As part of their annual planning retreat this weekend, the Chapel Hill Town Council will be holding a special planning session with UINC officials to discuss Carolina North. The meeting is open to the public, although no public comment will be allowed. I haven't been able to find an agenda or list of attendees, all I know is that it's from 1 to 5pm Sunday at the Southern Orange Human Services Center on Homestead Road.
From the Town eNews (which isn't archived online, grr):
Stated goals for the Sunday meeting are to engage Town and University representatives in a shared discussion about Carolina North. They will identify common interests and decide how to address those interests.
"This is the policymakers sitting down together, for the first time, in an informal setting, and discussing things," Mayor Foy said. "It indicates our willingness to talk, exchange perceptions, ideas and goals. It's good for the community, and it's an open meeting like all Council meetings, so we encourage people to attend and listen, and to help the Council work through the process in the future."
Four hours is a long meeting, which some potential to get into actual substance. Do you think they will discuss the Innovation Center, or the plans for Carolina North at-large, or maybe even a process for dealing with the whole thing? I'm rooting for the latter.
Side note: I am also posting this as an event on the OP calendar.
Issues:
Comments
Long indeed!
Four hours is definitely a long meeting not to have a set agenda for, so I'm assuming there is one, somewhere. Any chance someone has seen it? The town website doesn't seem to list anything.
Also, UINC? Is that a Freudian slip as in University, Incorporated? :)
Any reports?
I'd love to hear from anyone who was able to attend this meeting.
Today's Herald highlighted an anxious Council going into the session. http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-915075.cfm Personally, I think they have more important things to worry about than whether they present the appearance of unity to UNC. All 9 Council members (plus the mayor) probably have important concerns to raise, and of course it only takes 5 votes to make a decision. ;-)