Here is the link to the final draft of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan http://www.townofchapelhill.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=14205. This will be presented to Town Council on Monday, May 21st at 7 PM in Council Chambers. You can (and are encouraged to) submit comments on the plan via the 2020 Website http://www.egovlink.com/chapelhill/action.asp.
An Open Letter to the Town Council
This letter was presented to the Town Council on March 26.
To: Chapel Hill Town Council
From: Concerned 2020 Stakeholders
Re: Specific Requests to Council for Improving the 2020 Process
We, the undersigned 2020 stakeholders, would like to respectfully ask that Council consider the following actions to address stakeholder concerns and ensure the success of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan:
(1) Endorse the completion of the goals and objectives section for the June vision document;
(2) Allow each theme group to choose two stakeholder representatives to join the co-chair discussions tasked by the Manager and the 2020 leadership with achieving consensus on conflicting theme group goals in the June vision document;
(3) Remove input from the Future Focus event maps, surveys, and conclusions from the June document and agree that work related to land use recommendations be continued in the subsequent implementation phase; and
(4) Develop, with stakeholders, a new process for creating the land use portion of the plan after the June document is complete. Include opportunities for comprehensive, analytical discussions of the impacts of proposed changes town-wide and to key growth areas to ensure that town goals and objectives are met in a balanced manner.
A letter is attached, detailing our experience with the 2020 process and our reasons for requesting these changes.
Signed, Jeanne Brown and 40 stakeholders
March 25, 2012
An Open Letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council:
The purpose of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan is to hear citizens’ vision for the future and write a vision plan and land use map to make that future a reality. The Town Manager says we are on our way to completing the Comprehensive Plan vision and framework document in June. With utmost respect to the Manager, the Town staff, and the 2020 leadership, many 2020 stakeholders feel that our work to date is far from finished and does not answer the fundamental question the Town Council wants to know: How much and in what way do we want to grow?
As we near the June deadline, we think it’s important for you to hear citizen input on the process, unfiltered by the voices of the 2020 leadership. Here’s our take Continue reading
Petition to extend 2020 comprehensive planning
Several people who have been involved with the Chapel Hill 2020 process have written a letter to town leaders asking that the timeline be extended to take the extra time necessary to do a thorough and thoughtful job on the new comprehensive plan. Currently the entire timeline from kick-off to plan approval is less than 8 months, with just two more theme group meetings ahead of us.
The letter and list of signatories will be delivered to the 2020 co-chairs, the town manager, and the town council before the Council retreat at the beginning of February.
If you have participated in Chapel Hill 2020, whether online, at town
meetings or at other community meetings and you agree, please consider
reading and signing the letter (printed below) at:
We, the undersigned participants in Chapel Hill 2020, are excited about the potential of this process to envision and enable a healthy future for ourcommunity. We believe that a high level of public participation will make abetter plan, and we have invested our personal time and ideas in meetings and reaching out to our friends and neighbors about the plan.
We wish to express our concerns about the speed of this process. Other communities have commonly taken 18 months to multiple years to complete plans that are less ambitious than ours. We understand that there is a need to get valuable input for the priority-based budgeting process, but this cannot supersede the need for the plan to be thoughtful, inclusive, and complete.
We ask you to take action as soon as possible to extend the official timeline to end no sooner than February 2013, to commit to dedicating an upcoming Chapel Hill 2020 meeting to a discussion of process and outcomes, and to follow this meeting with changes as may be needed to address some of the big rocks in our way.
We thank you for your time and service to the community, and appreciate your listening to our concerns.
Neighborhood initiative
On Wed., November 16th a meeting was held by residents of the Franklin-Rosemary Historic District regarding recent conversion of a single-family home on North Street into a student-occupied duplex with eight units. Another property on the street has been bought by the same developer and is expected to be similarly converted. While student rentals throughout the central Chapel Hill community are common, there is a point at which a residential area becomes student dominated and loses its residential character. Examples of this are seen in the on-going battles in Northside and the Cameron-McCauley area as well as Davie Circle. While we all love having students around, too much of a good thing leads to neighborhood decline with excessive parking, poor maintenance, trash and loud parties. The meeting generated interest in neighborhoods working together to address this issue with the Town, both through improved enforcement of existing ordinances as well as seeking additional ways in which the character of these in-town neighborhoods can be preserved. Continue reading
Chapel Hill 2020 Comprehensive Planning Begins
Chapel Hill Town Council has initiated a comprehensive planning process called Chapel Hill 2020. The final product is a new Comprehensive Plan for the Town. The process is designed to engage not only as many of the Town’s citizens as possible, but also business owners and those who, while not Chapel Hill taxpayers, are part of the unincorporated town. The kick-off visioning meeting included over 300 participants. Participant input was sorted into six theme groups in which citizens are invited to participate to discuss the issues and outcomes residents desire in the plan. A meeting schedule is found here. The Town is encouraging citizen participation at any stage of the approximately six month process, in person at the theme group or report out meetings or on the Town’s Blog called 2020Buzz.
2011 Community Forum a Success
Over ninety people joined the candidates at St. Joseph’s Methodist Church on Rosemary Street to talk informally with the candidates and then to gather in the sanctuary to hear Moderator Eleanor Murray pose questions to the assembled eight (out of nine) Town council candidates. The questions ranged from responsible growth to Town labor practices and equity for the Rogers Road community. Continue reading
University Square – 123 West Franklin Street
123 West Franklin (University Square) - http://123westfranklin.com/. Be sure to follow progress on University Square. There was a meeting on September 8th, 2011 that described progress on the redevelopment design as well as this article in the Chapel Hill News http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2011/09/11/66732/saying-all-the-right-things.html. This property is now owned by the University Foundation and so heavy UNC influence is anticipated. Continue reading
Charterwood public hearing
Charterwood a mixed-use development proposed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and Weaver Dairy Rd. Extension. This 13+ acre site has been to Council several times in 2011. The developer is returning with yet another revision at the September 26th Council Meeting. Materials are on the Town’s website or contact me for more information on how you can participate. Issues raised include appropriateness of this development for a major town entrance, transportation impacts, proximity to the adjacent neighborhood and fire department burn buildings, destruction of 150+ year old trees and Booker Creek headwaters impacts. Please let us know your thoughts and join us at the Council meeting on September 26th.
Community Candidates Forum
A Candidates Community Forum will be held on October 11th from 6:30 to 8:30 at St Joseph’s Methodist Church at 510 West Rosemary Street. It is sponsored jointly by Neighbors for Responsible Growth (NRG), EmPOWERment, CURB (a group of northern Chapel Hill neighborhoods), NAACP, Community Empowerment Fund and The Jackson Center. Continue reading
Chapel Hill 2020 – Comprehensive Plan
The most important activity to hit town in 10 years is the creation of a new Comprehensive Plan for Chapel Hill, called Chapel Hill 2020. This plan will guide development activity in town for the next ten years. The process is designed to include as many citizens as are willing to participate and at any level of participation that they wish. The town reports 140 people have agreed to participate as Stakeholders – you could be one too. Continue reading