At the Rosemary Imagined Social Event, Chapel Hill residents stood before the group gathered at TRU Deli + Wine and pitched ideas about ways to develop and improve Rosemary Street.
One man envisioned riding a trolley car from Rosemary Street into Carrboro. Another proposed utilizing land on Rosemary to support urban farming. Maria Palmer, currently running for Town Council, said the street needs a climbing center.
The interactive information session was the second public meeting organized to involve the community in the planning project Rosemary Imagined.
In 2010, the Downtown Framework and Action Plan was written, but because it was underdeveloped, it never made it to the town council. In 2012, the council passed Chapel Hill 2020, a comprehensive plan for the town’s growth, and in it, Rosemary Street was identified as one of the five areas to focus on. Elements from both plans came together in what is now Rosemary Imagined, a project funded by Chapel Hill and hyper-focused on the future of Rosemary Street.
Meg McGurk, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and one of the project’s two co-facilitators, said this development process is unique because it relies heavily on community input.
“We really wanted to do it differently, so what we did was never hire a consultant,” McGurk said.
Instead, Rosemary Imagined gathered 14 stakeholders, each of whom represented a key sector of Rosemary Street. From a student to full-time residents to business owners, each asked members of the community what they wanted to see on Rosemary and brought these ideas back to the project.
On June 26, all were invited to come and share their ideas for improving Rosemary Street in the first public planning meeting.
One recurring idea, McGurk said, was to make Rosemary Street a destination in downtown Chapel Hill.
“When you go to downtown Raleigh, you say downtown Raleigh. When you go to downtown Carrboro, you say downtown Carrboro. When you go to downtown Chapel Hill, you say Franklin Street,” McGurk said.
At the event Tuesday, all attendees received a nametag that said, “I want ______ on Rosemary Street.” Those who wished to pitch their vision to the crowd signed up for a 60-second time slot.
Dwight Bassett, the project’s other co-facilitator, said this creates an interesting interaction between citizens and allows people to sell others on their ideas.
“It’s kind of like our version of America’s Got Talent. ‘Who’s got the Best Pitch,’” he said.
During one pitch, a UNC masters student in the Department of City and Regional Planning said he wants to see Rosemary Street take on a more important role downtown.
“Unfortunately what we’ve done to Rosemary is made it play second fiddle to Franklin. Rosemary should compliment Franklin Street rather than just serve Franklin Street’s needs.”
Another man decided to involve the crowd in his pitch, identifying the younger people in the audience by asking a series of questions.
“How many young people are here?” About 10 hands went up.
“How many young people live in Chapel Hill?” The same hands went up.
“How many young people own in Chapel Hill?” No hands went up.
He pitched the idea of bringing diverse, attractive and affordable housing options to Rosemary Street so people in his age and income range could afford to move downtown.
In an interview following the meeting, John Ager, a member of the Chapel Hill planning board and self-proclaimed “tech-guy,” said bringing retail to Rosemary wouldn’t close the budget gap.
“Everybody likes this postcard vision of Chapel Hill,” Ager said, but to thrive, the area needs to focus instead on entrepreneurship, which he said will create a chain of growth downtown as new businesses form and expand, bringing more people to live and buy in Chapel Hill.
Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, the first to pitch an idea, said one of the best parts of the night was the positive, forward-looking attitude of attendees. He credited the natural environment of TRU, which he said beats a meeting room or the town hall.
“Because who feels comfortable doing that besides the mayor?,” he joked.
The next Rosemary Imagined meeting will be held on October 2 at 6:30 pm at the Hargraves Community Center.