town-council-preview

Howdy ho, neighbors. We’re about to start another exciting season of Carrboro and Chapel Hill Town Council meetings — and have everything you need to know about watching and following right here in this blog post.

When does Town Council meet?

Carrboro

Carrboro’s Town Council meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays; meetings are streamed, and you can attend in person at Carrboro Town Hall. You can find agendas, agenda packets, and meeting details on the Town Council agenda website. The first meeting of 2023 will be on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.

Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill’s Town Council meets at 7 p.m on Wednesdays; watch online or show up in person at Chapel Hill Town Hall. You can find agendas, agenda packets, and meeting details on the Town Council agenda website. The first meeting of 2023 will be on Wednesday, January 11, 2023.

Is there an easy way to put this into my calendar?

Yup!

Carrboro

You can sign up for town council calendars via email or text message on the town updates website (under B. Calendar). (We also recommend signing up for Carrboro This Week, which is a weekly digest of Carrboro news.)

Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill has a calendar of scheduled public hearings and council meetings (ics file) that can be imported into your  Outlook or Google calendars. It’s also available on the Chapel Hill Council Calendar.

Will Triangle Blog Blog be live blogblogging council meetings?

Yes, we are going to try to do that for as many meetings as possible, and will also be publishing recaps.

What are you looking forward to this term?

Both towns will be passing their annual budgets in the spring, and we’ll be watching closely to see if they continue to prioritize affordable housing, safe streets, and parks and greenways. Here’s a few things that we’ll be watching in each town:

Carrboro

In Carrboro, the town council will make progress on enacting parts of its comprehensive plan, including expanding what kinds of houses we can build in town. They’ll also take up a conversation about extending the Bolin Creek Greenway.

Pre-reading: Council Member Romaine’s excellent preview of the upcoming session and her top priorities.

Chapel Hill

In Chapel Hill, the town council is considering a proposal to make it easier to build missing middle housing – duplexes, triplexes — in our neighborhoods. (You can get a sneak peek of the proposal in the agenda for Tuesday’s Housing Advisory Board meeting.)

They’re also working on some policy changes to make sure that our application for the North South BRT has the best possible chance of getting funded.

We’re also looking for the town to make progress on this next stage of its Complete Communities initiative, which includes working on a pilot project, as well as the multi-year project to rewrite the town’s Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO). (Related: Our deep-dive into the proposed changes.)

Pre-reading: Council Member Stegman’s excellent preview of the upcoming session.