The UNC Board of Trustees voted on Thursday to close Horace Williams Airport in Chapel Hill.
There is no timeline for the closure, but Thursday’s vote gave university officials the authority to close the airport located north of the university campus.
The board heard at its September meeting that more than $1 million in repairs were needed to continue operating the airport and that the facility is currently losing approximately $7,000 per month.
UNC also chose to relocate Area Health Education Centers training to Raleigh-Durham International Airport from Horace Williams in 2011.
Initial conversations about closing the airport were brought forward by Chancellor James Moeser in 2002. The thought process at the time tied the closure of the airport to the beginning of construction of Carolina North – a research and mixed-use academic campus planned for 250 acres near the airport.
The recession and other challenges have stalled the activation of that land, and the new resolution passed on Thursday severs the ties between closing the airport and beginning of construction at Carolina North.
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