UNC is ready to break ground in June 2013 on the first building at Carolina North — a project expected to dominate construction at the University for the next 50 years.

In a single decade, UNC’s physical space expanded at an unprecedented rate, filling up main campus and allowing enrollment and research to grow faster than ever before.

Horace Williams Airport will soon close, but academic innovation is scheduled to take flight with the construction of Carolina North early next year.

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.

Clearing for a 40-foot-wide corridor necessary to install wiring through Carolina North Forest is scheduled to begin within the next two weeks. But some residents, who said they felt left out of the planning process, worry about the corridor’s effects on the forest and trails.

Although a 250-acre, innovation-focused expansion to UNC might seem without precedent, the University embarked on a project of similar scope in the 1980s.

Progress is set to begin at the site of Carolina North, UNC’s proposed mixed-use academic and research campus — but it has already drawn complaints.

Horace Williams Airport isn’t much more than a 4,000-foot runway, a few trailer-like buildings and an open field of small planes and rusty utilities.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking for public input on applications for permits submitted by UNC in January for the Carolina North development.

Jack Evans concluded his 40-year career at UNC in December, topped off with four years as executive director of Carolina North, UNC’s planned satellite campus. He will not be replaced. Budget cuts contributed to the decision not to fill Evans’ position, said Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor of facilities planning. The Carolina North project has been stalled due to a lack of funds, with no development planned for the near future.

The Chapel Hill Town Council discussed future uses of the building that formerly housed the Chapel Hill Museum at its Monday night meeting.

Carolina North’s flagship is likely never going to be built. Jack Evans, the executive director of Carolina North, said Wednesday that the University didn’t reach an agreement with the developers of the Innovation Center.

With development stalled and no money in sight, progress on Carolina North —and the facilities slated to be built there — is at a standstill. The sluggish activity, which officials say stems from a lack of state funding and private investment, means more than the temporary preservation of a vacant field.

Despite more than 12 years of planning, officials still aren’t sure when construction will start on a campus expected to be a “world-class magnet.” Jack Evans, executive director of Carolina North, said plans for construction of the satellite campus’ first building, the Innovation Center, have been delayed due to the state’s financial troubles. “The state of the economy, the state of the credit market and the state of the state’s budget — all of those affect the various things that we want to do with Carolina North,” Evans said.

Before ground has even been broken at Carolina North, the town is already trying to figure out how residents would like to move between main campus and the new satellite research campus.

Residents gave their answer at a forum Tuesday. They want to bike safely and conveniently.

Where is the Carolina North site located?

The proposed for the Carolina North campus is located on a 250-acre parcel in the Carolina North Forest 2 1/2 miles from the University's main campus, near the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive.

A development agreement between Chapel Hill and UNC for Carolina North was approved in late June, setting in motion the next 20 years of work at the University’s new satellite research campus.

As James Moeser steps down as the ninth University chancellor, he leaves behind not only his influence on UNC, but also the town the University calls home. Moeser leaves after leading the University-and by default the town of Chapel Hill-in a new direction with the promise of satellite research campus Carolina North.

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