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  • From: "Steve Wright" <swright AT townofchapelhill.org>
  • To: <chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Chpac-staff] CHPAC in the news : 9-10-07
  • Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:00:06 -0400

Dear CHPAC,

 

Linked and reproduced below are some recent articles on today’s Town Operations Center dedication.

 

See you Wednesday,

 

Steve

 

 

- Town to dedicate operations facility

CHAPEL HILL -- The town of Chapel Hill will dedicate the new $52 million Town Operations Center with a ceremony and public tour at 10 a.m. Monday in front of the transit building.

http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-879391.cfm

 

- Town Ops Center to be dedicated Monday

Public works yard includes $420,000 public art project

CHAPEL HILL -- A congressman, new hybrid buses and a host of town dignitaries will mark the official dedication of the new Town Operations Center on Millhouse Road Monday.

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/9532.html

 

- Chapel Hill celebrates new Operations Center today

The town of Chapel Hill will dedicate the new Town Operations Center at 10 a.m. today.

The center, which cost $52 million to build, houses the Public Works Department and Chapel Hill Transit. More than 300 employees work at the facility.

http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007/09/10/City/City-Briefs-2958454.shtml

 

 

 

 

The Herald-Sun

September 8, 2007   6:30 pm

 

Town to dedicate operations facility

 

CHAPEL HILL -- The town of Chapel Hill will dedicate the new $52 million Town Operations Center with a ceremony and public tour at 10 a.m. Monday in front of the transit building.

 

The Operations Center includes the town's public works and transit departments, which were formerly located on UNC-owned land off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which is now part of the planned Carolina North development. Among the features of the 96-acre campus on Millhouse Road north of Eubanks Road are sustainable architecture designed to maximize energy and water resources and significant public art installations that salute public works employees.

 

"I think the buildings in many ways reflect the values of the community," said Town Councilman Bill Strom, who is among the speakers participating in the dedication. Others on hand will be Congressman David Price, Town Manager Roger Stancil, and artist Larry Kirkland.

 

Kirkland created the 40-foot-long "Around Town" display near the entrance to the Chapel Hill Transit Administration building. Fashioned as a marble bench, "Around Town" is engraved with symbols of the sights viewed during a typical bus trip through Chapel Hill: church steeples, UNC buildings, birds and bicyclists.

 

Another Kirkland creation, "In Our Hands," is a semicircular stone wall enclosing a plaza at the Public Works building. It is intended as a gathering space for special events.

 

Operations Center art was funded by $420,000 set aside by the town's Percent for Art Ordinance.

 

"I think we've come to understand the benefit of public art in our community, and I think that having Larry Kirkland installations in our town, frankly, is a feather in our cap," Strom said. "I've been out there with citizens from the Rogers Road Small Area Plan Task Force as well as the Library Building Committee and I've seen citizens respond really well to those installations."

 

Facilities contained within the Operations Center are oriented lengthwise, east to west, to maximize solar benefits. In addition to photovoltaic panels on the roof intended to supplement energy consumption, "daylighting" principles are used to take advantage of natural light and decrease reliance on electric light fixtures.

 

Water conservation is encouraged by mechanisms that collect rain water for use in toilet flushing, irrigation and vehicle washing.

 

The dedication ceremonies will be followed by tours of the artwork and the facilities.

 

URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-879391.cfm

 

 

Chapel Hill News:

 

Town Ops Center to be dedicated Monday

 

From Staff Reports

CHAPEL HILL -- A congressman, new hybrid buses and a host of town dignitaries will mark the official dedication of the new Town Operations Center on Millhouse Road Monday.

The town will celebrate the new $52 million center, which houses the Public Works Department and Chapel Hill Transit. More than 300 employees work at the new facility. U.S. Rep. David Price will speak.

 

The center, which occupies about half the 96-acre site, has sustainable design features to reduce its use of non-renewable resources and minimize its impact on the environment.

 

These include a geothermal heating system, underground tanks to hold rainwater for flushing toilets and irrigation, and passive and active solar design features.

 

The town's Percent for Art Ordinance set aside $420,000 for public art. Artist Larry Kirkland created two pieces: "Around the Town," a 40-foot engraved marble bench sited outside the Transit facility, and "In Our Hands," a semicircular stone wall enclosing a plaza at the Public Works facility.

 

Kirkland, who will speak at the dedication, carved the Carrara marble "bench" as a place to sit and relax. The back shifts along the bench so that someone sitting, such as a bus passenger, can look out into nature when facing one direction, or to the populated community from the other.

 

Engraved on the bench are symbols and destinations of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the university one might see while riding on the bus: church steeples, classical columns of UNC buildings, birds and wildlife, and bicyclists. Two large black granite forms at either end of the 40-foot-long bench are meant to bring to mind enormous bus tires.

 

The second piece, "In Our Hands," honors Public Works employees and was created as an outdoor plaza used as a gathering space for special events and an inviting place to sit and relax.

 

Kirkland spoke with employees to learn about the tools and symbols of their work, which were cast into bronze and mounted onto the wall. These include hammers, drills, hardhats and safety glasses, shovels and brooms.

 

Other objects were selected for symbolic value: an oak leaf for the thousands of trees cared for and planted to keep the town green, a safety cone as a reminder that the welfare of town workers and citizens comes first, a large faucet as a symbol of the clean water needed to maintain a healthful water supply.

 

Also Monday, Chapel Hill Transit also will display some of its 19 new buses, including three that use hybrid electric technology and three 60-foot articulated buses. The buses were acquired for $7 million.

 

In addition to Price, scheduled participants include N.C, Department of Transportation Public Transit Division Director Miriam Perry, Federal Transit Administration Region IV Administrator Yvette Taylor, Town Manager Roger L. Stancil, and Assistant Town Manager Bruce Heflin.

 

 

Daily Tarheel:

 

Chapel Hill celebrates new Operations Center today

 

The town of Chapel Hill will dedicate the new Town Operations Center at 10 a.m. today.

 

The center, which cost $52 million to build, houses the Public Works Department and Chapel Hill Transit. More than 300 employees work at the facility.

 

U.S. Rep. David Price will speak at the event. Light refreshments will be served, and residents may take a tour of the facility and its public art.

 

Others who will participate in the special event include Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom, N.C. Department of Transportation Public Transit Division Director Miriam Perry, Federal Transit Administration Region IV Administrator Yvette Taylor, Town Manager Roger L. Stancil, Town Assistant Manager Bruce Heflin and public artist Larry Kirkland.

 

The ceremony will take place in front of the transit building, and parking will be available at the Public Works Department, 6850 Millhouse Road, where shuttles will be waiting to take guests to the ceremony.



  • [Chpac-staff] CHPAC in the news : 9-10-07, Steve Wright, 09/10/2007

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