Preserve Rural Orange
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UNC Airport
NO AIRPORT CAMPAIGN A SUCCESS
Reprieve for rural Orange County community

January 9, 2009--In a press conference this morning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp announced that he has asked the UNC Board of Governors not to create an airport authority to build a new airport in Orange County, and that the university will move its flight operations to Raleigh-Durham Airport. Cliff Leath, Tom Schopler and Laura Streitfeld represented PRO at the press conference in South Building.
Thorp's statement


PRO would like to thank local residents and businesses for your persistence and support in bringing this about.  All of the petitions, meetings, letters, phone calls,  donations, signs and bumper stickers, with ongoing local media investigation and coverage, have led to this very positive accomplishment in protecting our rural community. 


PRO Community Meeting, October 27, 2008   Photo by Greg Rapp

While we are pleased with Chancellor Thorp's decision, we are continuing to look into options regarding the status of the existing NC Senate Bill 1925, which authorized creating a UNC airport authority.
To contact your state legislators, click on the link below:
NC Legislators

For more information and news on the UNC airport issue, visit the News and Links pages on the PRO website.
AIRPORT STUDIES and MAPS

To look at the University of North Carolina's public records, commissioned airport studies and maps,
click on the links below:


Site H Map
Site 9 Map

Orange County Land Use Map

No Airport: Faces of White Cross
Online Photo Exhibit


  Billie and Warren Ray                     Photo © Jesse Kalisher 2008

To view Jesse Kalisher's 2008 photos of farmers and residents of southwest Orange County, click on the link below :
White Cross Photos

Photo Exhibit Video
To see the exhibit and photographer on
WNCN NBC-17, click on the link below:

The exhibit's opening reception on January 9, 2009 was a well-attended community celebration, following UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp's announcement earlier in the day that the airport authority would not be seated, and that UNC would relocate its AHEC flight operations to Raleigh-Durham International Airport.  For more information on the airport decision, visit the PRO website home page.
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