CHAPEL HILL - CHAPEL HILL -- As new chancellor, Holden Thorp says he is still catching up on issues surrounding the search for a new airport.

The university has said it must close Horace Williams Airport to make room for the Carolina North campus.

In one of his first actions on the airport, Thorp and UNC system President Erskine Bowles changed the makeup of the authority that will look for airport sites. Instead of UNC Health Care having eight spots on the 15-member panel, they decided to have four members come from the health-care system and four members from the university.

Barry Jacobs, chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, has criticized university leaders for not allowing more public discussion of the airport authority bill. A review of public correspondence found one letter from UNC to the county: a letter from Thorp dated Aug. 12, the day after the governor signed the bill into law.

Last week, Thorp spoke with The Chapel Hill News by telephone. Here is a transcript.

Why wasn't there more consultation before the bill was passed?

Thorp: I'm not trying to dodge my responsibility, because I think the airport would be good for the university and I'm trying to create the authority. I met with Barry on the July 3 -- I started on July 1 -- and we talked about the airport. We addressed the zoning concerns that he expressed, and those were addressed in our letter and the legislation as well. (Editor's note: Language added to the bill says when regulations established by the authority conflict with local zoning regulations the stricter regulations must be met.)

Did he at any point ask you to stall a bill or not pursue a bill?

Thorp: No, he did not.

Did he express any concern about the speed in which this was progressing?

Thorp: He expressed concern about the airport. And I said that we wanted to work with Orange County, which is consistent with the language in the letter we sent to him on Aug. 12.

Can you tell me why that change [in the makeup of the airport authority board] was made?

Thorp: We felt two things. We felt the airport would benefit both the Health Care System and the university, so it made sense that we would do it that way. But also we felt in some ways the university and the people we would appoint would be more public. The trustees and the Board of Governors are more public bodies, so it was a little more transparent to have us contributing toward it.

The public documents reference a conversation that (former Chancellor) James Moeser had with Duke. Is the university talking with Duke about collaborating on the airport?

Thorp: You know, that precedes me. Whatever records you have would be the same records I would have.

There was some concern [expressed by Duke] about eminent domain. The state already has eminent domain. Why was it necessary to spell it out in this bill.

Thorp: I don't really have any additional information on that.

Is the university talking with Duke currently about an airport?

Thorp: No.

What can you tell the folks out in White Cross? They showed up at the county commissioners meeting last week with a petition with 1,800 signatures. What can you tell them or any of the folks concerned about possible airport sites in the 2005 Talbert & Bright report?

Thorp: The authority is going to do a whole new study. There's no site that's set. That had to all get studied again. There's going to be lots of opportunity for input. I regretted that the other study is out there with that site on it because that study is 3 years old.

But if it was a good site then, what's to keep it from being a good site again?

Thorp: I'm not saying that it isn't. I'm just saying whether it's the best site is something that I don't think there's any way anyone can predict without doing the study again.

If RDU was acceptable -- it was the No.1 site in the 2005 report and it's an acceptable interim site (once the university closes Horace Williams Airport) -- why not as a permanent site?

Thorp: I think a general aviation airport is good for the university and the state in terms of our operations and for people coming in and out of the university. So exploring the possibility of whether we can locate on in Orange County is what this process is set up to do.

We're excited about the possibility of having an airport that would service the university and our region. I want to proceed forward with formation of the authority. We're definitely going to do that. There's going to be a lot of public discussion who Orange County will put in the authority. Our names will have to go to the Board of Governors, so that will all be public. There's a lot of public discussion that's still ahead of us between now and when an airport might be sited.

When you say 'exploring the possibility,' does that mean it's possible an airport won't be sited?

Thorp: Well, that will be up to the airport authority. When they do another study, who knows what they're going to find about whether there's a site? That's why I say I regretted that that 2005 study is out there because they really do need to take a completely fresh look at the whole thing.

Why do they need to take a completely fresh look at the whole thing? I don't understand that part.

Thorp: Because the airport authority is a different entity from the entity that commissioned the first study.

But the criteria they used -- 25 minutes from UNC, at least 30 minutes from another regional airport, adequate zoning -- wouldn't all those criteria still apply in a new search?

Thorp: Yeah, except there's lots of development that's gone on between then and now.

The public correspondence includes correspondence from Jim Heavner and Bob Epting and a check from Vilcom [to the UNC Foundation]. What do you say to people who've got the perception that this is an airport for wealthy alumni to fly in for football games?

Well, we're certainly not denying that there are private aviation people who want to use a regional airport. But if you look at the history of UNC Chapel Hill, I think it's undeniable that having our own airport has enhanced the university in multiple ways.

Well, we did a story last year in The News & Observer. It said only a quarter of the flights were medical related and only a portion of those were patient related. The rest were all private. That would seem to undercut the argument the university needs this for its medical mission or its academic mission.

Thorp: Well, I guess we disagree about that. We think that being able to get quickly out to North Carolina is important to us and getting people here is important to us. We're going to go to RDU in the interim and we're going to explore the possibility of whether we can put an airport in Orange County. I'm not sure there's more to it than that.

What's your time frame for appointing your members?

Thorp: I think you reported that it would be early 2009. I think that's right.

Do you think any of the criticism has been unfair, about the university's handling of this or lack of communication?

Thorp: I've told you the conversations I've had with Barry. After those conversations and sending him the letter, I wasn't expecting the kind of reaction we've had based on those conversations.

Does it cloud, does it color this process?

Thorp: Well, any time we expand there are people nervous about how we do it. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure you fully answered my question. If RDU was acceptable then and it's acceptable in the interim, what difference does it make whether you take 35 minutes to get to an airport or 25 minutes to get to an airport.

Thorp: Because we can develop our own operations.

I don't know what that means.

Thorp: We have pilots that have their own airport. Like I said, it's better for us to have a regional airport, and that's what we're exploring the possibility of.