The Carrboro Board of Alderman discussed the possibility of having a facilitated discussion of the Lloyd Farm Development to promote dialogue between local residents, property owners, neighbors and developers at their meeting Tuesday.
Ted Barnes, partner of the Argus Development Group, suggested Andrew Sachs from Dispute Settlement Center as a potential mediator to coordinate the facilitated discussion.
Sachs offered a two stage approach for the mediation process. Stage one would be a situation assessment, during which Sachs will be responsible for identifying key informants and having one-on-one conversations with all them.
This stage would help him get a better understanding of what degree of willingness to participate or make changes from both ends. He will then make a recommendation to the town on whether they should move to next stage.
The next stage would be preparation and follow-ups for the actual mediation meeting.
Alderman Damon Seils said although he was unwilling to go on the first stage before the meeting because of the potential costs, he wants to express gratitudes to many volunteers who have been involved in the project.
Alderwoman Jacquelyn Gist said she is willing to proceed with the first stage because it's an effective way to come up with a group decision on a project that will affect people financially and their quality of life.
"I would like to see us go through with the first stage as proposed, and then I trust the integrity of the Dispute Settlement Center and I think they can tell us this is a good thing to move forward with or we may not be able to reach any kind of group decisions," Gist said.
Notable
The board also discussed the possibility of doing major grounds improvements on the Town Commons, including possibility of adding break areas and movies.
Quotable
"The neighbors are very concerned about things like traffic patterns, things like drainage and have a history that independent from the project," said Alderwoman Bethany Chaney referring to the neighbors who are against the farm project.
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