ATTACHMENT 8

From: James Carnahan
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 12:58 PM
To: Town Council
Subject: Carolina North Planning

Mayor Foy & Council Members:

I write as a member of the Leadership Advisory Committee and resident of Carrboro who is concerned about the potential impacts of the Carolina North development on our community.

I watched the Wednesday, January 23 Public Hearing session on the Carolina North Master Plan. I fully agree with comments made to you by Joe Capowski about housing at Carolina North.

 While I believe the Carolina North development could have many positive outcomes for our community, I fear those outcomes could be significantly undermined if Carolina North does not provide far more housing than is being currently proposed, and provide it concurrently and proportionately as Carolina North develops. Affordability of housing in our community would be adversely affected and there would be a potential for significant commuter CO2 emissions added to Orange County's already large 49% contribution from transportation.

The Chapel Hill Horace Williams Citizens Committee Report recommended that development at Carolina North should include housing for 25% of the workforce. The Council has adopted this report as policy, and I think 25% should be the barest minimum of residential units to be included at the site and built concurrently with employment facilities. The current proposed 5 year and 15 year plans from the University appear to provide units to house no more than 5 to 10% of the on-site workforce & student population.

The University's presentation identified some "Common Themes" for developing the plan for Carolina North. One is "Designs will support a sustainable, high-efficiency campus." I think an important component of the intention to be "sustainable" has to be the principle that the University (or any developer of a project of similar magnitude) must identify and address potentially unsustainable off-site impacts of the project.

Carolina North will have a multiplier effect and create jobs beyond the campus. That could expand by a factor of 2 or 3 the potential 2000 jobs associated with the first 600,000 square feet of Carolina North employment facilities. In other words, the first 5 years of Carolina North development will possibly attract 4000 to 6000 new households, exacerbating the impacts on housing affordability and CO2 emissions I listed above. (Depending, of course, on the extent to which Carolina North employs current residents in the community.)

Sincerely,
James Carnahan
Carrboro, NC
25 January 2008