UNC's fate tied to project

Perry: Time to act on Carolina North

CHAPEL HILL -- Leaders at UNC-Chapel Hill say the future of the nation's oldest public university rests on Carolina North, the enormous research campus planned not far from the center of town.

After years of discussion, months of consultants' drawings and a series of community meetings, university trustees said Thursday they're ready to get started on a development that could take a half-century to build.

The board's review of the plan came the same day legislative leaders expressed support for a research fund that eventually could pump $50 million a year to UNC-CH, making it a national player in the field of cancer research.

And Roger Perry, the Chapel Hill developer who went to battle with town leaders over Meadowmont in the 1990s, was elected chairman of the trustees Thursday.

Perry, never one for subtlety, proclaimed his intentions as he took the gavel.

"The time of talking about Carolina North is over," Perry said, contending that UNC-CH is the only university of its size and stature without a research campus. "It is time to do something. It is time to get it on the ground before it is too late."

UNC-CH is behind many other universities that have research-focused campuses. N.C. State University's Centennial Campus, started 22 years ago, is home to many research projects and partnerships between faculty and industry.

Final approval of Carolina North is expected by the trustees in September, with a plan to be submitted to the town by the end of October. The original deadline of Oct. 1 was delayed until Oct. 31 to allow for last-minute changes that could come in the fall.

The community will get a chance to weigh in on the plan at a meeting Tuesday and again Aug. 28.

That Perry is leading the board at a time of a major campus expansion is probably no accident. After years of back-and-forth in the 1990s, he won approval for Meadowmont, which was the largest development in Chapel Hill history. The mixed-use neighborhood and shopping area off N.C. 54 is now built.

The approval process for Carolina North could be more contentious.

University leaders say they want to create a transit-friendly, sustainable campus that preserves sensitive natural areas and uses cutting-edge technology. But neighbors and community leaders, worried about traffic and environmental impact, have questioned the need for the 5,000 parking spaces the university plans.

Questions remain

Some say they like the promises of university leaders, but they still have questions about what ultimately will be built.

"I feel encouraged," said Julie McClintock, a former Town Council member. "At the same time, I have the same concerns other citizens have. What will happen with the traffic? Will we have a progressive transit plan?"

If approved, Carolina North will be huge.

In the first 15 years, the university plans 2.5 million square feet of research buildings, space for corporate partners, a computing institute, UNC Health Care offices and possibly a new law school. The development also will include housing, stores and recreational fields.

The plan situates the development from east to west, off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the site of the current Horace Williams Airport. It provides for building on 250 of the nearly 1,000 acres on the university-owned tract over 50 years. The main campus is about 600 acres.

The costs -- and how the university will pay for the development -- are unknown. Carolina North Executive Director Jack Evans said he would have some estimates in September.

Campus leaders envision a place where researchers work on new medicines and inventions, and collaborate with industry to bring technology to the marketplace. But Carolina North would be more than a research park focused on economic development. It would have housing for staff and graduate students and some academic departments but would not hold undergraduate classes there.

"I believe the future success of this university hangs on Carolina North and its development," said Chancellor James Moeser, who last year set a goal for UNC-CH to get $1 billion a year in research grants by 2015. This year, the university received $610 million in grants.

"We need Carolina North to ensure that this great faculty can reach its full potential," he said. "What we are talking about is not about us. It's not for us. It is really for the people of North Carolina."