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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOUTBoard minutes 0820141 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 97:7_\aI SUMMARY NOTES ORANGE UNIFIED TRANSPORTATION BOARD AUGUST 20, 2014 MEMBERS PRESENT: Paul Guthrie, Chapel Hill Township Representative; Jeff Charles, Bicycle Advocate Representative; Alex Castro, Bingham Township Representative; Amy Cole, Transit Advocate MEMBERS ABSENT: Don Wollum, Eno Township Representative; Sam Lasris, Cedar Grove Township Representative; Pedestrian Access & Safety Advocate - Vacant; Cheeks Township Representative- Vacant; Economic Development Commission -Vacant; Planning Board Representative —Vacant; Ted Triebel, Little River Township Representative; Gary Saunders, CFE Representative; Brantley Wells, Hillsborough Township Representative STAFF PRESENT: Abigaile Pittman, Transportation /Land Use Planner; Tina Love, Administrative Assistant II OTHERS PRESENT: Eileen Apicella, Orange County's new Mobility Manager AGENDA ITEM 1: CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Paul Guthrie: There was an article that Wake County will pass the one million population mark this month. That will require us to look ahead to balance costs, revenues, etc. to decide what is best for Orange County. You have heard me talk about the different planning groups that have their finger in rural transportation, but we still have the basic fundamental fact that rural Orange County has limited access to rural transportation. If we can afford to build wonderful walking trails on Morgan Creek, why can't we build safe walkways and bikeways parallel alongside of the 54 bypass and look at how we can improve rural transportation. We need to build a fire under the urbanized planning groups to deal with these issues. Abigaile Pittman: In this new landscape of funding with everyone finding their way, most of those projects are not being funded by the state. We applied for Section 5310 funding with DCHCMPO and Orange County's two projects will probably get scored. One is more years of the Mobility Manager, and the other is for an Aging Department contract to provide additional services to seniors. Paul Guthrie: There are two major rural issues in North Carolina now. One is the hospitalization issue in small counties where medical attention is not there. The second is rural transportation. AGENDA ITEM 11: APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR APRIL 26, 2014 AGENDA ITEM 111: CONSIDERATIONS OF ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA AGENDA ITEM IV: REGULAR AGENDA a. Draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2030 — Presentation by Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation ( DEAPR) staff. Pursuant to the OUTBoard's recommendation at its April 2014 meeting regarding emergency access for trail systems. Planning staff has held discussions with DEAPR staff regarding the development of emergency access goals and objectives being included in the Master Plan. Attached is a copy of the presentation and draft Goals and Objectives for Emergency Access to Trail Systems at Orange County Parks for the OUTBoard's consideration (Attachment 1, pages 11 -24) b. Bicycle Safety — OUTBoard Vice, Jeff Charles requested that this item be added to the agenda. Attached for informational purposes is related information and a history of prior discussions of bicycle safety as related to the OUTBoard since 2011 (Attachment 2, pages 25 -50). 97:7_\aI OUTBoard Action: Review selected standards and recommend to the BOCC that planning staff review /revise and develop amendments. OUTBoard Action: Receive information and provide input. Rich Shaw: My position is Land Conservation Manager. I work with private land owners and other conservation partners to identify important sites worthy of being set aside for a park or nature preserve. I also work with people to conserve their own private land. DEAPR completed this Parks and Recreations Master Plan in house rather than hiring a contractor. Reviewed PowerPoint presentation. This draft master plan went to the BOCC in June and they asked us to share it with advisory boards, solicit input, and take the plan back to the BOCC this fall. DEAPR was also asked to consider the issue of emergency access to trails in the County parks and nature preserves and has developed some initial goals and objectives to address that issue. Jeff Charles. I was on the American Tobacco Trail and there was a bad bike accident and we had trouble getting EMS to this person in trouble. Alex Castro: It would seem there would be coordination among the various entities. You have facilities and the operations are independent of other. There should be one standard with one protocol. Rich Shaw: There is an Intergovernmental Parks Work Group that meets four times of year to discuss these types of issues. I am not sure this issue has been brought up. It is chaired by Alice Gordon. Alex Castro: I have a copy of the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department Summer Program Guide. Why can't we have one guide? In the back of that was what was going on in road construction. Why can't we have one guide for all of Orange County? We have too many silos so we need to get together and do it jointly. Paul Guthrie: I want to congratulate you for doing what you have done in the short amount of time. The real challenge is managing what you have and building a consistent program from the future which will cost money and will be difficult. It is difficult to create new trails because of land owner concerns so I would encourage you to see if the landowners are interest to see if the public is interested. The other issue is that on some of those trails, they might go near settlement centers so you try to have a rest stop area for picnics or water area that becomes a safety item and that builds confidence in trails. That will be viable especially on the Mountains to Sea Trail. I would caution you on going too far on physical facilities because that is a cash eater if you have to do the high financing on it. I think the report you want to study make a lot of sense. One of the problems in your survey is that people responded to things they had done, not what they wanted to do. I certainly would encourage getting closer to the water. Abigaile Pittman: I would like to provide DEAPR staff and a message to the BOCC as to whether or not the OUTBoard supports the overarching goal and objectives about emergency access to trail systems that DEAPR staff and planning have worked together to develop. Paul Guthrie: Obviously there needs to be a good coordinated emergency plan but I am not convinced that you have to make it motor vehicle friendly to do that. On the other hand, you can have smaller vehicles that can run down trails with the ability to haul a stretcher. There is no reason a rescue squad can't carry a bolt cutter to open a gate for a trail. Rich Shaw: We have a number of trails that have not built yet. Having some objectives that have been drafted at the front end will be helpful. Jeff Charles: With the new trails, you need to think about traffic control because bicyclist want to go 15 to 20 miles an hour which is totally inconsistent with pedestrians so you have to have some thought about posted speed limits. You need to think about safety issues, certainly when you come to intersections and streets. Alex Castro: This is already been done at the American Tobacco Trails. Some states actually post speed limits for the bikes. 97:7_\aI Abigaile Pittman: How can you tell how fast you are going? Jeff Charles: Most serious cyclists have odometers but if you not, you learn pretty quickly. Paul Guthrie: The mixed use trails in this country have wide rights -of way and the track is wide. Jeff Charles: Mountain biking, etc., if we don't improve our rural roads, they will look for other options and as you develop these trails, you will see them go where you did not expect them to. Abigaile Pittman: Other than these comments, I would like the Board to consider supporting the goal and objectives developed by DEAPR staff. Paul Guthrie: This recommendation is pretty good. The comments on emergency needs to be better defined. It is not just what the Parks department can do but what the potential responders may need to modify with how they respond and what kind of equipment but both sides need to inform the others. Rich Shaw: The Emergency Response staff has not reviewed this draft yet. If you think of anything or have any questions, let me know. Jeff Charles: In your packet, there is an N &O news article about the June 251h alleged road incident in the court system where a gentleman has been cited for misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon associated with this alleged road rage incident. I ride 5,000 plus miles per year and the vast majority is in Orange County and I have been seeing an increase in friction between motorists and cyclist which is why we came up with the road safety guidelines which will support now. I ride with about 100 people a year and of those 100, three of those have been hit by a car or had car interactions in the last two months. In this case, it was road rage involved. Presented videos of ride. You can make a legal pass if you have 500 foot visible with a double lane. If there are 20 plus cyclist riding in the same lane, it is frustrating for motorists. How do you convince cyclists to break into smaller groups? This is part of an education process. The League of American Bicyclists listed the top ten states, each one has the following statement in their vehicular law, and bicyclists cannot ride more than two abreast and cannot impede traffic. North Carolina is ranked 23rd because we don't have very good bicyclist rules. There are two groups of Orange County trying to work on this problem. There is a motorist group working on this also and I am sitting on that group. Commissioner Price has agreed to head a working group to get law enforcement involved. Gail Alberti is the motorist's representative in our group. We do not want to get legislature involved in this. We also need to be concerned about mopeds and the elf vehicle. Alex Castro: As the population increases, more and more people will want to get out. I would recommend you make contact with the Grange in Schley. Jeff Charles: Bonner Hauser is heading up the motorist group and Renee and I are heading up the cyclists. Paul Guthrie: It has been my observation of the last 10 years, how much cruder the driving is. Jeff Charles: This is also an enforcement issue. The law is that you have to stop if anyone is walking across the cross walk. We don't want to get legislature involved. Alex Castro: We need to raise awareness and have a good publicity campaign. What is the law? Having a public awareness campaign to highlight these points tonight would be very helpful. Jeff Charles: Enforcement and education are the way I go. We are bringing ideas from Europe for education. I hope these videos have a role in enforcement for laws. Alex Castro: What about getting the bicycle shops to help get some of those videos on the air. Jeff Charles: I want to make sure law enforcement can use the videos. 97:7_\aI Paul Guthrie: They are good evidentiary issues and they are also good instructive tools. I am not sure they can be used. AGENDA ITEM V: STAFF UPDATES a. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Action Plan b. Protection options for Old NC 10 corridor c. Review of selected private road and access standards d. Review of selected private road and access standards e. Buckhorn EDD environmental and transportation contracts f. OUTBoard vacancies OUTBoard Action: Receive updates Abigaile Pittman: We are moving forward to get the SRTS Advisory Committee rolling. There is a mission statement, core responsibilities and the concept about the membership. We will meet quarterly or more frequently if required. I need two OUTBoard members, please email if you are interested. The original steering committee representative will probably be Nancy Cole Baker. There will be a representative from the health department. Abigaile Pittman: I have been reviewing various protection options for the Old NC 10 corridor. I have a list attached of the options and also a map. When reviewing protection options for Old NC 10, 1 considered that the corridor starts back at Hwy 86. This project will come out in fall and I will go back to the BOCC with my analysis. I have narrow in on three options that stand out. Jeff Charles: It is a very popular bicycle route. It is important to cite commuting. Abigaile Pittman: When I get comments and instructions back from the BOCC, I will be back to you. Abigaile Pittman: I will going to the Planning Board on September 3 to have them review the matter of private road and access standards. We have met with DEAPR staff and obtained their comments on emergency access for trail systems in county parks. We will return to the BOCC in the fall to get comments and instructions from them. Abigaile Pittman: We have hired an environmental firm and a different transportation firm to complete contractual work in the Buckhorn EDD area. We realized that some of the development efforts beginning to take place in the EDD were revealing the need to revise the access management plan adopted in 2011. Before competing these revisions we decided it was advisable to gain additional information with regard to environmental issues in the area, and that we need to know more about the recommended functional classification of those future roads in the EDD. Abigaile Pittman: You have the OUTBoard roster before you. We need to be aggressive about filling these positions. Please let me know if you know of any interested and qualified person that would be willing to serve on the OUTBoard. Paul Guthrie: Craig will speak to the Rotary Club that I am the president of and he may want to mention the need there. Alex Castro: The Department on Aging, Engage, which are community spark plugs - I can try to get some of those. Jeff Charles: I would suggest someone from Orange County who uses the Orange County roads to replace my position, but I will stay on until someone is appointed. Abigaile Pittman: There is a handout called Transportation Advisory Board attached. The NC Department of Transportation has given me this criterion. In order for us to receive Federal Section 5311 funding for our transit system, we have to recreate the Transit Advisory Board. I will be working with Peter Murphy, who is the new Transportation Manager with OPT. This board will also need BOCC approval. I see this as a sort of subcommittee of the OUTBoard. We have to meet, at least quarterly, probably before the OUTBoard meeting. 97:7_\aI 221 222 Abigaile Pittman: On yesterday's Burlington Graham MPO TCC the agenda there was a proposal to use Section 223 5307 monies to buy buses and startup capital for the proposed Burlington bus system. There was a motion 224 appointing themselves as a designated recipient and you can't do that because it can only be a direct recipient, per 225 federal statute. They wanted the TCC and TAC to approve a resolution that they can be the designated recipient so 226 they would be the lead decision maker regarding the distribution of funding. However, under the federal law, they 227 can only be a direct recipient, meaning they can receive the funds from the designated person, which would be either 228 NCDOT or PART. They also requested all of the federal allocation for this region for the next several years because 229 they need it for their bus system in Burlington. We acknowledged and accepted their first year needs and stressed 230 that they could only be a direct recipient. They agreed. We compromised in their first year of capital and operations 231 expenses and then everything after that, we requested that there be a collaborative decision making process with all 232 the other interested parties, meaning the other service providers. 233 234 Paul Guthrie: There has been a big story about Triangle Transit's rate increases. Is there advanced discussions 235 about it with the people in this county? 236 237 Abigaile Pittman: No to my knowledge. 238 239 Paul Guthrie: It would not hurt to mention that when you start juggling Triangle Transit fares, you should contact all 240 jurisdictions. 241 242 243 AGENDA ITEM VI: BOARD COMMENTS 244 OUTBoard Action: Receive comments. 245 246 247 AGENDA ITEM VII: UPCOMING AGENDA ITEMS OF INTEREST ON OTHER REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION RELATED 248 BOARD AGENDAS 249 OUTBoard Action: Receive information 250 251 2552 AGENDA ITEM Vill: ADJOURNMENT 253 254 The meeting was adjourned by consensus.