Chancellor Holden Thorp had a hectic first few days on the job, huddling with faculty members, convening his inaugural meeting with the chancellor’s cabinet, having breakfast with student leaders and picking up the key to South Building from his predecessor.

On Wednesday, his schedule took him off campus and onto Franklin Street for lunch with Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy at Sutton’s Drug Store.

While waiting for his lunch date to arrive, Thorp took in the street scene and received a number of hearty congratulations.

He reports that he’s moved into his office, but that he and the family plan to take their time moving out of their Carrboro home and into the chancellor’s quarters. He also reports no lack of Carolina Blue ties, which seem to be a popular gift to give a new chancellor.

Longtime Sutton’s pharmacist John Woodard popped out to shake his hand and told the new chancellor that his appointment was a rarity in the town.

“First time we’ve ever had a search [for a chancellor] where everybody’s happy,” he said.

Thorp smiled and told Woodard he’ll do his best not to mess that up. — Kirk Ross

by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
A tight budget year has led to cutbacks in many county functions including local libraries. But Carrboro officials and library supporters are concerned that the Carrboro branch library at McDougle Middle School took a much bigger cut than its counterparts elsewhere in the county.
“It is absolutely shocking,” Nerys Levy said of the action announced last week by the county. Levy, who chairs the Library Art Committee and is an organizer with Friends of the Library, said that more than 30 patrons — students, parents and others — had to be turned away Tuesday when they showed up at the usual opening time. More »

by Rich Fowler
Staff Writer
Glen Lennox area residents are one step closer to getting a Neighborhood Conservation District. At its meeting last week, the Chapel Hill Town Council allowed residents to go forward with the NCD process, which allows the planning department to hold an informational meeting for area landowners.
The NCD petition was filed soon after Grubb Properties, the owner of the Glen Lennox apartments and shopping center, announced a plan to redevelop the area into a high-density neighborhood similar to Meadowmont.
But at the council meeting, Clay Grubb, president of Grubb Properties, said he didn’t think the plan was sensitive to the history of Glen Lennox.
“I apologize,” Grubb said. “We were not prepared to submit that plan, but we felt like we had no choice at the time. That was a plan that was done hastily.”
He said he’d be happy to halt plans while all parties involved talked it over.
Grubb said he didn’t feel the NCD process was fair, because his company owns the 440 apartment units and shopping center, which make up a little more than one-third of the area.
Mary Dexter, who filed the original petition, said the proposed Glen Lennox redevelopment plan wasn’t the only reason for an NCD. “We’re working on saving a neighborhood, not just apartments,” she said. Dexter said area residents were concerned about teardowns and “McMansions” in their neighborhood.
“We have common historical values, we have common architectural values,” she said. “We are a neighborhood, and you are part of it.”
The next step is that the planning board will schedule a meeting to tell landowners how the NCD process works, what it protects and what it doesn’t protect. Notices will be sent to all landowners within a 500-foot radius of the proposed NCD before the meeting.
There are currently six NCDs in Chapel Hill, including one in Northside and the most recent one in Coker Hills.
The council took no action on a proposed moratorium on development along NC 54 east of 15-501 up to the town limits. Projects already under construction as well as those still in the application phase would not be stopped by a moratorium.
Because of the way the development process is set up, the proposed redevelopment of Glen Lennox, along with any other future proposed projects along NC 54, would still be subject to a moratorium if the council chooses to pass one when it meets again in the fall.
Michael Collins, vice chair of the planning board, said the board unanimously supported the original petition for a moratorium on NC 54. “The applications seem to be coming fast and furious,” he said. Collins said that perhaps it was a good time to step back and discuss what the council and citizens want along the road.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward said that passing the moratorium now wasn’t an either/or issue. He said that passing one right now wouldn’t be effective, because the town would wind up losing a lot of time under a moratorium when the council wasn’t in session.
“It has our attention, and it will gain more attention and thought over the next few months,” he said.

by Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Orange County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday set a public hearing regarding a possible referendum for a quarter-cent sales tax increase for Aug. 19.

Voters defeated a 0.4 percent land transfer tax referendum by about 2 to 1 in May. In last year’s state budget, the Legislature gave counties the option of a 0.4 percent land transfer tax or a quarter-cent sales tax increase to help compensate for money taken away from counties in a deal to turn responsibility for paying Medicaid over to the state.
As a result of the budget deal, counties lost state-supplied school construction money this year and will lose some sales tax revenue in coming years.
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by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

After a review of progress in long-range planning for northern Carrboro, the town Board of Aldermen placed a strong emphasis on seeing commercial development in the region.

During a discussion at Town Hall Tuesday night of five sites identified as having commercial potential, Alderman Joal Hall Broun said she was disinclined to vote for any more residential development — except affordable housing — until the town’s ratio of commercial to residential development improves.
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Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has announced that Carrboro High School Principal Jeff Thomas has been reassigned to the district’s central office.

A district press release did not say why Thomas was reassigned, or what position he will fill at the central office. Thomas has served as principal of Carrboro High for two years, and opened the school last August.

According to the press release, Rodney Trice will serve as interim principal at Carrboro High over the summer until the selection process can be completed. Trice has served as director of Curriculum and Instruction for the district since March 2006.

District officials expect that a permanent appointment will be made prior to the beginning of the new school year in August.

Tony, a dog rescued just a week earlier by the Orange County Animal Services Department, noses around at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Orange County Animal Services Center. Photo by Jordan Timpy.

The animals of Orange County will soon move into bigger and better facilities, with a new Animal Services Center under construction on Eubanks Road.

County officials broke ground on the project last week. Despite sweltering heat, community members, county commissioners and adoptable pets showed up for the groundbreaking.
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The land currently occupied by Butler’s Garage is a mostly overgrown field located behind the ArtsCenter and adjacent to the bike path leading into Chapel Hill, but a new development proposal calls for the construction of a five-story condominium and office building with two decks of parking. Photo by Jordan Timpy.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen have set a public hearing for June 24 to review a plan for a five-story condominium and office complex on the site of Butler’s Garage, behind The ArtsCenter and Cat’s Cradle.

The proposal for the project — dubbed ‘The Butler’ — includes 57 condominiums and 22,170 square feet of office space with two decks of parking. Nine of the condominium units would be designated as affordable.
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by Susan Dickson
When Steve Scroggs began his first day as assistant superintendent for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, he sat outside his office and cried. After nearly 30 years working directly with children, Scroggs had made the transition to school administration, and found himself a little lonely.
“It was the first time there wasn’t a child to say, ‘Good morning, Mr. Scroggs,’” he said. He got through the day by going to the nearby pre-kindergarten to find a child to give him a hug and say good morning.
Scroggs has spent the past eight years serving as assistant superintendent for support services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the past 35 years working in North Carolina public schools. This Friday, Scroggs will step down from his post to retire, and he will surely be missed. More »

by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

After a short public hearing at Town Hall Tuesday night on the proposed 2009-2009 budget, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen asked for a small rewrite and indicated they are likely to approve the proposal at the next meeting on June 3.

The main change as a result of the hearing was an addition of $4,000 to the amount the town will send to the Orange County Land Trust.
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Manager calls for 3.23 cent tax increase

by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The town is cutting expenditures by close to 6 percent, but taxes are headed up under a budget proposal detailed for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen at Town Hall Tuesday night.

Town Manager Steve Stewart outlined a $18,476,375 budget that delays vehicle purchases and uses part of the town’s fund balance to help make up for increased costs and lackluster revenue projects.
Stewart is recommending that the town raise property taxes 3.23 cents, putting the total tax rate at 68.60 cents per $100 of assessed value. For the owner of a $200,000 home, the increase would be about $65. More »

Beekeepers to the rescue — Scotty McLean and Kirk Right of McLean Builders load up a bee box full of honeybees from the Century Center. Photo by Kirk Ross.

Pardon the pun, but it didn’t take too long last Tuesday for the buzz downtown to get around.

Late Tuesday morning, calls and emails poured into The Citizen offices about a large number of bees swarming next to the Century Center, specifically in the Foster Holly (Ilex x attenuata) on the northeast corner of Main and Greensboro streets.

As thousands of honeybees swirled in and out of the bushes, onlookers did a bit of swarming as well.

“It was a pretty amazing sight,” said Brendan Moore, facilities administrator for the Century Center. He took in the spectacle and the rapid response of the local beekeeping community, but, he said, “I did it from afar.” More »

Lorie Clark was an enthusiastic supporter of Moses Carey who lost to Ellie Kinnaird in the state Senate race. She and Obama poll worker Julia Tarr camped out all day Tuesday at the OWASA precinct. Photo by Kirk Ross.

Going into Tuesday, higher registration numbers were already indicating a heavy turnout for Election Day, when Orange County voters would cast their ballots for everything from a tax referendum to the next president. The early vote total swelled as well, nearly reaching 18,000 votes by the close of business on Saturday, meaning that 18 percent of those registered voted prior to Election Day, a total close to the average total turnout in a typical primary year. By the time Tuesday’s votes were added in, more than 46,190 had voted in the county, putting turnout at an estimated 48 percent.
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by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Determined to keep their perfect score in defeating counties’ efforts to adopt a real estate transfer tax, the North Carolina real estate and construction interests, led by the North Carolina Association of Realtors and the North Carolina Homebuilders, have pumped more than $205,000 in cash and in-kind contributions into defeating the initiative in Orange County.

The figures, filed on Monday — the deadline for campaign finance reports for the first quarter and the final weeks leading up to the election — show that the state organizations that have helped organize and fund county-based groups to fight the tax represent the bulk of funding for Citizens for a Better Orange County, which was set up in February to fight the tax.
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by Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Six months ago, the race for North Carolina Senate District 23, which is comprised of Orange and Person counties, was shaping up as a much different kind of contest than the one on the ballot today.

A field of three — Carrboro Alderman John Herrera and two Orange County commissioners, Moses Carey and Mike Nelson — were preparing for at least a three-way contest to fill the seat vacated by a retiring six-term incumbent, Ellie Kinnaird.

But when Kinnaird, who had long hoped a woman would be in the field vying to replace her, decided not to retire and to go for another term, the field of candidates changed rapidly.

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