This notice just issued from the Chapel Hill Planning Department:

Information about major development applications and concept plan submittals is now available online at the Town of Chapel Hill website at www.townofchapelhill.org/planning.

The Planning Department has posted informational notices for major development applications and concept plan submittals. The notices announce opportunities for public review and comment, and provide maps showing proposed development locations. A citizen petition recently requested an update on the status of this work. The information will be updated regularly. Development application forms and materials continue to be available online at this same location. Please contact the Planning Department if you have questions at 919-968-2728.

On Thursday evening September 25th, at 7 PM, the Chapel Hill Town Council held a special meeting at the Friday Center.  In addition to all of the Council members (except Councilman Bill Thorpe who is absent due to medical issues) the Council Members were joined by UNC representatives Roger Perry (Chair, Board of Trustees), Bob Winston (trustee, Chair of the Building Committee) and Jack Evans, who is is chair of the Carolina North project for the University.

One of the important points that was made early by Roger Perry was that he and Bob Winston speak for the trustees and he gave assurances that anything that they agreed to in principle would be supported by the Trustees.  Another important issue was that of timing.  Roger pointed out that in July there will be 6 new trustees (out of 13) and that these new trustees would come in with little or no background.  Thus he urged the Council to consider a timetable that would complete by the Council's summer recess the necessary steps (e.g., rezoning, development agreement?) to allow Carolina North to go forward.

The Durcham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) is beginning the process of seeking public comments on the various transportation Alternatives which it will incorporate into its 2035 plans to be submitted to the federal government later this year. These meetings will be the last opportunities for public comment before the plans are finalized and submitted so now is the time to make your voices heard.

A short story posted today on WRAL.com describes how Durham has entered into an agreement to install internal combustion engines and generators at their landfill. Duke Energy will subsequently buy the power generated which is estimated to be sufficient to serve 1600 homes.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Thursday that a deal with Methane Power Inc. will allow Charlotte-based Duke Energy to begin buying up to two megawatts of power generated by the landfill beginning next year.

-  WRAL.com: Duke to turn Durham landfill gas into electricity, 8/7/08

The news regarding the two armed robberies yesterday, one in the alley between the Rosemary & Columbia Street lot and Franklin Street, and the other at the ATM at the Wachovia at University Mall, got me to asking myself: Am I comfortable when my wife goes out to run errands on her own? And, for the first time that I can remember, the answer is a solid no.

Unless you've been on vacation for the last 10 days or so you should be quite aware of the controversial action of the Chapel Hill Town Council (by a 8-1 vote) granting themselves a health care benefit usually associated with long-term service. I'm sure readers of this site have by now made up their minds as to the appropriateness of this action so I need not concern myself with that. I would hope that readers are also aware that the Council members who voted in favor of this benefit quickly realized that they had erred, if not in substance, at least in process, and quickly reversed their decision. Even before they had voted to reverse their decision they were inundated with voice mails and emails, some apparently quite nasty and distastetful, expressing their displeasure over the Council actions.

The Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC), appointed by the two Metropolitan Planning organizations (Capitol Area MPO and Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO) is close to finishing up its work after nearly a year and 15 meetings to date. This has been a longer process than I think most initially envisioned (it was originally scheduled to be completed by October 2007) due to the amount and complexity of data that had to be reviewed, the different backgrounds of the 29 official members, and the thoroughness of the discussions that ensued.

The STAC members hope to approve a final draft of their report at their meeting on April 25th. The most recent (2nd) draft of this report can be obtained at http://www.transitblueprint.org/stac.shtml

Today, in a news report by WRAL's Cullen Browder, posted on WRAL.com, House Speaker Joe Hackney was "linked" to convicted felon Bladen County business man Ron Taylor by the fact that his name appeared below Taylor's on an invitation to a political fundraiser. Taylor was convicted in 1982 of accepting a bribe while serving in the statehouse and also pleaded guilty of plotting to setting a rival's tobacco warehouse on fire.

Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of government watchdog group NC Policy Watch, was quoted as saying "It's a little troubling that, in this era of public mistrust of government and all the ethics scandals, that our leaders wouldn't be a little more careful about where their name is used."

Speaker Hackney says he plans to uphold his promise and attend the fundraiser.

Soon we'll be entering a new phase of what some might call the never-ending saga of Carolina North. The last I had heard the University will be presenting its concept plan for the Innovation Center, the first building proposed to be built on Carolina North, at the September 19th meeting of the town of Chapel Hill's Community Design Commission (CDC).