News Release

Second round of community meetings set
to offer feedback on Carolina North concepts

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites local residents, faculty, staff and students to participate in a second round of community meetings about Carolina North on April 26.

The meetings will begin at 3:30 p.m. at the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center off N.C. 54. The presentation will be repeated at 5:30 p.m. in the same location. Parking will be available at the Friday Center. Chapel Hill Transit service is available via the FCX, S and V routes. See http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=399 for timetables of these routes.

University representatives will present revised conceptual drawings with possible approaches to issues including open space, pedestrian and vehicular circulation, utilities, and land use on the UNC-owned property.

Officials plan to follow the same format for these community meetings that they used when the series kicked off in March. Attendees will have opportunities to ask questions and share comments. After a brief presentation, attendees can discuss the plans and programs with UNC staff in small groups. The feedback will continue to support the university’s efforts to develop a concept plan for Carolina North.

Comments from the community in March influenced the ideas that will be shown this month. All of those comments have also been posted to the Carolina North website, http://carolinanorth.unc.edu, along with materials shown at those sessions. More community meetings are planned in May and June. Details will be announced later.

Jack Evans, executive director of Carolina North, has emphasized that the primary driver for Carolina North is the university's mission – education, research, public service – and a responsibility to help meet the state’s economic development needs. Carolina North can provide space for university activities that no longer fit on the main campus and to develop partnerships with the private sector that can accelerate or enhance economic development.

An ecological assessment is helping guide UNC’s efforts toward sustainability principles and goals at Carolina North. Other input includes the nearly yearlong process resulting in a report from the Leadership Advisory Committee that made recommendations for guiding principles for development.

Carolina North is envisioned as a vibrant, compact, mixed-use academic development on the university’s 900-plus-acre tract. The UNC Board of Trustees has directed the administration to submit a plan for Carolina North to local governments by next October. Trustees are expected to see a draft concept plan at their July meeting.

###

Contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu