Funding for Chapel Hill 2020 is uncertain

Town officials do not yet know how the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan will be funded ­— but they also aren’t worried about it.

The final draft of the plan will be released before the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting May 21, and the plan will be voted on at its June 25 meeting.

Mary Jane Nirdlinger said though they do not yet know how the community would pay for developments outlined in the plan, the process has been more designed to gather community input, not to determine funding.

“It’s like a wish list, not everyone will get what they want,” she said.

Nirdlinger said the town will use priority-based budgeting for the plan, which will fund projects based on what town officials and residents consider to be most important.

Council member Lee Storrow said the next steps in the plan will come after it is finalized.

Storrow said the town did not want to fund the plan by raising property taxes.

But some of the goals are to increase the economic tax base and to increase tax and general revenue for the town, he said.

Nirdlinger said she thinks concerns residents have about Chapel Hill 2020 deal mainly with how residents would be involved in implementing the plan.

She said the plan is a living document, with changes being made as officials learn which plans are working and which ones are not.

“We’re just excited to see what people have to say about the plan — it’s their plan,” Nirdlinger said.

At 109 pages, the current draft of the plan includes a vision statement, statistics and information about the town of Chapel Hill, and an action chart based on goals previously determined by focus groups.

Faith Thompson, Chapel Hill 2020 outreach coordinator said town officials have tried to involve residents in the process through things such as tavern talks and having the outreach committee ride the bus to discuss the draft plans with residents.

Thompson said monthly meetings will stop after the May 21 public hearing, but residents can still receive updates about the plan through the online mailing list and the 2020 website.

Chapel Hill resident Julie McClintock said she was disappointed the group discussions would end before the draft plan is finalized.

“Fortunately the scope of the June document is limited to goals; how these are implemented will be the guts of the plan,” she said.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.