AGENDA #4h

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

FROM:            Council Committee on Northeast Entranceway:

                        Council Member Lee Pavăo

                        Council Member Flicka Bateman

                        Council Member Kevin Foy

SUBJECT:       Interim Report and Proposal for Design Competition

DATE:             June 26, 2000

The purpose of this memorandum is to suggest to the Council that the Town sponsor a Design Competition this fall, for the purpose of identifying possible development scenarios for the Northeast Entranceway (formerly referred to as the “Gateway” area).  A resolution is attached which would set this process in motion.

BACKGROUND

This Committee (comprised of Council Members Pavăo, Bateman, and Foy) had its origin in the Council’s desire to negotiate with Blue Cross Blue Shield about plans to expand operations in Chapel Hill.  That negotiation led to a decision by the Council to rezone land at the corner of US 15-501 and I-40, a collection of parcels previously known as the “Gateway” site (so named after a proposal in the 1980’s to develop a shopping center on the site).  The intent of the rezoning was to create a regulatory context that would allow Council consideration of an expansion of the existing Blue Cross Blue Shield Special Use Permit.

Blue Cross Blue Shield subsequently made a corporate decision not to expand operations in Chapel Hill.  This Committee was asked by Mayor Waldorf to continue meeting, to discuss how best the Council might articulate its vision for development of this key entranceway corridor.

DISCUSSION

The competition, with discussion/selection was structured as follows:  The Committee would review entries, and highlight what it considered to be the most promising designs for the Shortly after the Committee resumed meeting, it became clear that development questions existed in this corridor not only on the southeast side of 15-501 (Blue Cross Blue Shield side), but also across the road on the Eastowne side.  A Special Use Permit that had been approved was expiring, and no applications were pending for a previously approved Master Land Use Plan.  We concluded that any effort to articulate a vision for the “Gateway” side of this entranceway should also include study of the Eastowne side.

As we discussed means to help the Council in its consideration of these properties, we were reminded of the successful effort undertaken a few years ago for the Lot 5 property downtown.  In that case, the Town contracted with Professor Peter Batchelor from the N.C. State School of Design to conduct a workshop.  Local designers participated in a one-day event, which resulted in a number of conceptual development plans for the Council to consider.

We contacted Professor Batchelor, and engaged him in discussion about the possibility of doing something similar for the Northeast Entranceway area.  It became immediately clear that a design task focused on this area would be significantly more complex than Lot 5, due to the much larger area and multiple properties (30+ properties in the subject area).  But we believe the concept here is still workable:  conduct a design event with local professionals as participants, with a goal of helping the Town Council understand the range of development opportunities in this area, and helping the Council articulate its vision of what would be most desirable to occur in this area.

PROPOSAL

The result of our discussions is a proposal from Peter Batchelor, attached.  He suggests that the Town conduct a Design Competition.  Highlights of the idea:

·        Schedule the event for fall, 2000.

·        Contract with Peter Batchelor to plan and conduct the competition.

·        Invite local design professionals to participate.

·        Have the Town Council prepare a specific set of development objectives for the designers to use.

·        Structure this as a month-long event; convene an initial gathering, and give participating designers information, objectives, and 4 weeks to produce, in their own studios, conceptual development plans for this area.

·        Convene a jury to evaluate the submissions, and select a winning design.

·        Award a monetary prize (suggested at $5,000) to the winning team to produce finished, more detailed drawings of the winning concept.

We suggest that the existing “Gateway” Council Committee serve as the initial jury for Council’s consideration.  The Committee’s recommendation would indicate a first and second preference for Council selection.  The Town Council would then receive the designs and the recommendation from the Committee, and select first and “runner-up” designs.  Prize money would be awarded to the firm of the winning design to develop more detailed drawings.  In the event that the firm of the winning design became unable or unavailable to produce a final set of drawings, the firm of the “runner-up” design would be invited to do so.

We believe that this is a good, workable, and cost-efficient approach to achieving the Council’s goal of being in a position to state its objectives for the ultimate development of these properties.

RECOMMENDATION

We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution to approve this project and agree to allocate funds.  We recommend funding this effort (estimated to cost approximately $13,000) out of next year’s Council contingency funds.  If the Council adopts this authorizing resolution, we will return on July 5 with a recommended budget ordinance that would allocate the funds out of the new budget.  We note that deciding to do this would limit the Council’s flexibility to respond to other possible unforeseen needs, because the recommended Contingency line item in next year’s budget is only $50,000.  However, we believe that this idea is important, timely, and cost-effective, and in the best interests of the community at large and also property owners in the entranceway area.  We ask for favorable consideration, and look forward to an event this fall.

ATTACHMENT

  1. 3-page Proposal from Peter Batchelor (p. 5)

A RESOLUTION AGREEING TO INITIATE A DESIGN COMPETITION FOR THE NORTHEAST ENTRANCEWAY AREA, AND AGREEING TO ALLOCATE $13,000 TO COVER COMPETITION EXPENSES (2000-06-26/R-6)

WHEREAS the Town Council believes it to be in the best interests of the community to articulate expectations and desired outcomes that could result from future development in the U.S. 15-501 corridor on the northeast side of Town; and

WHEREAS a Council Committee has proposed that the Town sponsor a Design Competition for Fall, 2000, with the objective of generating conceptual development plans that could help guide future development in this key corridor; and

WHEREAS the Council has received a proposal from Mr. Peter Batchelor to plan and conduct this competition;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council agrees to sponsor this Design Competition for the Northeast Entranceway as described in a memorandum on this topic dated June 26, 2000.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council agrees to allocate $13,000 from the Town’s 2000-2001 budget to cover expenses related to this event, and that the Council directs the Town Manager to bring a draft budget ordinance to the Council for consideration early in the 2000-2001 fiscal year to allocate these funds.

This the 26th day of June, 2000.