Council Wants Vote After Study

The findings of the Major Investment Study, a collaborative research project conducted by the N.C. Department of Transportation, Duke University, UNC, the Triangle Transit Authority and Durham and Orange counties, are due in May.

In February, the council asked that the University delay voting on the Master Plan, a blueprint for campus growth over the next 50 years, until results from the study had been released because those findings might or might not render the University's transportation plans obsolete.

Council member Kevin Foy said he would like for the Board of Trustees to wait. "There are a lot of concerns about (the Master Plan)," Foy said. "It would certainly be preferable to defer the vote."

Foy said he still has questions about the use of impervious surfaces for roads, storm water drainage, the transit corridor, the widening of Columbia Street and the impact that 6 million square feet of new development will have on area traffic.

Foy said he thinks the BOT should wait in case the Major Investment Study would require adjustments in the Master Plan.

Council member Flicka Bateman said she believes that future relationships between the town and the University might be tainted by the BOT's noncompliance with the town's request.

"When we've said 'please wait,' and they move forward, I think it makes it more difficult to have a collaborative relationship," Bateman said. "I think that compromise is called for in a situation like this, and so far I haven't seen that they're compromising."

She said the exchange of information between the University and the council is an important part of reaching joint planning for the community.

"I think joint planning, which occurs when everybody has all the information, is better than (one party) reacting," Bateman said.

Foy said he thinks communication will continue after the BOT vote.

"The town and University are working to try and come to an agreement about growth issues on campus, and that will continue," he said.

Mayor Rosemary Waldorf said she could see the University's side.

"I understand their position and that they feel they need to close this phase of their planning," she said.

Waldorf said she thinks the BOT will vote with the knowledge that the plan will probably change, depending on the results of the Major Investment Study.

"It is a conceptual plan, which means it will be subject to a lot of changes," she said. "I am expecting them to approve it."

Waldorf said complex transportation connections between the University and the town will be a subject of communication because neither the University or the town has autonomy. "I personally plan to move on in good faith."

The City Editor can be reached

at citydesk@unc.edu.