Linking the Plan to the Budget
(click image to be redirected to the complete set of materials for the January 9, 2013 work session)
Last night, the Council put the budget goals and objectives that have been under discussion during their Council’s work sessions to a first test through a prioritization exercise.
It’s an interesting first glance at how the community’s interests dovetail with the Council’s budget process.
There will certainly be more discussion yet to come – and priorities may shift as more information becomes available during the Council’s Retreat and subsequent budget discussions – but it’s exciting to see some of the conversation about community priorities begin to take form.
We’ll be posting some updates on other 2020 Implementation efforts here soon.
Chapel Hill 2020 Participants: Take this Survey!
Did you participate in Chapel Hill 2020? The Chapel Hill 2020 Participant Survey gives you the chance to share your experiences with the Town of Chapel Hill. It takes less than twenty minutes to complete and lets the Town receive important information for strengthening future public engagement efforts. The survey is open through Dec. 23.
The online survey is available at this link: http://bit.ly/VCDSbx
Paper copies are available at The Chapel Hill Library, The Seymour Center, and The Parks and Recreation Administrative Office on Plant Road.
Fill out a survey, and let us hear from you!
Learn more about the Chapel Hill Participant Survey at http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?recordid=5750&page=22
Central West Focus Area Steering Committee to Meet
The Town Council has appointed members to the Central West Focus Area Steering Committee, a group that will provide ideas for planning the uses, form and intensity along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and portions of Estes Drive. The committee will be expected to prepare a report to the Town Council before its last June 2013 meeting; a final plan should be provided no later than December 2013.Between mid-September and early October 2012, four community meetings were held to develop recommendations regarding the process to be sent to the Council. During the Oct. 24, meeting, the Council reviewed the community, Planning Board, and Town staff recommendations, and the Council endorsed the formation of the Central West Focus Area Steering Committee.
For information about the Central West Focus Area, contact Megan Wooley, Housing and Neighborhood Services Planner II, at 919-969-5059 or compplan@townofchapelhill.org.
Applications accepted for the Central West Focus Area Steering Committee
Applications are now being accepted by the Town of Chapel Hill for the Central West Focus Area Steering Committee to provide ideas for planning the uses, form and intensity along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and portions of Estes Drive. The committee is charged with facilitating broad public input, and to receive and integrate community feedback.
A communitywide design charette will be planned to gather feedback from all residents of Chapel Hill. The steering committee is charged with ensuring that the process is open and participatory and that broad engagement occurs with the full community.
Applications for the 17-member committee will be accepted through Nov. 12, and members are expected to be announced on Dec. 3. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt will appoint three Town Council members to make recommendations for committee membership to the full Council, and all Council members are welcome to participate in the selection process.
The steering committee membership will include a UNC-Chapel Hill liaison, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools liaison, a Planning Board member, a Transportation member, Business owners/Landowners/Non-profit representatives from the area including one Chamber of Commerce member; 6 residents from the Planning and Impact Areas, 1 renter from the Planning or Impact Area, 1 Public Housing Resident or representative, and 1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Board or Greenways Commission member. To view a detailed list of the committee composition, see http://bit.ly/SzYt0Y
A possible first steering committee meeting may be held in December 2012, and the full process is tentatively scheduled to begin in January 2013. The committee will be expected to prepare a draft plan to the Town Council before its last June 2013 meeting; a final plan should be provided no later than December 2013.
Background
The Central West Focus Area was identified as a priority during the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive planning process due to the known development pressures in the area. During the adoption of the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive plan, the Council requested that the Town staff work with the community to develop a process that would provide an opportunity for more focused discussion that would ultimately provide the Council with additional direction for the area.
Between mid-September and early October 2012, four community meetings were held to develop recommendations to Council regarding the process. During the Oct. 24, 2012, meeting, the Council reviewed the community, Planning Board, and Town staff recommendations, and the Council endorsed the formation of the Central West Focus Area Steering Committee. For more information, see http://www.townofchapelhill.org/centralwest
For information about the Central West Focus Area, contact Planner Megan Wooley at 919-969-5059 or compplan@townofchapelhill.org.
To Apply
If you are interested in being a member of the Central West Focus Area, please complete the following steps:
1. Fill out the following application: Application for Membership on a Town of Chapel Hill Advisory Board, Commission, Committee or Task Force
- Read the directions carefully and be sure to include “Central West Focus Area” at the bottom of page one along with the seat on the Steering Committee for which you would like to be considered (for more information about the Steering Committee’s composition and a list of positions, see below).
- Only apply for one seat on the Committee.
- Identify all your interest areas with regards to this Committee in the supporting statement on the application (for example, if you are a resident, business owner, school employee, advisory board member etc.). This information will assist the selection committee when making recommendations about the committee composition.
2. Submit your application:
- Email the application to clerk@townofchapelhill.org; or
- Fax the application to 919-967-8406; or
- Mail the application to: Communications and Public Affairs Department, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514
For more information about the application process, contact Jennifer Phillips, Community Participation Coordinator, at jphillips@townofchapelhill.org or 919-969-5014.
Chapel Hill 2020 Report and Recommendations
The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government has completed “Chapel Hill 2020: An Assessment of Public Participation,” a report that includes results of a summer 2012 survey of participants and a study of the public engagement process used by the Town of Chapel Hill. Read the report here: www.townofchapelhill.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=15998.
Chapel Hill 2020 was the community visioning process that took place from spring 2011 to June 2012 to update the Town’s comprehensive plan. The level of public participation surpassed any other process of its kind in the Chapel Hill community. The outreach and engagement effort strived to be creative, engaging, and open to innovation and exploration.
Mary Jane Nirdlinger, the Town’s director of policy and strategic initiatives, said that as 2020 moves into implementation, staff will draw on the input and lessons learned to continue to learn and evolve as an organization. About 125 people participated in the survey. Their observations help identify an interest in early and clear understanding of trade-offs, establishing clear links between community input and final products, reporting on progress, and investing in sustained community outreach and participation.
“I believe the report points out many opportunities for us to capture our good work and take it to the next level,” Nirdlinger said. “If you have ideas for how we can learn from our mistakes and celebrate our successes, I’d love to hear from you!”
The work of implementing Chapel Hill 2020 continues. To sign up to receive regular updates on Chapel Hill 2020, contact info@townofchapelhill.org. To provide ideas for the project, contact Mary Jane Nirdlinger atmnirdlinger@townofchapelhill.org or 919-968-2739.
Special Topics: Large Crowd Management
The Town of Chapel Hill Special Topics sessions continue for the community with a presentation on large crowd management at noon Wednesday, Oct. 17, in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Chapel Hill public safety leadership has gained attention for its unique ability to manage large crowd celebrations. Police Chief Chris Blue and Fire Chief Dan Jones will discuss some of the strategies that Chapel Hill employs to manage such large scale events.
From Halloween to NCAA basketball championships, large crowds in downtown Chapel Hill can easily soar to the tens of thousands of people. Enormous crowds confined in a congested half-mile stretch of Franklin Street can present public safety concerns related to personal and property crime, crowd panic and large scale civil disorders. Additional concerns focus on alcohol poisoning, injuries and gang-related violence.
The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.
Chief Blue began work with the Town of Chapel Hill in 1997. A UNC graduate who grew up in Chapel Hill, he is married with two daughters.
Chief Jones came to Chapel Hill from Florida in 1990 to become fire chief. He has 38 years of experience in the fire service, rising through the ranks. His wife and daughter are teachers, and his son-in-law is a police officer.
The Special Topics series began during the Chapel Hill 2020 comprehensive planning process as a way to share information with interested residents who want to know more about issues, trends and studies that affect the future. For past topics, see www.townofchapelhill.org/video
The public event will be aired live on Chapel Hill Government TV-18 and streamed on the Town of Chapel Hill website at www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?page=1850. For more information about the special topic series, contact Catherine Lazorko at clazorko@townofchapelhill.org or 919-969-5055.
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Police Chief Chris Blue |
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Fire Chief Dan Jones |
MLK/Estes Drive Focus Area – Recommendation Meeting Updates
Thank you to everyone who attended the Recommendation Meeting #2 on September 19th and the Recommendation Meeting #3 on September 24th. The next Recommendation Meeting will be held on Monday, October 1st from 7-9pm in the Large Training Room in the Transit Building, located at 6900 Millhouse Road, Chapel Hill 27516.
The purpose of this meeting is to continue to develop the recommendations about the Steering Committee structure and purpose as well as the scope and schedule for gathering community thoughts and ideas about the area.
As a follow-up to the second Recommendation Meeting on September 19th, the results from the survey about the Steering Committee can be found here. The survey had 75 respondents.
In addition, the meeting summary, which includes the proposed structures for the Steering Committee composition, can be found here.
MLK/Estes Drive Focus Area: How should the Steering Committee be structured? And what should its purpose be? Give us your thoughts!
On Wednesday, September 19th, the community will be gathering to discuss the Steering Committee structure, purpose, and application process for the MLK/Estes Drive Focus Area (recommended name: Central West Focus Area). This meeting will be held from 5:00-6:30pm in the HR Training Room, second floor, Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill.
In order to prepare for Wednesday’s meeting, a survey has been developed with the purpose of collecting information in advance of the meeting. Please complete this survey and provide us with your thoughts!
The survey can be found at the following link: Steering Committee Survey
The information from this survey will be compiled and will be a part of the discussion during the Wednesday, September 19th Recommendation Meeting #2.
Please complete the survey by noon on Wednesday, September 19th. The responses from the survey will be published on this blog by Friday, September 21st.
For more information about this process, please visit www.townofchapelhill.org/estesdrive
What do you think the “MLK/Estes Drive Focus Area” should be called? And what should its boundary be? Let us know!
On August 28th and 29th, 2012, a Public Information Open House for the MLK/Estes Drive Focus Area was held with the purpose of providing information about the area that can be used as a starting point for community discussions.
During the Open House, the participants were asked to provide their thoughts and ideas about the following:
- What the process should be called
- What the boundary of the focus area should be
Common answers about the name of the process include the following:
- MLK/Estes Drive Focus Area
- Estes Drive/MLK Focus Area
- MLK/Estes Drive Study Area
- MLK/Estes Drive Community Focus Area
- MLK-Carolina North-Estes Drive Focus Area
- Mid-town Focus Area
What do you think?
We would like to gather everyone’s thoughts about this. What do you think the focus area should be called? And what should the boundaries be? Please provide the information as a comment to this post.
A copy of the handout (which provided a tentative map of the area) provided at the Open House can be found here.
We will be gathering comments until noon on Thursday, September 13th. On the evening of Thursday, September 13th, the first in a series of three “Recommendation Meetings” will be held. This meeting will be from 7-8:30pm in the First Floor Conference Room, Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill. All community members are invited to attend, and the purpose of this meeting will be to develop a recommendation which can be sent to Council for their consideration.
We will post the recommendation about the name and boundary to this blog on Monday, September 17th.
For more information, please visit www.townofchapelhill.org/estesdrive
Modeling: Here’s looking at you, CH 2020
Did you catch last month’s Special Topic presentation on Modeling? Be sure to come out for the next Chapel Hill Town Hall feature, scheduled for noon Wednesday, Aug. 15. The topic is “Student Housing” and the presenters are Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and co-presenters Christopher Payne, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, and Larry Hicks, director of housing and residential education. They will provide an overview of the current on-campus student housing options provided by the University and plans for future renovation and construction.
By Garrett Davis
By applying CommunityViz, the same software program used in the development of the Triangle Region’s 2040 Long Range Transportation Plans, a set of scenarios may be generated for Chapel Hill’s visioning process that shows what happens if land uses, community data, and other variables are changed. The program applies computer mapping and statistical analysis to analyze the impacts. The variables – impervious surface, demand for parks and taxes, for example – that were put into the scenarios were factors that people said were important to their future in 2020 Theme Groups discussions and public outreach.
Although they have limitations, planning models help us see what the future might look like. The initial results of the Future Focus analysis were compiled in a report that provides an assessment for the entire community, including the identified growth areas and the remainder of the town. Detailed evaluations for each sub-area and the remainder of the Town were also provided.
Information about the Future Focus process and analysis can be found at bit.ly/P6Ns0H. Maps associated with this analysis are available at bit.ly/PS3kZw
