In an effort to encourage more discussion about important community issues, we're going to try posting editorials from the print CHN on the OrangeChat blog. Here is today's. Please tell us what you think here (with your name please) or by sending a letter to the editor to editor@newsobserver.com (This will go to the Chapel Hill News editors.)
The Chapel Hill 2020 planning process has done a good job getting people to think about how the town should grow.
But by linking a vision for the town’s future and a land-use plan to carry it out, the process took on too much too quickly. The town should separate the functions to give land use the consideration it can’t get under a June deadline for the draft plan reaching the Town Council.
Chapel Hill is in transition, and it’s a challenging time. A desire for a more lively downtown, a more balanced tax base and regional light rail have led to still controversial developments such as Greenbridge and East 54 and more under construction or on the drawing boards: 140 West, Charterwood and many others.
The debates show a lack of consensus or even lack of majority support for the direction the Town Council has taken the town in recent years. Chapel Hill 2020 is an admirable attempt to reassess, but as the June deadline closes in, the process has begun to fray.
Maps included in 2020 materials gave some people the perception that decisions had been made before consensus had been reached. The creation of a separate work group for U.S. 15-501 South, where the larger Obey Creek project, is proposed, gave some the impression that 2020 participants were not working fast enough, or perhaps reaching the conclusion, that some town leaders wanted.
At the March 26, council meeting more than 40 involved community members asked, reasonably we think, to separate the goals and objectives charge of the 2020 planning process from its land-use recommendations. We are heading into warmer weather, when thoughts turn more to softball, swimming pools and summer vacation than sitting in rooms in front of maps. We support the request.
Here is the latest draft community vision, released this past week. You can read the full draft on the town’s website at http://bit.ly/jxcgWD
A: “Chapel Hill will be a vibrant, connected community, a town that is accessible, affordable, sustainable, and strong. Residents of Chapel Hill will treasure their downtown, their diversity, and their university; they will enjoy the benefits of balanced development, a quality transportation system, green housing, and healthy neighborhoods.”
B: “Chapel Hill will be a destination location. Balancing growth, density, and the environment, it will feature collaboration between the university, the town, developers and the community. It will encourage integration of students into community, and build bridges between cultures, and neighborhoods through art. Chapel Hill will be a town that is truly green.”
C: “Chapel Hill will be a bright, dynamic community that celebrates diverse populations. It will accumulate and retain intellectual, entrepreneurial, and artistic capital. Valuing its history while building regional partnerships, Chapel Hill will be a compact, accessible, mixed-use place of opportunity with a high quality of life.”
D: “Chapel Hill will be the best college town in America. We will integrate the aspirations of the University and its students into our community life. We will build social and physical bridges among cultures and eighborhoods. Through wise and collaborative use of resources, we will strive for an affordable and sustainable community life. We will safeguard our history while building a diverse tax base and regional partnerships for a prosperous future. We will be safe for all, connected, economically sound, and innovative.”
If you think 2020 is too important to rush, let the Town Council know. Or better yet, attend the next 2020 community meeting this Thursday, April 12, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Rashkis Elementary School, 601 Meadowmont Lane.
Comments
Is the Town even listening?
Tue, 04/10/2012 - 22:24 — rubyjiI already tried in January to tell the Town they were pushing the plan too fast to get it right. Their thoughtful response: crickets.
I encourage people to visit the archive of posts by several participants in Chapel Hill 2020 at orangepolitics.org/tags/chapel-hill-2020 for more thoughts on the process.
If the leaders are listening at all, they don't seem to care. This isn't the Chapel Hill that I've known and loved for the past decades.
Chorus of Concern
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 16:44 — CitizenWillAs the loosely defined CH2020 phase I process hurtles to a premature conclusion, it has been heartening to see so many local residents stand up and call for more time to get this critical first phase right. Barely 6 weeks out there is supposed to be a report to Council yet the participants have yet to be told (not consulted as originally advertised) specifically what that deliverable will contain and how it will be used.
Mark, thank you for highlighting those concerns so well.
As Ruby notes, these concerns aren't new and many of the core participants have tried to get the Town to make simple changes to improve the clarity of the end-product (for instance, creating a glossary of terms that everyone understands and agrees to).
Tonight we'll have our first opportunity to see if the CH2020 leadership will respond to the deliberative and thoughtful critique or if we'll get more of the same-old, same-old obfuscation. Now is the time for real change in the process to restore its credibility.
Not sure if the Council understands how important a positive measurable action plan is as part of tonight's response. Tonight is the watershed, hope you'll report on how it goes.
what does "crickets" mean?
Wed, 04/11/2012 - 13:48 — mschultz (author)Silence -- as in so quiet you could hear crickets?
Just wondering.
I think the 2020 process is
Sun, 04/08/2012 - 21:47 — ClaudiusI think the 2020 process is proceeding well. Anyone who has been to more than one or two meetings knows that a comprehensive plan (land use) is not actually part of the 2020 process but something that will happen after the 2020 vision has been completed.
I hope the writer of this article familiarizes himself with the plan in greater detail before wasting more time trying to generate controversy on the topic.
Conversation, not controversy
Tue, 04/10/2012 - 11:32 — mschultz (author)40 people at a council meeting is almost half as many people as have shown up at recent 2020 meetings (after the initial ones that drew several hundred people). That shows concerns that deserve time and attention.
Claudius, I appreciate your comments on our blog and would like to use them in the paper. Can we get your name so that we can publish these and future comments for the wider audience of the print CHN?
Thank you.
Comprehensive Plan
Sun, 04/08/2012 - 20:13 — tbucknerThe 2020 planning process is combining a strategic plan (vision) with a comprehensive plan (land use). It's an interesting idea, but it's creating confusion and there hasn't been a clear explanation of how the two will come together in a single, symbiotic plan. With such a large group of contributors, a more linear process is needed (IMHO). So I am very happy the manager has recognized the need to have the vision (the strategic work of the theme groups) in place before moving forward on the land use portion of the task. This will ensure that our values, especially those with competing constituencies, are applied to the comprehensive/land use plan. It will undoubtedly slow down the process but in the end, if more citizens understand the process and feel that their issues and concerns have been heard and acknowledged even if not represented in the final plan, it will be embraced rather than rejected.