Sierra Club Broaches Its Concerns With Master Plan

Sierra Club members said they would like their 13 environmental and community principles to be incorporated into the Master Plan, a blueprint for campus growth over the next 50 years.

Included in the club's 13 requests is that the University provide transportation choices to reduce dependence on the automobile and protect air quality.

Also included is a request that UNC take a holistic approach to development and building so they can best gauge any impact the plan might have and protect the human community and natural ecology.

"Our goal is for these principles to be part of the planning process for the University," Sierra Club member Dan Coleman said.

"Everyone talks about smart growth ... but to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, between the principle and the implementation falls the shadow. Development of this scale is going to have a dramatic effect."

He also said the Sierra Club would like to see these 13 principles in "the forefront of the decision-making process."

Additionally, the Sierra Club hopes to present this plan to the University, but the date of the presentation has not been set. The UNC Board of Trustees is expected to make a final decision about the plan in the next few months.

Town Council members said they were thankful to have such involved residents.

"I think that the Sierra Club has a long history of giving well thought-out feedback to the town," said Council member Bill Strom.

"They took a real broad and comprehensive approach to advise the town on their perspective on what they believe is truly sustainable, and it is great advice."

The Town Council passed a resolution to have the town staff review the document to determine how best to use these principles in the town's negotiations with the University.

"The staff report ought to be fairly pointed and advisory rather than extensively researched," said Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf.

Town Council members said they believe the Sierra Club's document could prove useful to them in their negotiations with the University over the Master Plan.

But Town Council member Kevin Foy said the town staff will need more information.

"I think that the staff is going to need the same thing we say we always need which is more details from the University," he said.

Strom said the town has had a lot of experience dealing with smart growth and, unlike the University, has to focus on all of Chapel Hill.

"The University is focused exclusively on the campus, and from what I have seen they have done a very comprehensive job at looking at the University's needs on campus. The Council is responsible for the entire town."

The City Editor can be reached

at citydesk@unc.edu.