Planners Seek Input On Growth

The University and its architectural contractor are using this week to work for cooperation with various groups that will be affected by the Master Plan.

Officials for the Master Plan, the University's blueprint for growth for the next 50 years, met with members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education on Wednesday morning to discuss plans for the University's Horace Williams property.

The meeting was a precursor to a meeting with the entire school board.

A similar presentation to the University community is scheduled to take place on campus Friday.

Wednesday's meeting allowed planners to update school officials on the plans and to receive input on concerns the school system would have with those plans.

Board members' questions included how the development would change traffic patterns around nearby schools and where children of new residents would attend school in a crowded system.

Jack Evans of Ayers Saint Gross, the contractor responsible for developing most of the Master Plan, said there had been concern that the Horace Williams Master Plan was to be submitted soon to the Board of Trustees, which he said was unwarranted.

"While the campus Master Plan is rather well developed, there is a lot about (the Horace Williams plan) that still remains to be filled in," Evans said.

He said discussion with community partners such as the school board and neighboring residential associations would play a role in the development of the plan before it would be submitted to the BOT.

"Just because it's laid out here doesn't mean it's going to go on overnight," said Master Plan Director Jonathan Howes. "It's going to be a long-term development, over the next 20 to 30 or even 50 years."

After Howes and Evans presented various aspects of the plan, school board member Nick Didow and Superintendent Neil Pedersen raised several issues that the plan could affect.

"As a board member, I do worry about what happens 30 years from now," Didow said.

Although the issues were not resolved at the meeting, participants said the meeting was successful in raising the issues and now they could begin to be addressed.

"I think that this is a very helpful first step in enabling us to provide (Master Plan officials) with some thoughts," Didow said. "We're very grateful for this step."

Howes said he was happy with the outcome of the meeting.

"The partnership with the schools is one that is very complex," Howes said. "I think we have an even greater appreciation of that now. These meetings will be very helpful for us as we move forward."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.