April Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Tiffany Lacey, UNC's executive director for real estate development, briefed the board on Carolina North, the district the university has been discussing since the early 2000s and now needs because it plans to add more than 5,000 students over the next decade. Development partners would build student housing, affordable, workforce and market-rate housing, a mixed-use district and medical and wellness amenities; UNC itself would build academic and research facilities, parks and trails. Asked how it would be funded and whether it would be taxable, Gordon Merklein said the money would come from development partners, state infrastructure funding and fundraising, that the mixed-use development would not be university-owned and would be taxable, but the land would not be because it is campus. Asked about connectivity, Lacey said five of the eight miles between Carolina North and main campus would have a dedicated bike lane, and that Chapel Hill Transit's bus rapid transit project is the link. A decision on moving the Dean Dome there has been postponed.

Executive director Laurie Paolicelli told the board that college athletes' name, image and likeness deals are producing events that university towns can book in shoulder seasons. The bureau is waiting on zip code data from Fan First Entertainment to judge what the Savannah Bananas weekend was worth to Orange County, though the chair said the Hyatt's revenue per available room was up significantly. The bureau has committed $10,000 in bid fees for the 2027 Town and Gown conference despite a difficult budget year, and is working with UNC Athletics and Aer Lingus on the UNC-TCU game in Dublin.

Hillsborough has set aside $50,000 for America 250 events on July 4, with the Orange County Arts Commission coordinating a Together We Are America festival at River Park. The Magellan Strategy Group's strategic report was due to be presented on April 29, with the May meeting extended to two hours to discuss it.

How the votes went

Two votes, both with all in favor: approval of the March 15 minutes, moved by Craig Lloyd and seconded by Allison Reid, and adjournment, moved by David Putnam and seconded by Heidi Werner. Ten of the fifteen members attended.

From the published minutes.