Chapel Hill has released the first draft of its 2020 Comprehensive Plan — and starting tonight, leaders will try to make its goals financially realistic.
The plan’s draft, released last week, addresses the town’s goals, divided into focus areas. Today, residents will meet at East Chapel Hill High School from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to begin evaluating the first draft.
A final proposal, which will provide a framework for the town’s next decade, will likely be shown to Town Council in June.
Rosemary Waldorf, former mayor and Chapel Hill 2020 co-chairwoman, said the plan will be broader than the last one. The earlier plan provided guidelines for land use and other growth.
Waldorf said residents can expect an emphasis on budgetary concerns and downtown development in the next drafting phase.
“The next draft needs to have a greater focus on fiscal sustainability,” she said. “We have to make sure that our visions and aspirations for the community measure up with the fiscal reality.”
George Cianciolo, Chapel Hill 2020 co-chairman, said the town needs a financial reality check.
“At the very beginning of the process, we asked people to imagine what they thought Chapel Hill should look like in 10 years,” he said. “But I think that now we have to sit down and say, ‘How are we going to pay for it?’”
Cianciolo said encouraging resident participation has been a main goal of the process.
