Facing considerable opposition by many southwestern Orange County residents, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp announced today that the university will not build a new airport in southwestern Orange after all.
From the News & Observer:
The university will not build an airport in Orange County.
UNC-Chapel Hill had been poised to establish an airport authority soon, thanks to a bill passed by the General Assembly last summer. But the Orange County commissioners, who were not involved in that legislation, have opposed the plan.
“There’s just too much distrust because of the way the authority came to be,” UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp said this morning at a news conference. “We ended up surprising people with the legislation far more than we should have.”
Thorp’s complete statement can be found at the N&O’s blog here.
This is a great example of why transparency in government is a must.
