UNC Asheville will partner with a consulting firm to establish and guide its Millennial Campus Development Commission, the university announced Tuesday.
This latest development comes months after the university halted negotiations for its controversial development of portions of its Millennial Campus property, which includes 45 acres of urban forest.
The consultant, HR&A Advisors, has previously worked with other UNC System institutions, according to a press release from UNCA. It will provide facilitation, support, and guidance for the commission through two phases. The university will appoint members of the commission.
The first phase, from October to December, is focused on setting up a framework for the commission and its responsibilities.
The second phase, which will take three to five months, will involve helping the commission run its meetings, providing analysis, and engaging community members to deliver recommendations.
UNCA Chancellor Kimberly van Noort told BPR that university officials had a lot of discussions on how to move forward with the project, and decided they needed more input from community stakeholders.
“ We decided that it would be best if we could get some real engaged input into the process from a group of people who would have good ideas, be open to possibilities, and to dreaming a little bit big for the future,” van Noort said.
Callie Warner is a member of Save the Woods, an advocacy group. She said the group believes the decision to form a committee is a step in the right direction to include an array of perspectives.
“ We really see that there are choices that they (UNCA) could make that would be very detrimental to the health of the relationship between the university and Asheville and very detrimental environmentally,” Warner said.
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UNCA officials announced the establishment of the commission in August. It was tasked with gathering community input, exploring alternatives to the south campus plan, and making recommendations on the sequencing and prioritization of projects.
The work was expected to be completed by Jan. 2026, but the work has been on hold until a consultant was hired.
“ This is not a fast or quick process,” van Noort said. “It's gonna be a very thorough and very engaged process, and so we decided that we needed to take the time that we need to make sure we have a good outcome here.”
