Former Mayor Kevin Foy will chair a new town 15-501 South Corridor Discussion Group tasked with recommending how that part of town should grow.

It will study the area including Southern Village, the park-and-ride lot, the U.S. 15-501 entrance to Chapel Hill and the Obey Creek property. The group will recommend land uses to Chapel Hill 2020, the community planning process under way to help guide the town’s overall future growth and spending priorities.

Foy’s role is to serve as an impartial moderator, according to the release. A consultant, Urban Collage, will provide professional support, the data and background information that citizens have said they need to strive for consensus on a land use recommendation for this corridor.

The southern part of town is much in the news now because of a new Walmart coming to northern Chatham County. East West Partners, the developer of the proposed Obey Creek, has said the town needs to act quickly to take advantage of the retail opportunities in the southern part of town, although company head Roger Perry has also said the developers will wait for the 2020 process to conclude before finalizing plans.

UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp has some nice words for departing Mayor Kevin Foy.

Writing on his blog, Thorp compliments Foy for his support of public transit and his work to control the once-volatile Halloween/Franklin Street celebration.

He speaks well of Foy's relationship with former Chancellor James Moeser, adding that he hopes to have similar success working with new Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.


He writes in part: "James said that he and Kevin agreed never to surprise each other. That’s a strong foundation of trust that I would like to build on with Kevin’s successor, new Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt."

Here's the blog.

Mayor Kevin Foy is concerned that a lot of Carolina North's projected benefit comes in the form of indirect monies like sales tax. It's hard to project indirect benefits. Town Manager Roger Stancil doesn't want to include them as the town negotiates with UNC to make sure the new campus doesn't cost Chapel Hill taxpayers money.

We interviewed Foy for Sunday's Chapel Hill News. He says the consultants' reliance on indirect benefits "distorts" the fiscal impact study. But Foy also says he's not overly concerned right now because he thinks UNC is willing to make some kind of payments to keep the project revenue neutral. Here's an excerpt.

CHN: So does it concern you that this report shows [Carolina North is] going to have a net cost to the town?

FOY: No, ... because I think we can make some arrangement so that it does become cost neutral. I think the university is open to that. They have said all along they don’t want this to become a drain on the town’s resources.

I think where push come to shove is the old argument we’ve had in the past: [UNC’s saying] ‘Well, we create a lot of jobs,’ which is true. But as the [town] manager has said, ‘In order to pay people I need the cash.’ You can’t pay them in some phantom impact that Carolina North is going to have on the economy. It probably will have some overall impact on the economy of Orange County and North Carolina. But our manager is looking at ‘how do I get money to sign paychecks for the people who are going to provide the services?’

Lotta action on tomorrow night's game between Duke and Carolina.

As our sister blog, Orange Chat, reports: Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and Durham Mayor Bill Bell have a friendly wager going on the game.

The annual Halloween party on Franklin Street has gotten too big, town leaders say, and meetings will commence soon aimed at figuring out how to keep some people out.

That could mean charging admission, clearing the streets at 11 p.m. and/or asking bars to close early.

It definitely will mean sending a "you're not invited" notice to anyone who's not a UNC-Chapel Hill student or town resident, Mayor Kevin Foy said.

"We need to spread the word that it’s a local party," Foy said.

"If you’re not a student at Carolina or a resident of the town, you need to find something else to do on Halloween. I think there are polite ways to say that. Am I naive enough to think that’s sufficient? No."

Town and gown officials, including police, student government leaders and local businesses, will be asked to weigh in on the best ways to make the event more manageable.

Last year, about 82,000 people clogged Franklin Street, costing more than $200,000 in security and clean-up.

"For the last 10 years or so, the town has really gone out of its way to
try to make Halloween a great experience for people, and that’s what
we’re going to continue to try to do," Foy said.

"I don’t want people to think
we’re the wet rags. We’re trying to make this an event that can be fun and safe for people as it has been in the past. We want Halloween to be able to continue. But it can’t continue if it continues to be this big, huge, bloated party. That’s just too much."