Comprehensive Plan
Tonight’s theme group meeting took a different form from those past (see my post on the first and second theme group report outs). After the usual introductions and settling down, Rosemary Waldorf, one of the two co-chairs of the 2020 process updated the participants on the timeline and outlined some results of discussions from the Town Council Retreat that took place over the weekend.
As my past
posts have indicated I’ve had a growing frustration with the Chapel Hill 2020
process over the past couple of months. This evening’s transportation Tavern
Talk has at least begun to change my mind. Unlike many other Chapel Hill
2020 events, the night was unstructured. And I think that was part of what made
it such a success.
The leadership team of Chapel Hill 2020 discussed the timeline issue yesterday afternoon. Apparently the conversation was quite passionate and the group is divided with strong opposition to extending from co-chairs George and Rosemary. I'm a bit surprised since they have always said they had an open mind and were committed to getting it done right. I have yet to hear a clear articulation of why this comprehensive plan should be created in less than a year.
I have heard some people raise valid concerns about sustaining people interest for a multi-year process, but I think that points to changes that may be needed in the process. For example, what if the stakeholders only met monthly rather than every 2-3 weeks? What if we let the community lead the process more and didn't lean so heavily on the staff to run things? If you would like to explore these questions rather than rushing to complete, please sign on to our letter asking for more time.
Last month Chapel Hill 2020 Co-Chair Rosemary Waldorf asked a group of former Chapel Hill Planning Board Chairs to write short essays about why they believe the Comprehensive Plan is important. In addition to my response, replies from the Mayor, the Manager, the chair of the Sustainability Committee, and 3 other past and present Planning Board Chairs were posted on the Town web site and in The Chapel Hill News.
January marks Chapel Hill 2020’s fifth month, and if the schedule of planned events is any indication it will its busiest by far.
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