AGENDA # 5

TO:                  Chapel Hill Town Council

                        UNC-Chapel Hill Trustees/Chancellor

FROM:            David Owens

RE:                  Issues to be Addressed in Town Review of Carolina North Development Proposal

DATE:            October 22, 2008

Extensive discussions over the past several years have served to identify many of the critical issues to be addressed in Town review of the University’s Carolina North development proposals. The Horace Williams Citizen Committee (HWCC) reports identified key issues and proposed principles, goals, and strategies for the property. The Leadership Advisory Committee (LAC) further addressed principles to guide development of the property.

The Council and Trustees have concurred that the current Carolina North discussion should build upon rather than replicate this prior community, Town, and University work. The additional background data and analysis requested in these prior discussions is now complete or nearing completion. The ecological foundation studies are complete and will be formally submitted by the University next week. The University has revised its long range development plan and will also submit that next week. The consultant reports on fiscal impacts and transportation are nearing completion and will be submitted over the next six to eight weeks.

The Joint Staff Work Group (JSWG) recommends that you proceed to:

1. Identify the range of issues to be addressed.
2. Discuss where the Council and Trustees believe there is general consensus on issues (recognizing that even for consensus issues detailed provisions will likely need to be included in a development agreement) and identify those key issues where substantial discussion is needed to secure agreement.
3. Agree to a process for Council-Trustee discussion of those issues that need substantial attention. The JSWG proposes that for those issues staff will prepare and distribute prior to the Council-Trustee work sessions a short briefing paper on each such issue. Each briefing paper will summarize the issue, note the HWCC recommendation on the topic, note how the LAC dealt with the issue, and include other updated information or analysis as warranted. The Council-Trustee discussion of those issues would then guide the staff work in drafting appropriate provisions in the development agreement and ordinance text.

Two items are appended to assist in this discussion. The first is a preliminary list of issues to be addressed. This is an updated version of the list included in your Sept. 25 meeting packet. The second is a matrix prepared by Jack Evans that lists each of the principles from the HWCC report, how those issues were addressed during the LAC work, and the status of those issues at completion of the LAC work.

Appendix 1 Preliminary List of Carolina North Issues to be Resolved

Appendix 2 Background for Discussion of Carolina North Review Process