A full complement of Task Force members was in attendance at today's meeting of the Historic Rogers Road Task Force. The Task Force is nearing it's end and as Alderperson Michelle Johnson notes in her recent post, there is a lot on the line. Most task force members came to the meeting expecting to talk about two options: annexation of the Eubanks-Rogers Road Neighborhood or development of an Extra-territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). Instead, Orange County Assistant Manager Michael Talbert proposed a third alternative that I'll call the Hybrid 77% Plan (but some at the meeting jokingly called the Talbert Plan).
Chapel Hill
Summary of Historic Rogers Road Task Force meeting, debut of the Talbert Plan
Blog entry Submitted by Molly De Marco on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 10:24pm.
Rogers Road Task Force Meeting-Now or Never
Blog entry Submitted by michelleforcarrboro on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 11:34am.“The story of Rogers Road is not a new one. It is one that has been played and replayed throughout the state of North Carolina and across the country, involving different people and places. It is a story of local politics and community organizing, land-use decisions and their consequences, of the impact each of our actions has had on others whom we have never met and may never seek to find.”
-Emily Eidenier Pearce
As most know by now the folks living in the Rogers Road Community have been advocating for both the landfill to close for forty years and they have asked for specific issue to be resolved including providing water and sewer to remediate some of the impacts that the landfill has had on their community. You might also know that the landfill will close at the end of this month. And while the landfill closure has been a long time coming, the folks of Rogers Road's request for water and sewer has remained unmet. We have had work groups, task forces, and meetings with residents and the Rogers Road Neighborhood Association, and still the challenge of how to provide water and sewer remains.
On February 21st, 2012 the Board of County Commissioners agreed to create another task force, the Rogers Road Task Force, to look at funding sources for a Community Center and sewer improvements. The first meeting of the task force was held on April 30, 2012. The task force will end in July and are tasked with providing a final report at the Assembly of Governments meeting in September. And now, on June 12th, 2013 we will continue to discuss how to provide water and sewer to this community. Time is running out.
Rosemary Imagined: New process to develop our community dream for Rosemary Street
Blog entry Submitted by Molly De Marco on Sun, 04/28/2013 - 4:34pm.Rosemary Street in downtown Chapel Hill has a lot of untapped potential and is already a vibrant intersection for students and permanent residents (including long-time residents of the historically African American Northside neighborhood). The Town of Chapel Hill Economic Development Office and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership have teamed up to create a new process they are calling 'Rosemary Imagined,' which they are promoting as "an innovative community-led process to refine our thinking of how Rosemary Street fits into the development and growth of Downtown Chapel Hill."
Proposed community hashtags to use and/or crowdsource
Blog entry Submitted by Molly De Marco on Sun, 03/24/2013 - 7:13pm.Proposed Twitter Hashtags and Abbreviations for Orange County, North Carolina
Hashtags: Government Entities
#CBOA Carrboro Board of Aldermen
#CHCCS Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
#CHTC Chapel Hill Town Council
# ? Hillsborough Board of Commissioners
#NCGA North Carolina General Assembly
#OCBOCC Orange County Board of Commissioners
#? Orange County Schools
Hashtags: Issues
#Amendment1 Amendment One
#CH2020 Chapel Hill 2020 Comprehensive Plan
#econdev economic development
#ICV2012 Inter-City Visit 2012 Bloomington
Pease calls on Del Snow to resign from Planning Board
Blog entry Submitted by Geoff Green on Tue, 03/05/2013 - 12:12pm.As reported by the Herald Sun, Chapel Hill Town Council Member Gene Pease has written Planning Board Chair Del Snow asking her to resign from the Planning Board. In his letter, which can be downloaded from the Town's email archive, he launches a blistering attack on the "responsible growth" advocates in the community, calling them against any growth whatsoever. Interesting, to say the least.
Affordable Housing: Report of the Carrboro Planning Board and upcoming discussions
Blog entry Submitted by Molly De Marco on Tue, 02/19/2013 - 3:57pm.The Town of Carrboro Planning Board held a series of three Affordable Housing Dialogues in October 2012 to educate and engage the public in planning for affordable housing. A report of their findings is now available. The chair of the Carrboro Planning Board will be presenting on this report and the Carrboro Board of Alderfolks will be discussing it at their meeting tonight (Tuesday, February 19th).
The recommendations of the report are:
1. Make the Affordable Housing Task Force a standing committee of the Board of Aldermen, and expand it to include other public and private stakeholders, such as advisory boards, affordable housing developers, and advocates.
Update on the Work of the Historic Rogers Road Task Force
Blog entry Submitted by Molly De Marco on Wed, 11/21/2012 - 2:04pm.The Historic Rogers Road Task Force has made progress over the past several months to redress the burden the Rogers Road community has carried in receiving the county's solid waste for over 40 years. Details of a community center are nearing completion. Habitat for Humanity of Orange County will donate two lots for the siting of the community center in the Phoenix Place subdivision. The Orange County Board of Commissioners has approved a capital project of $500,000 to build the community center. A plan is being ironed out for the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association to rent the commuity center from the county for $1 per year. The towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill will contribute to the center's programming costs.
Carrboro Supports Free Speech on Buses
Blog entry Submitted by Damon Seils on Wed, 11/14/2012 - 12:34am.The Carrboro Board of Aldermen tonight voted unananimously to support freedom of speech on Chapel Hill Transit buses.
Chapel Hill Town Council Hears From Citizens On Bus Ad Policy
Blog entry Submitted by Jeff Miles on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 11:21pm.In a fairly crowded business meeting tonight, the Chapel Hill Town Council member heard from more than 30 members of the public on Chapel Hill Transit's current bus advertising policy. Contraversy around the ad was sparked by the placement of an ad by the Church of the Reconciliation urging the end of U.S. military aid to Israel. Speakers included several members of the Church of the Reconciliation, the director of the N.C. ACLU and local Jewish leaders among others.
The central question on the issue was whether the transit system consitituted a "public forum." This is important because under Supreme Court precedent regulations on speech in public forums are subject to greater scrutiny than regulations on speech in non-public forums.
NC ACLU Takes on Chapel Hill Bus Ad Controversy
Blog entry Submitted by Molly De Marco on Sat, 09/29/2012 - 8:18am.About a year ago, the Town of Chapel Hill amended its bus advertisement policy to spell out rules for ads with political messages. In August, the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill placed an ad that shows a Jewish and a Palestinian grandfather each with a grandchild and reads “Join with us. Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad stirred up a controversy and led to a petition from citizens to change the bus ad policy to disallow such ads. The current policy is available online at http://www.townofchapelhill.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=15328.
