UNC wants to proceed with Carolina North

Bruce Runberg, P.E. Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning & Construction-main speaker Anna Wu--Director of Facilities Planning, other speaker, black hair and off-white sweater Diane Gillis, Project Manager for Carolina North, speaker with gray hair standing The following are reaction/question shots: Whit Rummel, resident, man with white hair and thick black glasses Maria Palmer, resident and previous student, black vest and colorful sweater. John Hille, resident, in gray sweater and glasses Ruby Sinreich, political blogger, woman in black sweater Will Raymond, resident and lives across from Airport Drive, man in pink shirt

The University is moving forward with plans for Carolina North, a research campus that was endorsed six years ago but delayed due to budget constraints.

Project directors presented 20- and 50-year plans for the research and academic campus to be located along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at a Thursday night meeting.

The directors held a meeting with UNC students and Chapel Hill residents to present the latest projections and address residents’ concerns.

About 40 people attended, including Chapel Hill residents.

Projected buildings on the new campus include a new location for the law school, housing for graduate students and state-of-the-art research facilities.

Presenters also discussed a planned utilities duct bank and conservation measures.

Limited space at the main University campus prompted the push for a new campus, said Anna Wu, director of facilities planning.

“We realized how few building sites were left on main campus,” she said. “There was only about one million square feet left in footprints that were for unidentified or future programs.”

“I think this urgency led us to come back and look at Carolina North.”

Wu also emphasized the importance of moving forward with Carolina North despite having scarce financial resources.

“You have to look at the long term,” she said. “What we’re really doing is planning for the future. We’re in a period of reduced resources, but that won’t last forever. When that influx starts up again, we’ll be ready to develop facilities in the right location for the right functions.”

Officials said they hope the new research buildings will help the University compete for innovative talent and resources.

Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning, said the campus could draw researchers to the University by providing facilities that encourage collaboration among researchers.

Runberg said the new research buildings will be constructed to be more open, creating opportunities throughout the building for researchers to share and collaborate.

“Research today is integrated,” Runberg said. “It involves people getting together and looking at ways to develop new ideas, new opportunities.”

Wu said the project should factor into planning for any additions to main campus.

“We have to think seriously about it and make sure it isn’t something we could put out at Carolina North.”

“(The presenters) did a great job. The meeting was information and reassuring,” said John Hille, a resident who lives behind the projected site for the campus.

Chapel Hill Town Council will hear a request for minor changes to Carolina North’s plan Jan. 23.

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