Agenda - 04-29-2003-7e - Laserfiche WebLink

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TTN(' nrnnerty~ Horace Williams, Main Campur and Masora Farm .........,_.. r......._ ---~---- - - ~ .. ~ ~ The diagram illustrates the relative size and scale of the Horace Williams property in comparison to UNC's main campus. The main campus of UNC is approximately 575 acres and contains 13 million square feet of occupiable building space. Comparatively, the 979 acres of the Horace Williams property will have a maximum of 8.4 million square feet. The grid shown on the diagram represents a distance of one-quarter mile, or a 5-minute walk. This study illustrates the immense size of the Horace Williams property, which is approximately two miles in length, and the need to develop the property as a: group of neighborhoods, each disciplined by the walking distance of five minutes from center to edge. Neighborhoods are quantified by area, not by density, and each includes a balanced set of activities: shop- ping, workplace, recreation, dwelling, etc. Each neighborhood has a center, such as a public space, which may be a plaza, a square, a green or an important intersection. Retail and work- places are usually associated with the center, as value is enhanced by adjacenry to `place'. The diagram shows concentric circles incrementally increasing by one mile. The center of the circle is located at the intetseaion of Franklin and Columbia Street, which is the northwest comer of the main campus. Minor and major thoroughfares surround the Horace Williams Property. To the east the property abuts Airport Road (NC 8~> the primary access route to the site. Recently widened, Airport Road is now five lanes from I-40 to Downtown Chapel Hill. The proximity of the property to I~0, and to the Main Campus is a key attribute of the site. `Enhanced access from the north will be provided by the extension of Weaver Dairy Road. Accessibility for eastbound traffic will also be improved by the planned widening of Weaver Dairy Road, with an improved connection to US 15-501 included in the region's currentTtansponation Improvement Program (TIP). Homestead Road wraps around the north and west sides of the site. Widening of this two-lane road to three lanes between Airport Road and High School Road is included in the region's TIP. In the longer term, Homestead Road west of High School Road will be widened to add a median. To the south, the site is bounded by Estes Drive, a major easy-westcon- nectionbetween Franklin Street, Airport Road, Carrboro, and areas fur- therwest. Currently a two-lane road, the TIP proposes the widening of Estes Drive to three lanes west ofAirport Road. The western portion of the site is traversed by SeawellSchool Road> atwo-lane no rth-south road with no plans for widening. Anew east-west connection from the lower portion of Seawell Road to Homestead Road (below the schools) is included in the Thoroughfare Plan, Durham/Chapel HiWCarrboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Overall, vehicular access to the Horace Williams property is relatively good, and planned improvements noted above will enhance that access.