Town Council Supports Bond Unanimously

The council added two amendments to its resolution at its meeting Wednesday, making Chapel Hill the third municipality in Orange County to approve the bonds that would fund capital improvements at 16 public universities and 59 community colleges across the state.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Commissioners already have voted to approve the bond referendum.

But with recent controversy over University expansion, Chapel Hill residents are worried about growth plans spreading into their neighborhoods. The approved amendments were designed to reassure constituents that the bond is a completely separate issue.

"People are concerned with council supporting the bond without thinking of issues facing the town," council member Bill Strom said.

The amendments state that bond approval is not an indication of the council's position on expansion of the University's floor area on central campus or the acquisition of any privately owned property adjacent to campus.

Mayor Rosemary Waldorf said the amendments will clarify the council's stance on two crucial issues.

"It's really important we support this bond issue," Waldorf said. "It's very important for higher education and this town is in large part about higher education.

"I strongly support the amendments because it's important we speak to our community. It doesn't mean other things have been decided."

Waldorf said funds from the bond would go toward renovating University laboratories and to supplying building needs.

While the amendments were approved, council member Edith Wiggins suggested a stronger, more explicit statement be incorporated into the second amendment addressing the issue of eminent domain.

This refers to an N.C. statute that gives public institutions, including UNC, the ability to condemn and annex land when deemed necessary.

"I'm opposed to condemning people's property," she said. "You can't acquire property if people aren't willing to sell. (But) I have less feeling about the University buying property once it goes on the market."

Council member Pat Evans said it was unfortunate that local issues had to affect approval of the bond.

"I think this is a bond that affects everyone in the state," she said.

"I was trying to keep the focus on its effects on all the people in North Carolina, not in someone's backyard."

The City Editor can be reached

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