Over on CitizenWill I comment on issues within our community that are running off the tracks - slipping in far reaching zoning changes without broad community consensus, for instance. Though I try to present alternatives - modifications - elaborations to policy to try to get a better outcome - by necessity - sometimes I [...]

Ouch! Obviously stung by Council member Jim Wards comment about “switch-n-baiting”, RAM Development’s VP Casey Cummings delivered a death blow to Council’s request for affordable condo fees for the affordable housing units and a commitment to energy efficiency.

[MOVIE]

Both requests seem quite reasonable.
What use is it for the Land Trust to “sell” [...]

Earlier this year, I asked the Carolina North Leadership Advisory committee to do an environmental assay of the highest caliber. It will be interesting to see this phase of Biohabitats’ research.
And kudos to UNC for scheduling two (2) sessions to accommodate the public. Yes, they’re both on the same day but progress [...]

There’s been a small discussion over on SqueezeThePulp about the declining efficacy of local media outlets in covering our community. I suggested that new media outlets will soon move into this long fallow territory - intensively covering local events - to the possible detriment of traditional news outlets.
It appears that Carrboro is the center [...]

I went to this evening’s Council meeting fully expecting to be steamrolled.
Yes, the negotiation team has worked years on “a deal” but not “the deal”. Since Nov. 20th, no real new details have been forthcoming.
I’ll be posting the video of tonight’s action tomorrow, so I’ll reserve detailed critiques until then…

Just a few [...]

The Downtown Development Initiative is a steamroller (in more ways then one). Check out this summary of comments from Nov. 20th’s public hearing. A little light and less nuanced than the opposition comments I recall. Good thing there’s a video record on-line.
So why introduce the following bias?

Potential Advantages of the Project
-Mixed [...]

More questions about the Town’s and RAM’s Lot 5 development (DDI) plan?
Well, there’s been a dearth of specifics, so there should be a wealth of questions.
Add to the throng of “those who want to know” Council member Laurin Easthom.
With tonight’s pre-vote presentation on DDI looming (not a public forum)), Easthom weighs [...]

Lot #5 Downtown Development RAM building design based on Nov. 20th public hearing proposal . The model is in proportion and the proper height. It wasn’t until I laid out the model that I realized how large a beast we have here…

Looking North towards Lot 5 Dec2

(more…)

Making some progress on a GoogleEarth visualization of downtown.

Here’s some data if you want to either visualize Chapel Hill within GoogleEarth or want to start fresh with a re-import. Small caveat on the GoogleEarth import - don’t turn on the terrain as I still need to tweak the elevations to get the right output.
If anyone [...]

I believed the Town’s web site covering the Downtown Development Initiative would be updated after Nov. 20th’s public forum. After ten days, I finally sent in a formal request.
Here is Town Manager Stancil’s response:

Dear Mr. Raymond:
Thank you for our email message at 10:49 am on Dec. 1 to the Manager, Mayor [...]

This Monday (Dec. 4th), Council will take up the composition the Roger Road Area Task Force, I posted on earlier, and the possible future annexation of the eastern side of Rogers Rd.

If you’re interested in working with the Rogers Road community to correct these longstanding problems, Monday would be a great time to turn out [...]

This is still very raw, but I thought I’d put out this demo to stir some thought within the community. Visualization tools like GoogleEarth (GE) can help remove some of the difficulty in assessing the visual impact of new development.
Our town’s planning department has the raw data needed to create a GoogleEarth representation of [...]

The Rogers Road community has taken it in the chin for way too long. The promises extended these residents when the landfill expanded into their backyards have never really been fulfilled. Decades old problems with sewage and other infrastructure continue to persist.
Finally, a structured process is being developed to deal with some of Chapel [...]

[UPDATE]
How could the negotiations team done a better job informing the public throughout the process?
Here’s two examples from Greensboro’s District 5 Council member Sandy Carmany covering their coliseum issues, this one from a year ago and this one from November.
Sure, she wasn’t hampered by reporting on material potentially shielded under NC’s open meetings laws, [...]

WCHL1360 covered yesterday’s Downtown Partnership update.
Listen [MP3] to what Director Liz Parham and local “top flight” business guy Scott Maitland had to say.
And Dan S., if you’re reading this, thanks for the sly hat tip.