Carolina North request draws council's protest

UNC officials plan to break ground on the first project for the Horace Williams land within a year.

But judging by the Chapel Hill Town Council's reaction to that plan Monday night, it might take longer.

Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning and construction, submitted a letter Monday requesting the expedited review of UNC's Special Use Permit application for an innovation center at Carolina North.

Runberg said he was surprised at the quantity and fervor of concerns that council members voiced at the meeting.

"We expected this to draw questions, but not this degree," Runberg said. "We believe that they've been aware of this initiative that is critical to the University."

The innovation center would help grow startup companies that use technology based on UNC research. It is planned for a site near the intersection of Municipal Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard - the main corridor for UNC's proposed satellite campus.

The innovation center plan would pass through the town's approval process separately from the Carolina North plan, and the request for expedited review would allow it to get the nod from the council even sooner.

Council members said they were surprised by the University's request because they expected the plan for Carolina North to be submitted as a whole in the form of a master plan.

Council members who attended several meetings between UNC and town officials said they were not aware of the early project's location on Carolina North property.

"One of the enticements for the town . was that we would collaboratively plan and do a master plan," Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom said. "Going into a prime entrance way to Carolina North before the studies are done are really counter to that.

"I personally will have problems going forward with the expedited review."

Council members said they want to take time to look at the master plan as a whole when transit studies are completed.

Strom worried that the proposed site for the innovation center might prove to be an ideal central transit station when studies are complete.

"It seems like it's a slap in the face to both of those processes - that you feel very comfortable ignoring what both of those two studies are going to provide the planning process," council member Jim Ward said.

University officials said they wanted to move the timeline on this project forward in order to secure the California-based developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities for the center.

"This particular developer is being aggressively recruited by other universities," Runberg said.

The council voted to pass the comments on to town staff.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.