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Town set to consider Carolina North agreement
The idea of building a campus on the University’s Horace
Williams property has been around since before most current Carolina
undergraduates were born.
In less than a week, that idea, which came to be known as
Carolina North, could experience a birth of its own.
On June 22, the Chapel Hill Town Council will consider a new
zone and development agreement for the University to build the Carolina North
campus under a far-reaching and cohesive plan. The agreement would have to be
ratified later in the week by the University’s Board of Trustees in a special
meeting.
At their May meeting, trustees left little doubt about their
longtime interest in pushing forward with the project.
Some trustees, including Nelson Schwab, joined the board
eight years ago when planning for a new academic campus was gearing up. They
would have the satisfaction of ratifying the development agreement as their
final official act before leaving the board – if the town council
approves the agreement on June 22.
During a meeting of the trustees’ Building and Grounds
Committee, Schwab asked Carolina North Executive Director Jack Evans to venture
a guess about the odds of that happening.
Carefully measuring his words, Evans said, “I wouldn’t want
to have to handicap that race.”
However, Evans said the broad spectrum of interactions over
the past year signifies a heightened level of cooperation and communication in
the town-gown relationship. Those interactions range from the countless hours
of collaboration between the planning staffs of the University and town to
joint meetings of town council members, key University trustees and Chancellor
Holden Thorp.
Board of Trustees Chair Roger Perry and Bob Winston, chair
of the Building and Grounds Committee, have been at the center of those
discussions. Both men praised Evans last month for his leadership in guiding
the process to this point.
Perry quipped that he believed there was a 100 percent
chance that the town would approve the agreement and commended the town for
having acted in a “very reasonable and responsible manner” in working with the
University to get to that point. University officials and town council members
have met almost monthly to negotiate several key issues.
Thorp has described Carolina North as the place where the
University’s future will unfold as Carolina seeks to meet the challenges of a
new century.
As a mixed-use campus, it will serve as a home for ideas and
a place where the University’s research scientists can turn their ideas into
real-world solutions by working in partnership with private companies. It will
also be a place where other academic units, beginning with the School of Law,
can grow.
Finally, planners are intent on making Carolina North a
model of sustainability.
Evans said that two chancellors and a number of trustees had
invested a great amount of time and good-faith effort in negotiating the
agreement and it was important to get to closure.
He reviewed the development plan pertaining to 643 acres of
the 949-acre tract that is within the town limits of Chapel Hill, although only
250 acres would be subject to development during the next 50 years.
The development agreement to be voted on next week would
govern the construction of 3 million square feet of building space during a
20-year period, Evans said.
In the current budget climate, no building projects are
likely to start right away, however, even if the development plan is approved.
The Innovation Center, a business accelerator for start-up
research companies that was originally planned as the first building on the
property, has been delayed by its private developer.
Similarly, plans for a new building for the law school,
which was expected to cost more than $100 million, was put on hold in the face
of the state’s growing budget crisis.
The town council held a public hearing Monday evening as the
Gazette went to press.
For information about Carolina North, refer to cn.unc.edu. |
