News Release

Carolina North community meeting set for July 31

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites local residents, faculty, staff and students to participate in the latest in a series of community meetings about the Carolina North campus on Tuesday, July 31. This meeting will present the same draft plan that will be submitted to the university’s Board of Trustees on July 26 and will include comments and feedback from the trustees about the plan.

The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 2603 of the School of Government’s Knapp-Sanders Building. Parking is available in the N.C. 54 visitor’s lot and the Rams Head deck. Chapel Hill Transit service is available via the RU, G, S and V routes. See http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=399 for timetables of these routes.

Jack Evans, executive director of Carolina North, and other university representatives will present a draft conceptual drawing and an overview of potential first areas of development on the UNC-owned property.

As at the other monthly meetings held since March, attendees will have opportunities to ask questions and share comments. The feedback will continue to support the university’s efforts to refine a concept plan for Carolina North.

Comments from the community have influenced the draft that will be shared 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.

Evans 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 is what Evans calls a “growth campus,” one that can provide space for university activities that no longer fit on the main campus and to develop partnerships with the private sector to accelerate economic development.

An ecological assessment is helping guide UNC’s efforts toward sustainability principles and goals at Carolina North. Other input includes 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 Board of Trustees has directed the administration to submit a plan for Carolina North to local governments by October. Trustees will see a draft concept plan at their July 26 meetingand are expected to take action on a plan in September.