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About that airport bill: Part 2
Submitted by mschultz on 10/01/2008 - 11:42
Sen. Kerr called back again just a few minutes ago. He said he was was incorrect yesterday when he said the bill authorizing the creation of an UNC-led aiport authoroty was a blank bill. The airport authority was part of an omnibus bill authorizing a long list of UNC system spending projects.
Kerr introduced the omnibus bill, which is why his name was on it. He said he has been handling the bill for 15 or 20 years. This year, he was retiring, so he asked Sen. Richard Stevens of Raleigh to handle the bill in the legislature. The bill was reviewed by at least two committees in the House and Senate, Kerr said.
"Nobody was against it," Kerr said. "Nobody spoke aganst it." Â
Kerr said he has empathy for Orange County residents concerned the airport might go on a site in White Cross, a southwestern part of the county.
"I'm sorry about people who lose their land but we have a procedure of just compensation," he said. Â
"Nobody is going to like everythiing, but I assure you if you look at my history of eminent domain, it's a fair deal."Â
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Mark Schultz
Mark Schultz is the editor of The Chapel Hill News and The Durham News, and one of the Western Triangle editors for The News & Observer.
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Comments
Yes Gerry
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 14:20 — CitizenWillYes Gerry. Thanks for clarifying my comment. Could you explain what the procedural difference, if any, there is between UNC exercising its eminent domain power as a State agency and either a local municipality like Chapel Hill or larger political unit like Orange County? My understanding is there are more procedural elements locally - in terms of hearings, etc. - in terms of a taking versus the State.
So this was Bill 1925
Wed, 10/01/2008 - 13:08 — CitizenWillIt was part IV., titled "ALLOW THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA TO CREATE AN AIRPORT AUTHORITY" of SB 1925 (I added some links here: http://citizenwill.org/2008/09/29/airport-authority-they-did-what/ ). An attempt to grant eminent domain powers to UNC had created a bit of scrap in 2001 but maybe the Senator wasn't aware of his colleague Tony Rand's attempt to subvert local planning authority. As I noted in another comment, it was discussed among the BOT, like these minutes from 2005 demonstrate: http://forum.unc.edu/minutes/0205ProVC.htm
eminent domain
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 12:08 — gercohenWill, I am not sure what you mean by "An attempt to grant eminent domain powers to UNC had created a bit of scrap in 2001" . UNC has had the power of eminent domain for 40+ years. Do you mean an exemption from zoning?
Apparently it was still a blank
Wed, 10/01/2008 - 11:55 — marcoplosSounds like it was tucked in amongst a lot of other stuff. Kerr didn't remember it & probably didn't even know it was in there when he supported it.
At any rate, it sure subverts local democracy.