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Live Blog: Sierra Club-Chamber Forum for Chapel Hill Candidates

Two of the 3 mayoral candidates and all 9 council candidates are in attendance. The live blogging starts now...

Question 1 - how do you balance economic development and environmental protection and which should be the priority at this time.

Sookram - environment or we are all doing to die. Should build up and not out. Don't focus on LEED that takes too long.

Baker - don't need to choose between these, can work collaboratively, smart growth is important with density where it is appropriate, opportunity to retain and recruit, shop where you live

Bell - those 2 values don't have to conflict, should have dialogue so parties trust each other

Cho - don't accept premise - not mutually exclusive, proposals should take into account the environment.

Matt C - glad we are getting past the dichotomy of pro-business and pro-environment, CH residents drive out to work

Dale - against cutting down trees, incentivize solar panels,

Dehart - not mutually exclusive, want to be known as pro-Chapel Hill, fix the development approval process, need a lot of public input, I am an Eagle scout: leave it better than you found it.

Schuler - 2 issues that can co-exist, UNC is already starting to focus on environmentally friendly options such as water reclamation.

Storrow - 2 things that have made CH great - 1 is the rural buffer that protects water shed and keeps development compact, need to think about infill and transit

Ward - Greenplus program at the Chamber is an example of melding of econ. dev. and environmental protection

Mark K - we are challenged to help create this balance with every decision we make on the council. We need to help others see that and how to do it

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Comments

Dale comment

Submitted by James Barrett on September 21, 2011 - 7:27pm

Um, how does solar work if you don't cut any trees down?

Question 2: How do we create more jobs

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 7:29pm

Q2: How do we create more jobsSchuler - first, have incentives to have businesses develop, people willing to take a chanceDehart - 1/4 sales tax - I am in favor of it. Every Sat. we have 60,000 people come in for football. Be welcoming to folks Storrow - 1 specific thing = Entrepreneur Center at UNC in Carolina North with braintrust at UNCWard - 1/4 sales tax is a shot in the arm for this county and the towns, Durham Tech OC campus is a good place to train for new jobs, need incubator space for ideas Mark K - many people have come to him to talk about new ideas for businesses, supporting the 1/4 cent sales tax, be committed to facilitating business.

Question 3: How do we create more business?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 7:34pm

Dale - I have started businesses, incubators do not create a lot of jobs - a lot goes in, but not a lot are hits. SHould invest in small businesses that have been around a while.Baker - need to look at how state gov. has gutted employers and make sure we do not here in the town, need a revolving loan fund like in Carrboro.Sookram - need to re-write the sign ordinance so people know where businesses are. Matt C - Durham is exciting, being able to live and work in Chapel Hill is very importance, need to more businesses in Durham to Chapel HillCho - need to overcome idea the CH is not business friendlyBell - make is easier for mobile food units, that small business has been shown to have potential to become a larger business, our ED dir. has been good at looking at green industry.

Question 4: How to reduce CO2 emissions

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 7:42pm

Dale - have easier-to-use transitMatt C - no question global warming is horrifying, issue is primarily from utilities and cars, Cho - I think human existence is related to global warming, on planning board we encourage green options, also on T-Board we encourage that. I am the only candidate I know who is not using yard signs to be responsible.Bell - Need to have a regional plan not just a town plan, need to have an affordable housing plan, need to ed. people about living more simply.Baker - increase density where transit goes, support 1/4 cent sales tx to allow schools to be greener, get the transit tax on the ballot to get light railSookram - need safe crosswalks with blinking lights, need later bus serviceDehart - all are concerned, I serve on T Board - requiring electric charging stations, need to reduce coal burning at UNCStorrow - UNC is a giant elephant as a force of emissions, was involved in the coal-free initiative, need to have county cmsnrs put transit tax on the ballotWard - buildings use 50% of the energy, need LED lighting, we now have a sustainability officer to help us institute green elements

Coal use

Submitted by James Barrett on September 21, 2011 - 7:45pm

Interesting that several talked about UNC with no mention of Waste to Energy there.

Question 5: What will you do to help small enterprises thrive?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 7:50pm

Sookram - make advertising easierBaker - town start a local purchasing effort, help chamber promote 'buy local', permitting office that is centralized with just 1 person Bell - talked with manager stancil about helping small businesses navigate permitting process, UNC is a great resource for helping create businessesCho - agree with others, need to simplify the system of permitting , pro-business direction would be a good oneMatt C - comments that the water given is not from a local place, affordable office space is needed, would have been great to have office space at East 54Dale - need marketing to get people downtown or to the U Mall, Mark K - as mayor you are a 1-man marketer for CH, town has made great progress with easing permitting processWard - Visitors Bureau is funded by town and county through hotel tax and goes to support business - not from your taxesDehart - want us to invest in the Visitors Bureau more, Downtown Partnership needs to be supported

Love the answer from Baker

Submitted by James Barrett on September 21, 2011 - 7:52pm

Just as the Feds should be at the forefront of Made in America, our town governments need to figure out how to champion local businesses as well. Recycling -- it's for more than Coke cans (in this case, $s in the local economy).

Question 5: What will you do to help small enterprises thrive?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 7:51pm

Question 6 - show of hands: do you support the 1/4 cent sales tx

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 7:54pm

all YES except Tim Sookram

Q7: With the expansions of the towns in the coming year

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:00pm

With the expansions of the towns in the coming years, what should be done to make sure water allocations are adequate, re: Jordan LakeStorrow – challenging, I support insuring that we haveenough water, would have supported allocation from Jordan Lake, don’t want tolose that water in the futureWard – do support protecting our water allocation, this is aregional issue, now support the Jordan lake allocation, but does not becausethen OWASA wanted to trigger first, think we should conserve firstMark K - community can conserve and reuse, don't want to take anything off the table Dehart - wants to keep Jordan Lake as an option - hope you never have to use it though.Schuler - keep option open and keep seat at the tableBell - always thought we needed Jordan Lake as a back-up as last resort, it is OWASA's job to keep us informed about the carrying capacity with waterMatt C - we were told that Jordan Lake can't just be for emergencies, water is expensive as a utility and we need to conserveBaker - people need to continue to conserve, not comfortable with going into Jordan Lake allocation unless stipulation that is is only for an emergency.Cho - conservation is important

Question for Baker

Submitted by Terri Buckner on September 22, 2011 - 8:20am

What constitutes an emergency? For example, lake levels down to a certain level, cost structure no longer yielding conservation savings? Who determines when an emergency exists....OWASA, towns?

Interesting positive about Jordan water

Submitted by Mark Marcoplos on September 22, 2011 - 9:52am

This is a complex issue, but there is an interesting side effect to having Jordan water as a back-up. Knowing that there is a back-up would allow OWASA to draw the reservoirs down farther than if there were no back-up. This effectively means that we could end up using more of our local water in a severe drought. (The key thing here is that when reservoirs are drawn down, no-one knows exactly at which point the water is infused with too much solid matter from the lake bottoms.)

Q8: Rural Buffer - should it be changed?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:07pm

DeHart - I don't think we need to change anythingSchuler - I am not up to speed on this, but doing homework, we need to be open to ideasStorrow - NoWard - Southern part of county has a mall coming - Star Point, mostly in Chatham and we could annex land?Mark K - we do not have an agreement with Chatham to control sprawl now and this is a problem, there is a lot of growth happening there.Matt C - I am thrilled to hear Mayor say we should look at our Southern border, we agree here! We have high housing prices because we have created scarcity with buffer, building up is still expensive as a housing option.Bell - I am a proponent of diversity, agree with Mark and Jim, no change nowBaker - do not support modifications, on Chatham side I am willing to look at options so we don't have highrises next to sprawl, do not believe that rural buffer creates higher housing pricesCho - it creates a challenge, but want to maintain buffer

Bell's answer

Submitted by James Barrett on September 21, 2011 - 8:11pm

ok, I'm confused. @CarolinaChamber made it sound like she was stating that Rural Buffer is preventing more diversity (which is pretty true as prices escalate with scarcity). You're saying she wants diversity but no change. That doesn't jive for me.

Affordable housing is the wedge of choice

Submitted by Mark Marcoplos on September 22, 2011 - 9:53am

for real estate and developers to get access to the rural buffer.

Question 9: Based on school construction projections.....

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:16pm

Sookram – guess we should build another school or banchildrenBaker – we will need to have a realistic discussion aboutwaiving SAPFO for a time to deal with this.Bell - use this as a sign to keep development limited to what resources we have, need to have state money stay for education, not how leg. is handling things nowCho - troubled with caps being set by school board instead of the councilMatt C - not in favor of banning children! If we don't modify SAPFO then we can only develop commericallyDale - why are we building when we can sell what is on the market, if we build a large dev. like Meadowmont, put in a school for it. Mark K - don't abandon SAPFO, school system that is one of the best in US should not be undermined, town should help schools get through permitting process smoothly, for record Meadowmont and WV did add schoolsSchuler - cap has a safety valve,Storrow - need to have great relationships with municipal partners, I do not support ignoring the cap, need to have dialogue with developers - just because apts are built does not mean no children will live there.Ward - we need school number 11 and it will be interesting to her from cty on timeframeDehart - we chose CH based on school system and we need to keep schools supported

Note to Storrow

Submitted by Terri Buckner on September 22, 2011 - 8:27am

It wouldn't matter if the developer paid to build the school. Capital construction is expensive, but the greatest expense comes from staffing and operational costs. Under current budget, I believe the system would have to take away from other schools in order to support the operations of a new school.Really wish all of the candidates would learn to talk about one time costs vs ongoing costs when they talk about development. This is the basis for saying that residential development doesn't pay for itself (roads, police and fire, schools, etc.).

response

Submitted by leestorrow on September 22, 2011 - 10:57am

Terri, Thanks for your comment. I didn't mean to imply that I thought developers should be responsible for covering the cost of building new schools (although I don't think it's inappropriate for developers to cover some of the costs of the infrastructure required for the developments) but that knowing the numbers of how many people are in Orange County will require us to be realistic about where families are living.

Show of hands - should we regulate the use of lawn fertilizer

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:17pm

1/2 up and 1/2 downSorry didn't look up in time.

Jordan lake rules; fertilizer runoff

Submitted by ldhintz on September 22, 2011 - 11:26pm

This actually gets at a very important issue. Lawn fertilizer is one cause of the excess nutrients going into Jordan Lake. The new state regulations will require towns and county to reduce the nutrient ( P and N) run off. Regulation does not need to mean a ban. Obviously if most of the applied fertilizer ends up as runoff the application is simply a waste of money. I hope someone was able to tell who raised their hand in support. I think Kleinscmidt, Ward, Storrow, Schuler, Baker and perhaps Bell said yes and Sookram, Dehart, Cho, Dale and Czajkowski said no but hopefully someone else can verify this. Loren

incentives

Submitted by James Barrett on September 22, 2011 - 11:37pm

I actually wonder if there's an interesting correlation between what we might do to actually protect water if we were to tap Jordan Lake. Today, we have rules but no true incentive to do what we should.

Q10: regional transit - support or not

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:24pm

Mark K - will add 40,000 bus hours from this! We need to get it on the ballotWard - need to support it, bette the bus system the more can use it and not carsStorrow - CH transit is fantastic, echo Ward and Mark K, rides bus on MLK a lot, we can move folks to use it if it is fasterSchuler - right now it is time consuming, but transit is a public good, we need better discussions to get more ridersDehart - I serve on the T-Board and grateful for opportunity, town had been a leader, it is hard to ride from where I live, we need to make it easier Sookram - need to divide it into 2 issuesCho - T-Board meets every 2 weeks with staff to see how to improve transit and we talk about how to integrate with Triangle Transit, regional transit is going to take a number of yearsMatt C - need to focus on making it cheap and fast, we have to find ways to maintain serviceBaker - I rode a bus today. We should be knowledgeable about it, I have been serving around transit since I was a student, must improve the funding and support the transit tax

Q11: How can we streamline the permitting process?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:33pm

Dale - I don't know the process well, but know it is difficult, need to create clear rules, without over-managingMatt C - does not believe that a longer SUP process makes for a better result, we must zone property for what we want and I do not believe that means we will lose controlCho - second Matt, streamline and combine boards and commissions, should tag applications so we can track them, this impacts affordable housing because ht process is long and expensiveBell - should streamline, believes the environment will not be at risk, SUP may not be the most productive, but I am not ready to throw away the process because it gives good results. Baker - went through a pilot joint board-process for the application this summer, looking for a way to streamline without doing away with good resultsSookram - keep the good parts, shouldn't take 18 monthsStorrow - SUP process has flaws, but I am not ready to throw it out, Current council is working to improve it. Combined boards review is a good idea, should think of othersSchuler - need to look at private sector for guidanceDehart - need to streamline w/o compromise on the env. protections, need to be more objective. Look at what Asheville is doingWard - town has implemented strategies already, as part of 2020 identify where more density is palatable Mark K - downtown is one place for more density, Courtyard project is an example and was expedited, we need to target density

Audience Q1: to Ward - downtown parking - how to get more

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:35pm

Ward - 400-800 more is needed? What study says that? Would form partnerships with private entities.

Audience Q2: CDBG and HOME funds for a men's shelter?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:37pm

Schuler - I am working with IFC on Good Neighbor plan, Dale - important to provide the emergency beds, my father was homeless, 17 beds doesn't seem like enough

Audience Q3 - what do you want to come out of 2020 Vision

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:39pm

Matt C - sometimes it is hard to converse about difficult issues, I am not suggesting throwing out the SUP processMark K - SUP process is not perfect, trying to make it better, 2020 Vision process is exciting, I want to see 10,000 people engaged to vision to use all of the town, people's Comp. Plan

Audience Q$ - Deer Culling?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:41pm

Mark K - we have authorized it, people already can on their propertynow raise hands: YES Cho, Matt, Jason, Donna, Lee, Carl.....

Audience Q5 - enough Affordable housing?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:43pm

Ward - no, not enough, not big enough units, IZO is helping, but we need more work, this shouldn't be a place to gaze at rich peopleDehart - This is something I know something about, we need to have a plan because taxes are really expensive, met Dr. Friday and has taxes are really high and he is 91

Audience Q6 - Who defines what water emergency is?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:45pm

Bell - OWASA defines, emoergency resource is not easy - not easy to get water from Jordan LakeWard - we may want easy access to Jordan Lake, but it is not that easy. Should refrain from using it as much as we can. May be putting businesses dependent on water out of business

What things will warrant increasing taxes?

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:46pm

Storrow – civil servants are overburdened with more work,no raises, we may need to increase propeorty taxes to raise pay of our workers

Do you support lighting and tree-trimming

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:49pm

Cho - yes, I doSookram - that's awesomeDale - downtown very important, homeless people don't bother me because I am big.

Town and SEE started a plan to help homeowners be green

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:51pm

Dehart - great program, we signed up and had an evaluation of our home - it is already very green. This is a great way to protect the environmentMark K - helping people recognize their carbon footprint is critical, I am proud of this program, Phase 2 is just starting, we won an award for this program Baker - this program is designed for homeowners and only 53% of residents are homeowners

Town and SEE started a plan to help homeowners be green

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:51pm

Do you support balance for where social services are placed

Submitted by Molly De Marco on September 21, 2011 - 8:54pm

Cho – yes, I would decisions have already been made, Iserve on the Good Neighbor Plan Dehart – I live near many social services. I help serve atthe IFC, but everyone needs to share it.

Thank you, Molly

Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on September 22, 2011 - 9:53am

You captured an incredible amount of information last night! I really appreciate having this record for those of us that had other obligations. Great job.

Living wage

Submitted by Mark Marcoplos on September 22, 2011 - 9:59am

The Chamber should be called upon to champion a living wage to help local businesses have more business, help more people afford homes, help more peopel afford energy-efficiency, help more people stay out of social service system, etc.