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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOUTBoard minutes 111616Approved 1.18.17 1 MINUTES1 ORANGE COUNTY OUTBOARD2 NOVEMBER 16,20163 REGULAR MEETING4 5 6 MEMBERS PRESENT:Heidi Perry (Chair), At-Large Representative;Art Menius, At-Large Representative;Jeff Charles, 7 At-Large Representative; DavidLaudicina, Cheeks Township Representative;Brantley Wells, Hillsborough Township 8 Representative; Erle Smith, Chapel Hill Township Representative,Alex Castro (Vice-Chair), Bingham Township 9 Representative;Gary Saunders, At-Large Representative;Donna Musson, Eno Township Representative.10 11 12 MEMBERS ABSENT:John Rubin, At-Large Representative; Ed Vaughn, Cedar Grove Township Representative; Ted 13 Triebel, Little River Township Representative; Alyson West, At-Large.14 15 16 STAFF PRESENT:Peter Murphy, OPT Transportation Administrator; Malcum Massenburg,OPT Transportation 17 Assistant Administrator; Abigaile Pittman, Transportation/Land Use Planner; Max Bushell, TransportationPlanner;18 Meredith Kern, Administrative Assistant.19 20 OTHERS PRESENTFOR TRANSIT ADVISORYSERVICES:Nancy Baker, Walkable Hillsborough Coalition; Amy Cole,21 Walkable Hillsborough Coalition.22 23 AGENDA ITEM 1:CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL24 25 Heidi Perrycalled the meeting to order.26 27 AGENDA ITEM 2:APPROVAL OF MINUTES28 SEPTEMBER 21,2016REGULAR MEETING29 30 Heidi Perrypointed out a revision on page 3ofthe Minutes;line 138,to add what item 7referred to in the motionto 31 remove it; which was to promote development of new regional division prioritization criteria for highway 32 modernization projects. And another revisions on page 4, line 160, to clarify that David Laudicina told the Board that33 at the BOCC meeting the night before we met they had discussed the GoTriangle evaluation of extending light rail34 between Alston Avenue to NCCU, and that Earl was considering re-evaluating his support for the light rail transit 35 project.36 37 MOTION by Art Meniusto approve the September 21, 2016OUTBoard Minutes with the two revisions. Seconded by 38 Alex Castro39 VOTE:UNANIMOUS40 41 AGENDA ITEM 3:PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION TO AMY COLE42 43 Heidi Perry presented certificate.44 45 AGENDA ITEM 4:CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA46 47 Heidi Perry asked if they could addpicking a date for the discussion of OPT marketingto the November 1648 OUTBoard agenda.49 50 AGENDA ITEM 5:TRANSIT SERVICES/ORANGE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (OPT)51 52 Approved 1.18.17 2 AGENDA ITEM 5A.OPTQUARTERLY OPERATIONAL UPDATES –(PETER MURPHY)53 54 Peter MurphyPresented55 56 Heidi Perry asked if the problem with lack of bus drives was a problem other systems were having or if it was unique 57 to Orange County. Peter Murphy answered that it was not unique to Orange County, and referred to a recentarticle 58 about how bad it was getting in Alamance County. 59 60 Peter continued presentation. 61 62 Heidi Perry asked if they were asking people who weren’t using the service and what would make them use it. Peter 63 Murphy answered that it would be a good thing to ask and that one of the things they were considering putting on the 64 agenda was a survey that Human Resources did about that, and they’ve put a report together for the BOCC based 65 on that. He explained further that they will be reaching out to people and that’s something they’d want to know. 66 67 Jeff Charles asked how much more ridership they can take on and if they would be over capacity. Peter Murphy 68 answered that they’re nowhere near reaching full capacity and if they did run into that problem that it would be a good 69 problem and there’s a formula for that but that OPT isyears away from reaching that point. 70 71 Alex Castro inquired about the limit onwheelchairs. Peter Murphy explained that there aretwoseats lost to every 72 wheelchair but it will only be one lost with the buses they’re buying now. 73 74 Dave Laudicinainquired about the bus rapid transit that Chapel Hill is planning and asked about thoughts on long-75 term plans. Peter Murphy answered that they’re absolutely looking at what Chapel Hill Transit is proposing, and that 76 ridership is higher when they don’t have to transfer. He explained further that when they meet with the staff working 77 group through the OC prep plan those are the types of things thatare discussed and they have it predicted as 78 starting in 2018.79 80 Peter Murphy continued presentation.81 82 Alex Castroasked about the Go Passes and if they will haveto swipe it or just show it. Peter Murphy answered that 83 it’s only being done the manual way now but they do have the approval to buy the fare boxes and are going to put in 84 the card readers. Alex Castrocommented on the new bus shelter that was at Cedar Grove and commented that it 85 just needed to have a bus route map displayed. Peter Murphy added that all the stops on the Hillsborough Circulator 86 side need to have signs installed. Alex Castro inquired about having shelters at other locations. Peter Murphy 87 answered that they’ll be putting together a list for shelters as part of the OC prep plan that’s being worked on now 88 and advised the Board that now is the time to let us know of specific locations that they think would be good to add 89 sheltersbecause there are definitely funds available under the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan.90 91 92 AGENDA ITEM 5B.MARKETING OPT’S ROUTES AND SERVICE CHANGES –(PETER MURPHY AND MAX BUSHELL)93 94 Max BushellPresented95 96 Jeff Charlesasked if there was a local app for all of these transportation systems. Gary Saunders replied that there is 97 one that most of the transportation services are using in the region and that it’s called TransLoc. He further explained 98 thatTansLocties into whatever system you are operating andas long as the transponder and the locator are working 99 on the bus you can actually see where the bus is and it’s all selectable. Peter Murphy added thatyou can find most 100 things on GoTriangle’s site. He statedthat the first step is having the locators on the bus and that’s part of the 101 technology they’re adding. His intent is to talk to TransLoc about it because they really only need to track the fixed 102 routes for the general public, which is a very small portionof OPT’s service. He explained that it would be very 103 Approved 1.18.17 3 expensive but there can probably be somethingdonefairly reasonably. He added that the tablets they’re adding will 104 be trackable also and they’ll be able to see where the buses are. 105 106 Max Bushellsummarized that they need the Board to suggest any other locationsshelters should be placed, and 107 alsoto suggest any other technology that might help.108 109 The Board provided the following suggestions:The Courthouse by Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, and the Jail; any 110 public buildings that are close to the bus service should let people knowthat it’s an available service; the North 111 Carolina Hospital in Hillsborough;Durham TechnicalCommunity Collegeshould have the informationon their 112 website with something to draw attention to it;radio spots advertising the service; social media could be used to get 113 the information out; any schools that the buses go near should get the information out to students;Walmart and the 114 Senior Center are places where they could let more people know that the service is available; and it should be 115 advertised around Weaver Street Market.116 117 Heidi Perry suggested that people don’t need so much detailed information right away. Thattheyjust need to know 118 that there’s a bus that serves that area and how to find out more information about it. 119 120 Peter Murphy suggested having a Tri Transit week. He explained that this is done around the beginning of the school 121 year in bigger cities and the Healthy Carolinians Group may be voting on picking a Tri Transit week in Durham where 122 there would be no charge for fare. He added that doing this would probably need approval because it’s a monetary 123 item and they may need to bring it tothe BOCC. Heidi Perry suggested doing prizes to get people to ride the bus and 124 those prizescould also be a way to get email addresses to notify if they’ve won something. And then they could send 125 out the information they need to. Heidi Perry also suggested doing Tri Transit in September versus August so people 126 would be settled in with school.127 128 Erie Smith inquired about ridership demographics. Peter Murphy answered that it was actually pretty well mixed with 129 a wide variety. 130 131 Jeff Charles asked what it would cost for the County to goto ride free and what the benefits would be for that versus 132 notdoing this, and how much is paid for theGo Passes. Peter Murphy explained that UNC paysfifty cents on the 133 dollar for riders and then the County bills them for everyone riding using the pass on anOPT bus. He addedthat right 134 now they’re charging full fare but once the agreement is worked out he’ll be charging them for everyone that boards 135 the bus and ultimately Durham Tech’s going to paymore. He added that it’s a huge sum of money for ridership near 136 the large universities. 137 138 Peter Murphy confirmed that he’d get all the information together for the next meeting and would add a pie chart to 139 show where money’s coming from and how the fares fall into total revenue. He also confirmed that September will be140 the targeted month. 141 142 AGENDA ITEM 6:REGULAR OUTBOARD AGENDA (ACTION ITEMS)143 144 145 6A.OUTBOARD ANNUAL REPORT (2016)AND WORK PLAN (2017)–(ABIGAILE PITTMAN)146 147 Abigaile Pittman Presented.148 149 Heidi Perry referenced theanticipated activity regarding the review of appropriate linkages between economic 150 development area access management plans and CTP/MTP documents of the BG MPO and DCHC MPO for the 151 purpose of addressing the dedication of right-of-way under local ordinances. She asked why the CTP/MTP maps 152 were separate instead of compiled together. Max Bushell explained that if the mapswere compiled it would be a 153 mess of lines and too hard to understand. He explained further that the connectivity with local access management 154 planswas importantin orderto maintain connectivity. Abigaile Pittman explained that the ability to require right-of-155 Approved 1.18.17 4 way dedication a statutory right that North Carolina towns have but not counties. Therefore, crafting this linkage156 between our access management plan(s) and the CTP/MTP documents is away to ensure ourright to require right-157 of-way dedication at the time of development, as warranted. The revised CTP/MTP documents are being approved 158 by the MPO’s and RPO’s. Jeff Charles was concerned that legislature was going to have a problem with this and 159 inquired if this had been done before. Abigaile Pittman confirmed that the process had already been approved by 160 NCDOT and as they are the ones that created it it’s also already approved in the Burlington/Graham MPO and is 161 going forward next year for the DCHCMPO. And Max Bushell also confirmed they’ve done their due diligence and 162 checked through various lawyers.163 164 Abigaile Pittman continued presentation. 165 166 Abigaile Pittman was reviewing the list of items of concerns or emerging issues that they want the BOCC to be aware 167 of, and wanted to know how the Board wanted to word their efforts on Safe Routes to School. Heidi Perry suggested 168 titling it “Pursue implementation opportunities for Safe Routes to School”. 169 170 Alex Castro inquired about researchfor funding. Abigaile Pittman explained that it didn’t have to be federal, just any 171 kinds of funding sources, which could even be County. 172 173 Jeff Charles inquired about the light rail and pointed out how it keeps being delayed year after year, and inquired 174 about all the money that was going into it. Max Bushell explained that they’re 15% short of funding right now, which is 175 about 200 million dollars. Jeff Charles asked what will happen to the money when the plan just doesn’t go through. 176 Max Bushell answered that some of the money has been expended in the process of trying to get it built but not all of 177 it. He went on to say that essentially there will be a new plan developed to achieve the samepurpose and that it’s 178 something they’re working on but the process has been set back a couple of years. 179 180 Abigaile Pittman reviewed item 4. 181 182 Jeff Charles questioned whether the bicycle related things should be kept on there due to the fact that state 183 legislatures have taken away current and future funding for it. Heidi Perry suggested leaving it on there just in case 184 there is funding that becomesavailable to bicycle related things. Heidi Perry also inquired about why electric bikes 185 were separated. Abigaile Pittman explained that it was a carryover from last year. It was agreed to take them out. 186 187 Abigaile Pittman referred to the item “To work with NCDOT to promote funding of pedestrian and bicycle projects in 188 rural areas to a greater degree”. Jeff Charles commented that they need to come up with some issues that they have189 some chance to be successful with. Alex Castro made an item addition suggestion regarding a commuter rail going 190 from Garner to West Durham. He proposed that they find a way to make an extension of the currently planned 191 commuter rail from West Durham to the Hillsborough Amtrak state. He added that Hillsborough’s population if going 192 to doublewith everything planned and there could be a lot of people very interested in having that service.It was 193 agreed to call it “Explore expansion of commuter rail”. 194 195 Jeff Charles recommended point 4 be modified regardingconnectivity between Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Bicycle 196 Pedestrian Plans. 197 198 MOTION by Art Menius to approve the Work Plan for 2017withthe discussed revisions, andwith item 4 being 199 modified to address connectivity and infrastructural changes. Seconded by Alex Castro.200 VOTE:UNANIMOUS201 202 6.B.NEXT OUTBOARD MEETING DATE -(ABIGAILE PITTMAN)203 204 Abigaile Pittman suggested that the Board not meet in December due to the holidays and the lack of agenda items 205 for the meeting. The items they have for the next meeting would not be ready until January.206 207 Approved 1.18.17 5 Jeff Charlescommented that with the understanding that they put in significant time to discuss theSafe Routes to 208 School. Heidi Perry agreed that should be on the next meeting agenda. 209 210 MOTION by Jeff Charles to not meet in December, but to have the Board’s next meeting onJanuary18, 2017.211 Seconded by Alex Castro.212 VOTE:UNANIMOUS213 214 AGENDA ITEM 7:INFORMATIONAL ITEMS215 216 217 7.A.UPDATE ON SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION CONCEPTS BY WALKABLE HILLSBOROUGH –(AMY 218 COLE)219 220 Amy Cole Presented221 222 Abigaile Pittman suggested that Amy Cole informthe Board about the smaller SRTS Plan projects that Hillsborough223 recommendedin a recent meeting. Amy Cole informed the Board of two smaller projects that Hillsborough thinks 224 could be accomplished much quicker and wouldhelp to build interest in their cause with the community. The first was 225 to build a little pedestrian bridge over a creek on HayesStreet for Central Elementary School students. The second 226 was to build in a gate at the back of the field of Orange High School, whichwould give students quicker, more direct227 and safer access to the school. 228 229 Amy Colecontinued her presentation. 230 231 Jeff Charles expressed the importance of getting someone on the BOCC to be their advocate for this project to get 232 this pushed forward and that they need to get political support.233 234 Amy Cole also explained that they have to find access to the federal funding to which the County would have to 235 provide a 20 percent match for, and that this isgoing to be difficult. Max Bushell explained that this issomething else 236 the BOCC would have to sign off on and that there would also have to be someone accountable to manage the 237 project and the maintenance and liability issues once the project is completed. 238 239 Heidi Perry suggested keeping this one as of the OUTBoard’s priorities. She also suggested that Amy Cole come to 240 the meeting presenting this to the BOCC as a citizen. Heidi Perry also said that she would speak to some of the 241 County Commissioners to see if they’re interested in being asupporter or if they can recommendsomeone who 242 couldbe. 243 244 Jeff Charles suggested also getting policy regarding maintenance involved, getting the press involved, getting a 245 reporter to go out there themselves to see first hand what’s going on, and getting pictures with vehicles going by. He 246 pointed out that a lot of people see this going on and they need to apply pressure on policy to move forward. Art 247 Menius then informed the Board that he had a column coming out soon in the Chapel Hill News about the dangers of 248 the bridge over I-40.249 250 Jeff Charlesmentioned the many years the Board has spent trying to accomplish this and thinks that should be 251 pointed out. Abigaile Pittman informed the Board that Hillsborough has brought up some of the same issues and if 252 they want to move forward there’s going to need to be a different way of approaching it because Hillsborough has 253 also said that they don’t have money to spend. She also mentioned thatHillsborough brought up the two smaller 254 projectsthey thought could be successful that could be done until they’re able to figure out how to approach bigger 255 projects. 256 257 Approved 1.18.17 6 Max Bushell informed the Board that Hillsborough mentioned that it was proposed that someone build a sidewalk 258 along Orange Grove Road and that there might be a case to be made that if there’s sidewalk along some stretchit 259 would be easier and more affordableto connect thesidewalk segments.260 261 Heidi Perry asked how they wanted to proceed. Abigaile Pittman informed her that she would need a revised request. 262 Abigaile also stated that she would providesomething specific incorporatingthe short-termitems that were 263 suggested atthe next meeting. 264 265 Jeff Charles asked if there was a way of tracking the progress of the BOCC’s discussion on the matter and the 266 process it would go through. Abigaile Pittman explained that there has been some internal discussion on how to 267 structure it because it’s an unusual situationgiven that there are multiple groups and jurisdictions reviewing related 268 issues (the OUTBoard, Walkable Hillsborough, the Bicycle Safety Task Force, the BOCC, and the Town of 269 Hillsborough).This matter can be discussed in more detail at the January 18 meeting.270 271 Alex Castro asked why the School Board wasn’t involved. Abigaile Pittman answered that they would be at a certain 272 point in time, when project proposals move forward. Amy Cole informed the Board that they’re just waiting on 273 approval from the Orange County School Board for Walkable Hillsborough’sletters to be released to all of the 274 families. 275 276 Heidi Perry again suggested putting this on the agenda for January18. She added that in the meantime she would 277 speak to somemembers of the BOCC to find a champion. There was a lot of discussion of when it would come 278 beforethe BOCC and it wasn’t able to be settled at this point in time so it was agreed to be tabled for the January 279 meeting. 280 281 282 7.B.HILLSBOROUGH TRAIN STATION –(MAX BUSHELL)283 284 Max Bushell Presented285 286 Dave Laudicinainquired about whether there would be a short extra track that would branch off so other trainscould 287 get by. Max Bushell answered that this isnot being considered in this plan as far as he knows. 288 289 7.B.NCDOTDIVISION 7 TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS LOCATED IN THE DCHCMPO PLANNING AREA –(MAX BUSHELL)290 291 Max Bushell Presented292 293 Jeff Charlesasked if Max had received an update about the bridge on Borland. Max Bushell told him that he would 294 haveto try to follow up with ChuckEdwards, NCDOTagain. Brantley Wells informed the Board that he was in that 295 area recently and there were fresh stakes so it looks like there is definitely work beginningon it. 296 297 AGENDA ITEM 8:BOARD COMMENTS298 299 No Comments. 300 301 AGENDA ITEM 9:ADJOURNMENT302 303 OUTBoardmeeting was adjourned by consensus.304 305 306 ____________________________________ Heidi Perry, Chair