AGENDA #10
MEMORANDUM
TO: Chapel
Hill Town Council
FROM: Mayor Rosemary Waldorf
SUBJECT: Update on University Discussions and
Proposed Statement to the UNC Board of Trustees
DATE: January
22, 2001
The purpose of this memorandum is to update the Town
Council on the status of discussions with University officials, and to request
the support of the Council in presenting a statement to the University Board of
Trustees.
I suggest that the Town Council endorse the attached
statement, with agreement that it be transmitted to the University Board of
Trustees and the Chancellor. I plan to
attend both the University Trustees meeting in February and the Trustees’
workshop on the Master Plan in February.
Board Chairman Cates will give me an opportunity to present the
statement and make brief remarks at the February Board meeting.
As you know, the University has engaged the services
of a consulting firm, Ayers Saint Gross, to prepare a master plan for the
development of the University’s main campus and a master plan for development
of the Horace Williams tract. The Council has received a briefing on the main
campus master plan. A forum will be
held in the Council Chamber on February 5, 2001 to receive a briefing on the
master plan for development of the Horace Williams tract.
The University also is working on plans to carry out a $550 million dollar construction program using funds authorized in the recently approved state bond referendum.
On October 23, 2000 I reported to the Council that I intended to appoint a Mayor’s committee to begin a process of identifying and addressing issues of mutual concern for the Town and the University. (Please see the attached memorandum). Subsequently, I appointed Mayor pro tem Pavao and Council Members Foy and Strom to serve with me.
We conducted our first meeting with Chancellor Moeser and members of his staff on December 13, 2000 (please see the attached draft summary minutes) and expect to conduct our next meeting during the week of February 5, 2000, although a firm date has not been established.
A Chapel Hill resident who serves on the University Board of Trustees, Richard Williams, participated in the first discussion as a University representative. We understand that Trustee Richard Stevens may participate in future discussions. I am pleased that members of the Board are willing to devote time to this work, and thank them.
I am also grateful that Chancellor Moeser has agreed to work with us to identify key issues and seek mutually agreed upon resolutions. I believe that these discussions will be of significant long term benefit to both the Town and the University.
I respect the responsibility of the University Trustees and the Chancellor to plan for and build the facilities that the University will need to carry out its mission of service to the people of North Carolina. I trust that the University Trustees and the Chancellor respect the Council’s responsibility to protect the community and the environment as development occurs within our Town borders.
It is in this spirit of mutual respect that I offer the following statement for consideration by the Town Council.
Statement of
The Chapel
Hill Town Council
to
The Board of
Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
January 22, 2001
As the University Board of Trustees once again meets on this campus and in this community to consider important decisions vital to the well-being of this University, the Chapel Hill Town Council extends its welcome. The Council also asks for the attention of the Trustees to several issues that we consider to be of great mutual interest.
Growth is occurring on this campus and in this community and we are all making plans for how best to manage it. The University has engaged the services of a consulting firm, Ayers Saint Gross, to prepare a master plan for the development of the University’s main campus and a master plan for development of the Horace Williams tract. The University also is working on plans to carry out a $550 million dollar construction program using funds authorized in the recently approved state bond referendum.
In a spirit of cooperation and information sharing, a Town-University Committee was recently formed, made up of the Mayor of Chapel Hill and three other Council members, along with Chancellor Moeser and members of his staff. We are grateful to the Board of Trustees for your representation on this group as well. We had a productive first meeting on December 13, 2000.
The Committee was able to come to one agreement quickly - - that we all value the quality of life in Chapel Hill, and see preservation of that quality as essential to the long-term well being of both the University and the community. That agreement is an important starting point for us.
The relationship between the Town and the University regarding matters of land use is an issue that needs more discussion. The Town Council respects the University’s responsibilities to plan, to build, and to carry out projects important for the University’s future. At the same time the Town Council has responsibility, under North Carolina law, to see to it that development of buildings on University land within the corporate limits of Chapel Hill complies with Chapel Hill zoning regulations. Part of the Council’s responsibility under the law is to make sure that, as development proceeds, there is an analysis of the impacts on the community and the environment, and that undesirable impacts are mitigated to the extent reasonable.
To illustrate this point at the December 13 meeting of the Town-University Committee, the Mayor described the information that normally is considered when the impacts of a development proposal are being evaluated. Potential negative impacts of greatest concern to the Town Council and the community are related to traffic, parking, stormwater management, the environment and fiscal concerns. These issues affect the entire Chapel Hill community as growth occurs, whether that growth is on the University campus or elsewhere in the community.
We believe the record clearly demonstrates that the Town’s careful approach to mitigating the adverse impacts of growth has been successful in protecting the community and the environment, and that the University has benefited from the quality of life that has resulted.
The Town and the University now face a challenge in that campus growth has risen nearly to the maximum floor area (14,059,034 square feet ) originally established two decades ago in Chapel Hill’s zoning ordinance. The limit is being approached at the same time that the University is undertaking the largest program of building projects in its history, carrying out the bond program authorized in this past November’s referendum.
We recognize that adjustments of the Town’s development ordinance to address the maximum floor area and the process for review of proposals are key concerns of the University. We want to work through the Town-University Committee to address both of these concerns, and to do so in a timely manner.
As we understand it, the University intends to build, with the approved bond package, new construction on the main campus costing $226,123,000 within the next 7-10 years. It is obvious that such a building program cannot be carried forward without concern for potential adverse impacts on the community and the environment. The Town Council is charged by law to assess and mitigate such adverse impacts to the extent reasonable. We believe that the University also wishes to mitigate such adverse impacts.
It is for this reason that we asked at the Town-University Committee meeting for help from the University in assembling the information needed to assess the impacts of proposed development. The impacts of projects in the bond program are of most immediate concern; and, we need to understand how the bond projects fit into the University’s master development plans for the main campus and the Horace Williams tract.
Although members of the community and the Chapel Hill Town Council have been exposed to the University’s evolving master plan for the main campus, the Town Council has not been invited to influence it in a specific meaningful way. The Town Council has been provided no information about the master development plan for the Horace Williams tract.
We understand that the University Trustees are moving toward adoption of a campus master plan, and believe it essential for us to point out key situations to the Trustees as illustrations of our concerns:
3. The Major Investment Study now
being conducted of the US 15-501 traffic corridor will be completed about May
1, 2001. This study will evaluate
options for transit corridors and transit technology to serve Chapel Hill and
the University, as well as Duke and Durham.
Until the study is completed and the various entities involved (Chapel
Hill, Durham, Triangle Transit Authority, NCDOT, UNC and Duke) have reached agreement,
we will not know which transit corridors may be feasible.
4. The University plan makes assumptions about Manning Drive that the Council would question. We think Manning Drive might well be re-designed as an urban street that better accommodates pedestrians and dedicated bus lanes while continuing to accommodate cars. We also are concerned about how Tar Heel Express transit service will be provided to the Smith Center.
5. The University's re-design of the south campus calls for significantly increased density. While the plan suggests improved beauty and livability, we are concerned that there are negative impacts on nearby private properties and that not enough attention has been given to avoiding or mitigating these impacts.
These illustrations focus on the southern precinct of the University’s plan, because most of the community’s comments to date have been focused on this portion of the plan. Other concerns may need to be addressed as citizens begin to understand the impacts of the plan on the community and the environment.
Accordingly, the Town Council requests that the University defer final action to approve the proposed campus master plan to allow further discussions to take place through the Town-University Committee. We believe that the Committee should be allowed reasonable time to identify key issues and seek mutually agreed upon solutions. This was the charge of this Committee. Further, we believe that these discussions will be of long-term benefit to both the University and the Town and we engage in those discussions with that objective.
We respect the responsibility of the University Trustees and the Chancellor to plan for and build the facilities that the University will need to carry out its mission of service to the people of North Carolina. We trust that the University Trustees and the Chancellor respect the Council’s responsibility to protect the community and the environment as development occurs within our Town borders.
We look forward to continuing our discussions.