It's town vs. gown on Carolina North

Chapel Hill gets activists' backing

CHAPEL HILL -- The Town Council will do the negotiating with UNC-Chapel Hill on how to develop the Carolina North satellite campus.

But activists who gathered Wednesday night think individual citizens, neighborhoods and other municipalities must band together to back the council.

"[UNC-CH leaders] need to know that they are talking to 50,000 of us," Town Council member Jim Ward said at a forum on Carolina North sponsored by Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth.

Town Manager Roger Stancil will help the council weigh two options for overseeing the development. The town could develop a new zoning district for the 970-acre Horace Williams tract, or it could negotiate with UNC-CH to create a development agreement.

Stancil said the state legislature recently approved development agreements as a tool for municipal planning. Such an agreement might include stipulations on such matters as energy management that are not covered by the town's land-use regulations.

"It just creates a lot of flexibility that you don't have when you try to create a zone," Stancil said. "It all depends on what you negotiate."

That's what worries some local residents.

"How much can we trust the university as an entity to do the right thing?" said Philip Duchastel of Carrboro.

"Even the most well-meaning aspects of the university screw up all the time," said Cindy Henshaw, a university employee who moved to Chapel Hill last year. "Trusting the university, even with the best intentions, I would not recommend."

Cam Hill, a Town Council member, expressed frustration about UNC-CH's expectation that thousands would drive to Carolina North, some along a controversial north-south road from Homestead Road. He also complained about the university's reluctance to commit to keep more than 700 acres undeveloped.

"No matter how much any of us have made comments about these things, it hasn't changed one bit," he said.

Stressing the need to lobby the university, Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth co-chairman Mike Collins quickly pointed out UNC-CH's director of local relations, Linda Convissor, in the public library basement.

"If you don't know who to talk to, she's a good place to start," Collins said.

"Thank you," Convissor replied. "I have enough business cards for everybody."

The audience had already heard from several speakers whose neighborhoods had organized to oppose university projects planned nearby, such as Student Family Housing on Mason Farm Road and a maintenance facility off Estes Drive. "We do a really good job of getting neighborhoods organized," Convissor joked.

NRG member David Zavaleta said it would take more than just Chapel Hill and Carrboro neighborhoods to stand up to the university. He said Hillsborough and northern Chatham County also would be affected by Carolina North, which he compared to Goliath.

"I'm wondering what other Davids we can recruit here," he said.