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 [...]

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…)

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 [...]

[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, [...]

Posted these individual citizen comments from the Nov. 20th Public Hearing on the Downtown Development

Scott Kovens

Robert Dowling

Gene Pease

Roger Perry

Lex Alexander

David Godschalk

David Hartzell

Joyce Brown

Janet Kagan

Alan Rimer

Barnes Burke

Laurie Paolicelli

Scott Radway

Anita Badrock

Tom Jensen

Josh Gurlitz

Liz Parham

Philip Duchastel

Bill Camp

Raymond

[...]

From the Chapel Hill Fire Department website:

The primary mission of the Chapel Hill Fire Department is to protect life, property and the community environment from the destructive effects of fire, disasters or other life hazards by providing public education, incident prevention and emergency response services.

Thank you folks for all the long hours and hard work.
If [...]

Early in the evening, downtown resident Don Stanford spoke of “magic bullets”, the promises of NCNB Plaza (”remains one of the eyesores of Franklin Street…”) and the progression from it to Rosemary Square to Granville Towers (”…high rises in a sea of asphalt…”) to Wallace Deck.
During his presentation I noticed some eye-rolling but it’s [...]

An update on the muni-networking task force prepared by UNC’s Shannon Howle Schelin, PhD, one of our stronger advocates for 21st century infrastructure.

On November 13, 2006, an exploratory meeting was held at the Town of Chapel Hill to discuss the Town’s interest in pursuing a wireless strategy. The goal of the meeting was to determine [...]

A quick reminder of this evening’s public forum [Mon., Nov. 20th] on the failing Downtown Initiative.
Tonight’s agenda starts with this gem

The 2000 Comprehensive Plan’s goal for downtown is to “enhance the downtown’s role as the center of the community, with a pedestrian orientation and a human scale.”

I consider the 104′ multi-building development on lot #5 [...]