Blogs
Orange County is proposing to create a new Unified Development Ordinance which would combine and replace all of their existing laws about zoning and property development. At the some time some changes are being proposed to several long-range planning tools. This document was posted on the County Web page in November and is pretty massive in size, close to 800 pages.
Currently, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the County have a rural buffer which limits sprawl at the edges of our towns. I'm concerned about how the UDO might affect the buffer, so I've taken a few steps to prompt some discussion of the matter.
I just received the following memo from the Town of Chapel Hill email list. It shares some info on a proposal to move the town library permanently to University Mall. You can find it
here on the Town of Chapel Hill website too.
TO: Council
FROM: Mark Kleinschmidt, Mayor
SUBJECT: University Mall Library Proposal
DATE: November 22, 2010
During discussions regarding the temporary relocation of Chapel Hill library to University Mall, Madison-Marquette, the mall's owners, expressed to our staff their interest in exploring the possibility of permanently locating the library at the Mall. The proposal would be for a mall anchored at one end by A Southern Season, and at the other by the Chapel Hill Public Library, which they propose would occupy the current Dillard's Department Store space.
On November 15th, around four p.m., local Earth First! activists gathered outside of the Royal Bank of Canada in Carrboro to protest the bank's investment in the world's most destructive project, the Canadian Tar Sands. We were holding signs, banners, and doing some chanting. The police arrived and told us that we could not stand anywhere on the sidewalk at all.
There's been a fair amount of hand-wringing about the president's inability to improve the job market, especially without a cooperative Congress. While the president has little he can do directly, there's one idea that hasn't been considered: cracking down on overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
For 40 years, workers and businesses alike preferred a loose enforcement policy on overtime. Many workers who spend far more than 40 hours a week on the job are insulted at being considered an hourly worker, or a non-professional. There was a greater desire for flexible schedules than for time-and-a-half. The notion of overtime is so quaint that most people have probably forgotten that the laws exist and can be used to protect them against unreasonable demands of management.
![[Chris Blue headshot]](http://townofchapelhill.org/Modules/ShowImage.aspx?imageid=6144)
I just heard that longtime Chapel Hill police officer Chris Blue has been selected as the new chief, as of December 1st. I've known Chris for many years as he used to patrol Northside and really got to know the people and issues there. He's very grounded in Chapel Hill, and although he has a long history with the CHPD I think he's also generally open to new ideas. He's even on Twitter!
While it's disappointing to see the Town continuing the longstanding tradition of white male leadership, I think Chris Blue is emminently qualified and will make a great chief.
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