Zoning adds to town-gown rift

A recommendation to rezone the majority of the University’s proposed satellite campus threatens to weaken town-gown relations, as officials from both sides are poised to dig in their heels.

The Chapel Hill Town Council will hold a public hearing tonight on a recommendation from its Horace Williams Citizens Committee to rezone 286 acres of the future site of Carolina North.

Committee members finalized Thursday the proposal to change portions of the Horace Williams tract, off Homestead Road, to a more restrictive zone — an idea that has already drawn a letter of opposition from Chancellor James Moeser.

The central portion of the tract is now zoned as Office/Institutional-3, a zone created in 1981 to apply to the central campus.

It contains special standards related to building height and intensity of use, and it eschews density requirements and the usual process of council review.

The committee’s recommendation would rezone the land as Office/Institutional-2, a more restrictive zone that requires council approval.

“OI-3 is a dinosaur, and there’s no reason for it to continue to exist,” council member Cam Hill said. “I think going ahead and changing this will get us to a place where everyone knows what is expected.”

But Moeser and Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor for finance and administration, have expressed opposition to the rezoning in separate letters.

In her protest petition, Suttenfield argued for a more collaborative approach to any property rezoning, citing the town’s goals for working with the University as laid out in its Comprehensive Plan.

“The spirit of cooperation and communication embodied in that document needs to be brought to these proceedings,” the letter states.

But committee members argue that the rezoning is a step toward improving collaboration.

“If they really want to collaborate and take this joint venture, then they should welcome our involvement in this way,” Hill said. “(Their protest) makes me wonder about what their true motives are.”

Tony Waldrop, the University’s vice chancellor for research and economic development, helped develop the comprehensive plan for Carolina North released last year. He said he welcomes any opportunity to work with the council in planning the 963-acre research park and mixed-use facility.

The town and University will soon sit down to discuss proposed changes to the Office/Institutional-4 zoning district, the special zone created in 2001 as an update to OI-3.

Waldrop said the conflict over the proposed Carolina North rezoning shows the need on both sides for better communication.

Committee members also will recommend tonight that the council and University ultimately pursue a new, and more restrictive, zone for Carolina North.

Though OI-2 offers more town oversight, committee members agreed, planning for the satellite campus will be reached through collaboration — and a new zone should mirror that.

Committee members did not decide what that new zone should be, only that it should give the town more review authority than OI-3.

And though the town is moving forward with discussions on the rezoning, planning for Carolina North has hit a virtual standstill.

Last year, the General Assembly decided that Horace Williams Airport, located on the Carolina North land, must remain open until officials can find a suitable facility for the N.C. Area Health Education Centers program. University officials say plans will develop slowly until the future of the airport is certain.

But committee member Al Burk said the council should pursue the rezoning now, before the University is faced with the possibility of having to completely rework its plans.

“The more restrictive we start out, the more likely we are to get what we want,” Hill said.

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.