Ruby Sinreich's blog

Tonight the Chapel Hill Town Council approved General Development Agreement between the Town of Chapel Hill and the Ram Development Company to build some tall buildings on the town-owned Parking lot 5 as well as a request for expedited review of the development.

Here's an open thread to share our opinions about it so we don't have to take over other topics. Have at it!

As you probably already know if you have kids, both city and county schools are closed today.

The Town of Chapel Hill says everything is pretty much under control with the following exceptions:

Government Meetings: Chapel Hill Town Hall is open. Canceled meetings today include the Rogers Road Small Area Plan Task Force (rescheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 15) and the Continuing Concerns Committee (tentatively rescheduled for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15).

Chapel Hill Transit: Buses are expected to operate on a regular schedule for the remainder of the day. Transit supervisors are circulating throughout the community to check for potential trouble spots. For service information, call 968-2769.

I learned from the N&O's excellent new Orange Chat blog that Roger Perry's University Village project has changed it's name to "East 54" due to Chapel Hill Planning staff concerns that the "University" name could confuse emergency responders. The staff has raised the same issue about other recent projects such as "McCorkle Place" condos, which are located across from the UNC quad called McCorkle Place.

Problem is, while East 54 definitely sounds hipper, it's even more geographically ambiguous than the previous name - it's the name of an entire road!

Meanwhile, former Town Council member Pat Evans is reactivating the group calling itself "Friends of Downtown." (You know, as opposed to those enemies...)

The erstwhile Chapel Hill Downtown Commission set up the Friends of Downtown initially as a 501c3c nonprofit, so it could accept tax-deductible donations for the commission, Evans said.