The proposal, presented at Monday's Chapel Hill Town Council meeting, calls for the development of intermingled institutional/research, residential and retail facilities at the tract, a 970-acre piece of land along Airport Road.
The proposal is part of UNC's Master Plan, a blueprint for campus growth over the next 50 years. The tract is owned by the University but houses several town departments, such as public works.
The placement of residential and research facilities side by side was not coincidental. "Ultimately, the idea is that you could live and work here," said Adam Gross of the planning group Ayers Saint Gross, which is developing the Master Plan. Planners predict that these facilities will eventually employ about 25,000 workers.
It is the creation of these jobs that worry many residents and council members.
Concerns were expressed about where new employees could afford to live. Also, residents are worried about the predicted 45,000 trips to and from this site each day. "First, about those 45,000 trips," resident Dan Coleman said. "The roads can't take it, and my lungs can't take it either."
Coleman said the community and the University would be better served if housing were developed on the Horace Williams site. "Let's get started building some housing out there and getting University students out of our rental properties," he said.
Others were concerned about the impact additional residents would have on the town's infrastructure.
Council member Flicka Bateman spoke at length about the burden these additional residents and their children could place on the already overtaxed Chapel Hill public schools.
"I hope schools will get factored in to what happens," she said.
