, adding to the quality of life for all
of us.
Q The town is concerned that campus growth as envisioned in the master plan
might outstrip its ability to provide services such as fire protection and
traffic and stormwater management. What will the University do to address those
concerns?
A We recognize that the community has legitimate questions about the impact of
our development. We are supplying the town all data and supporting information
that we have. We will explain that the doubling of square footage in a building
does not compute into a doubling of people and cars. For example, take the
current expansion of the pharmacy school. Available square footage there is
being doubled to permit people cramped three and four to a room to move into
better spaces. That story will be repeated over and over as we build new
buildings.
Q One issue of particular concern to the town and local residents is a new
southern access route to campus off U.S. 15-501 included in the master plan.
Residents in the area see this as an encroachment on their property. What is
the University doing to address their concerns? How -- if at all -- would the
town benefit from this project?
A It is true that the University needs to acquire about at least four parcels
of land in the Mason Farm Road area in order to begin construction of new
student family housing and also to construct a new southern entry to connect to
U.S. 15-501. However, for the remaining neighbors in this area, what we propose
will not be instrusive. The new housing will be residential scale,
apartment-style buildings, appropriate to the border with a residential
neighborhood. The campus edge will be clearly defined along this roadway, with
a green space separating the campus from the neighborhood. When this is
completed, I believe that we shall have enhanced the neighborhood.
Q The master plan was developed over three years with extensive input from
Carolina faculty and staff as well as the community. A town/gown committee also
has been formed to help smooth the way for the plan's implementation and to see
that the town's concerns are heard. How -- if at all -- has that input shaped
the plan?
A We've tried to be responsive. Some of the major changes we've made that
reflect community input are that we've moved buildings and a chiller plant back
from the edges of neighborhoods, and we'll phase in the southern access road
over a number of years.
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
FRONT PAGE
| NEXT ARTICLE |
PREVIOUS ARTICLE |
UNC HOMEPAGE