Do you see models of energy efficiency? A mix of future housing, offices and shops that will cut down on car use and make Chapel Hill cool again?

Or do you see eyesores? Buildings out of scale and out of touch with what surrounds them?

Starting Monday, the Town Council wants to know.

The town has created a Sustainable Community Visioning Task Force to help decide how Chapel Hill should look 10 years from now in 2020.

Over the next week, there will be nine community forums -- from the Hargraves Center to Meadowmont -- to hear your values and visions for the town.

There will be "visioning stations," where you can write your thoughts on big pieces of newsprint, as well as an online survey at www.townofchapelhill.org

"Be imaginative," Mayor Kevin Foy told the task force at its first meeting Wednesday night.

"Be critical of who we are and where we are. And then come to some gradual conclusions about our community."

The community outreach will help guide the task force as it comes up with recommendations. The mayor wants them to be as specific as possible.

Don't just say put density on transit corridors, he said. Pick which corridors.

When values come in conflict, tell the Town Council which should come first.

The town formed the 18-member task force to help update the town's comprehensive plan, a blueprint for growth. The council agreed the principles in the plan still make sense, so it didn't want to start the process all over again. It takes a long time and it's expensive.

But Foy and others recognized a growing concern now that approved high-rise projects have moved from architect's sketches to steel and concrete.

"East 54 is the hot topic," Foy said. "Why? Everybody sees it. The council thinks it knows why it's there. Everybody else doesn't."

"If we had to do East 54, would we put it there?"

Wednesday's task force meeting was supposed to introduce members to each other and their job. But it had barely begun when member Etta Pisano, a radiology and biomedical engineering professor, raised her hand.

"There isn't a lot of diversity in this room, and it bothers me," she said, noting the all white faces around the table. "I'm just surprised to see such an undiverse group."

Seventeen of the 18 members have been appointed, according to town officials. The last scheduled member is set to be added June 8. None are black, Latino or Asian.

The Chapel Hill News requested the applications of all 31 people who applied to be on the task force. They showed no minorities applied.

But diversity wasn't the only objection that members raised.

Will Raymond, a software developer, said he was concerned the town had planned the community meetings without the task force's input.

"I was a little taken aback," he said, explaining the task force was supposed to have autonomy. "This [series of forums] is four days away."

Wes Hare, who has been active in the fight to preserve the Glen Lennox neighborhood, shared Raymond's concern. "This has all been programmed for us," he said.

Town Councilman Matt Czajkowski, a liaison to the task force with Councilwoman Sally Greene, said Thursday the critics had a point.

"I was absolutely mystified," he said. "You pull 18 people together and say, 'Hi guys, here's how the process works and it's gonna start next week.'?"

But Foy and consultant Vaughn Upshaw assured the group it will control its own deliberations.

"We didn't think it was smart to just drop you in and say, 'Do something,''' he said. "You do have a lot of autonomy. But you don't have so much autonomy that you can just lollygag for two years."

The task force can also ask the Town Council to add more members, Planning Director J.B. Culpepper said.

Two observers from the group United with the Northside Community NOW said they plan to ask the town to appoint a student representative.

mark.schultz@nando.com or 932-2003

COMMUNITY VISIONING FORUMS

Nine community visioning forums will be held this week. Participants will work in small groups to generate common themes about values and visions for the future of Chapel Hill.

Monday: 3 to 5 p.m. at UNC-Chapel Hill Davis Library (Room 214)

Monday: 6 to 8 p.m. at Meadowmont YMCA, 301 Old Barn Lane

Tuesday: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Town Hall (HRD Training Room)

Wednesday: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Hargraves Center, 216 N. Roberson St.

Thursday: 4 to 6 p.m. Chapel Hill Fire Station No. 4 (Training Annex), 101 Weaver Dairy Road

Friday: 1 to 3 p.m. Seymour Senior Center, 2551 Homestead Drive

Saturday: 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Community Center (multipurpose room), 120 S. Estes Drive

June 7: 1 to 2:30 p.m. Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive

June 7: 3 to 5 p.m. YMCA, 980 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

TASK FORCE MEMBERS

Planning Board Chairman

George Cianciolo

1 Planning Board member

Del Snow

1 Transportation Board member

Matthew Scheer

1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board member

*Douglas McLean

1 Sustainability Committee member

Sherif Ghobrial

1 Justice in Action Committee member

Arthur Finn

1 UNC-appointed representative

Gordon Merklein

1 UNC Health Care-appointed representative

Etta D. Pisano

1 community business representative

Glen Greenstreet

9 citizens

Bruce Ballentine

Wes Hare

Madeline Jefferson

Charity Pennock

Will Raymond

Jon Rucker

Amy Ryan

Ellen Shannon

Katherine M. Shea

* to be appointed June 8

Source: Town of Chapel Hill