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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOUTBoard minutes 022118Approved3/21/18 1 MINUTES1 ORANGE COUNTY OUTBOARD2 FEBRUARY 21,20183 REGULAR MEETING4 5 6 MEMBERS PRESENT:Heidi Perry (Chair), At-Large Representative; DavidLaudicina, Cheeks Township 7 Representative;Alex Castro (Vice-Chair), Bingham Township Representative;Jenn Sykes, At-Large; Erle Smith, 8 Chapel Hill Township Representative; Ed Vaughn, Cedar Grove Township Representative;Brantley Wells, 9 Hillsborough Township Representative; Art Menius, At-Large Representative; Alyson West, At-Large Representative10 11 MEMBERS ABSENT:Jeff Charles, At-Large Representative;Justin Miller, At-LargeRepresentative; Ted Triebel, Little 12 River Township Representative;Gary Saunders, At-Large Representative;Donna Musson, Eno Township 13 Representative14 15 TRANSIT ADVISORY SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT:Janice Tyler, Aging Director; Lisa Berley, Transportation Specialist;16 Serena McPherson,Social Services Admin Services Supervisor17 18 STAFF PRESENT:Abigaile Pittman, Transportation/Land Use Planner;Nishith Trivedi, Transportation Planner; 19 Meredith Kern, Administrative Assistant.20 21 OTHERS PRESENTFOR TRANSIT ADVISORYSERVICES:Cheryl Sadgrove, Minutes Preparer.22 23 AGENDA ITEM 1:CALL TO ORDER AND DETERMINATION OF QUORUM24 25 Heidi Perrycalled the meeting to order at6:30 p.m.and confirmed the presence of a quorum.26 27 28 AGENDA ITEM 2:APPROVAL OF MINUTES29 NOVEMBER 16,2017,MEETING30 31 MOTION by Alex Castroto approve the November 16,2017,OUTBoard Minutes. Seconded by Brantley Wells.32 VOTE:UNANIMOUS33 34 35 AGENDA ITEM 3:CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA36 37 Heidi Perry requested adding to this agenda a brief discussion ofa greenway from Carrboro to Hillsborough, with the 38 intention of adding it to a future agenda for more discussion. 39 40 41 AGENDA ITEM 4:SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS42 43 There were none.44 45 46 AGENDA ITEM 5.TRANSIT SERVICES/ORANGE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (OPT)-THESE ITEMS WERE NOT 47 PRESENTED.48 49 50 AGENDA ITEM 5A.INTRODUCTION OF NEW EMPLOYEES WITH OCPT:TeLeishia Holloway, Transit Administrator, 51 and Katrina Wall, Transit Operation Supervisor.52 53 Item was not presented54 Approved3/21/18 2 55 AGENDA ITEM 5B.MAJOR OPERATIONAL UPDATE ON NEW FIXED ROUTE,THE ALAMANCE MID-DAY CONNECTOR.56 57 Item was not presented58 59 60 AGENDA ITEM 5C.OCPTREBRANDING AND MARKETING (THEO LETMAN)-OUTBoard/Transit Advisory Services 61 Action: Receive and review information, provide comments.62 63 Item was not presented64 65 66 AGENDA ITEM 6:REGULAR OUTBOARD AGENDA (ACTION ITEMS)67 68 6A.BICYCLE SAFETY IMPLEMENTATION SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT (ART MENIUS,ABIGAILE PITTMAN)69 70 Art Meniusreported to the OUTBoard. The subcommittee had met that afternoon to finish reviewing the storyboards 71 created by the Cedar Ridge High School students for the video projects. He said the campaign logo had been 72 selected and the subcommittee now neededto get estimates for signs to place on the highways. The subcommittee 73 is working on the specifics of the launch and will present to the BOCC at its June meeting. 74 75 Abigaile Pittman added that well knownpeople in the county had been selected for participation in the videos. She 76 needs volunteers for the filming days, March10 and 11, at New Hope Trace Road. She has coordinated with 77 NCDOT District Engineer Chuck Edwards to determine thishopefullysafe location for the filmingof the videos.78 79 Abigaile Pittman directed the board to review the selected logo,and referenced the vertical, horizontal and black-and-80 white versions that would be used for various types of Campaign messaging: road signs, brochures, posters, 81 branded swag, video public service announcements, and bumper stickers. 82 83 Abigaile Pittman added thatthere are funds for this project from the Orange County General Fundand the Visitors 84 Center and the subcommitteeis working on its budget. The subcommittee is accepting ideas for where the campaign 85 launch should be and how it should be done.There were suggestions to launch at Cedar Ridge High School because 86 the parents of the children who created the videos would come out to see the videos. There was a suggestion that 87 A.L. Stanback Middle School isa good location for a launch. There was a suggestion of tying it with a Tarwheels 88 event. 89 90 Art Menius said the subcommittee intends to be involved inCarolina Tarwheels BikeFest in August but wants to 91 launch considerably earlier. 92 93 MOTION by Alex Castro to recommendthat the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) provide approval for use of 94 the three (3) Bicycle Safety Campaign logo versions for described messaging; Seconded by David Laudicina.95 VOTE:UNANIMOUS96 97 98 6C.DISCUSSION ABOUT OUTBOARD ORIENTATION MATERIALS (ABIGAILE PITTMAN)99 100 Abigaile Pittman said the OUTBoard’s orientation materials need to be refreshed. She requestedinput on what 101 membersfelt should be included and what theywould like to know more about. She could add one area of the 102 orientation materials toeach agenda or hold a meeting more devoted to the materials.103 104 Alex Castro suggested adding a “who’s who in transportation” document that includes both the people and the 105 organizations. 106 107 Heidi Perry suggested including a glossary of acronymsandthe different funding plans.108 Approved3/21/18 3 109 Jenn Sykes suggested adding the timelines for funding and the restrictions to that funding.110 111 Alyson West suggested addingdescriptions ofthe funding streamsand how one gets them. 112 113 Alex Castro suggested also sharing the orientation material with the BOCC.114 115 Abigaile Pittmannoteda Transportation 101presentationfor the commissioner that isbeing worked on by staff.116 117 Heidi Perry mentioned funding sources.118 119 Alex Castronoted those funding sources may be changing soon. 120 121 Abigaile Pittman said information about funding sourceswill likely have to be updated as changes are made. 122 123 Erle Smith said he finds the Durham-Chapel Hill explanationhelpful,particularly Section 2, and he suggested adding 124 it to the website. He also agreed that adding a “who is who” document would be helpful.125 126 Alex Castro said MaxBushell did some tutorials when changes went into effect. He thinks the previous staff meetings 127 would have elements that could be pulled for the primer. 128 129 Jenn Sykes suggested addingroadmaps that arecolor coded so that people can easily identify whether a road is a 130 state road or town road. This would help people understand why some roads get plowedwhen it snowsand others 131 do not get plowed by the same government.132 133 Abigaile Pittman replied that there arestate maps that havestate route numbers to indicate state maintained roads.134 The state also has an alphabetical list of roads that the state maintains. A link could be provided to this information 135 and placed on the county’s website. 136 137 Heidi Perry noted there is a number to call the state to fix potholes on state roads, which should be included inthe 138 transportation area of the county’s website.139 140 Abigaile Pittmansaid she cannotupdate these materialsall at once butshe wouldlike to get started. She willwork on141 a table of contents for the Board’s approval, and after that start on the first couple of chapters and add them to the 142 agendafor a future meeting, and so forth.143 144 8C.B-GMPOUPDATES (ABIGAILE PITTMAN)145 146 Abigaile Pittman reviewed that last NovemberOrange CountyPlanning staff expressed some concerns regarding the 147 process the Burlington-GrahamMPO hadin place. Specifically, staff members were concerned aboutinfrequent 148 meetings (four times a year), the meetings not syncingwith the NCDOT schedule for deadlines for project 149 submissions, Also,Planning staff felt thatthe MPO has beentoo dependent on the way the project was scored 150 during the past SPOT cycle; Orange County staffacknowledges that the quantitative scores are very important but 151 feltthat there wasn’tenough local involvement in developing the projectlist. Also, Orange County staff had concerns152 that there wasn’t enough consideration at the TCC level for regional efforts. Orange Countystaff proposed a TCC 153 subcommittee to work on future6.0 SPOT criteria and is trying to get revised rules about the process. The B-G MPO 154 Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)gavethe go-ahead to createthe subcommittee.155 156 Abigaile Pittman reviewed the revisionsthe subcommittee has made so far. The TCC will meet10 times a year. 157 (however the TAC will continue to meet four times a year).There is now a full-time MPO staff person hired to replace 158 a previouspart-time contractual position.The TCC subcommittee has identified SPOT methodologies it likes 159 (Tarboro’s, Fayetteville’sand Wilmington’s).The subcommittee isencouraging regionalism. The previous day the 160 subcommitteeraisedthe cap ofthe transportation planning grant from$25,000 to $50,000.If any money is left over, 161 Approved3/21/18 4 it will into unobligated funds that can be used for futureproject requests. All grantsfrom this fundrequire a20-162 percent local match. 163 164 Heidi Perry said one of those“who’s who”charts, referred to earlier in the meeting, mighthelp explain Orange 165 County’s relationship with theB-GMPO. She asked if Hillsborough is in the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO.166 167 Abigaile Pittman answered that it is and then reviewed that the B-GMPO area islocatedto the eastof Mebaneand 168 includes some incorporated areas of Mebane.169 170 6B.ORANGE COUNTY TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS MAP AND WEBSITE UPDATE (NISH TRIVEDI)171 172 Nishith Trivedireviewedthenew website.173 174 Heidi Perry asked about accessing the map.175 176 Nish Trivedi explained it is not open to the public yet whiletechnical issues are addressedand then he answered a 177 few questions about what will be available and the layers that willbe available for the map.178 179 Heidi Perry asked whether there is a way to link to average daily travel counts. Nish Trivedi noted the question to 180 look into that possibility. 181 182 Heidi Perry requested thatfatalities be added to the mapincluding bike and pedestrian. Nish Trivedi noted that 183 request.184 185 AGENDA ITEM 7:Informational Items186 None.187 188 AGENDA ITEM 8:STAFF UPDATES189 190 8.A.NC54CORRIDOR STUDY UPDATE (NISH TRIVEDI)191 192 Nish Trivedi shared thata corridor study is taking place, funded by NCDOT with a local match. It is important 193 because currently there are three adopted,funded projects from Old Fayetteville Road to Greensboro Road and a 194 decision needs to be made whether to widen all of NC 54 between those roads or a portion of it. There are several 195 agencies involved. NC 54is experiencing traffic volume increases and is being used as an alternative to Interstate 196 40. There are differing visions for the corridor (widening versus bicycle friendly),and the study is intended to help 197 identify solutions that appeal to different visions. 198 199 Erle Smith asked why the plan saysbicycle safety verseswidening, why not both.Nish Trivedi said the plan does 200 address both and will passthe message along to consultants so they do not discuss the two as oppositions.201 202 Alex Castro mentioned the graphicpresented for existing conditions was outdatedregarding where stoplights are 203 located. Nish Trivedi acknowledged that was trueand pointed out where new traffic lights are installed and will be 204 installed in the future. 205 206 Nish Trivedi continued sharing the study information, notingthe graphics in the study also show crash areas, areas of 207 environmental concern, and the levels of services along corridor withthe worse being in Orange County. There is 208 also a graphic showing the level of services improving with stoplights. 209 210 Heidi Perry asked what the hours were for pedestrian or bike counts. She would like to know the time period(one day 211 or multiple days averaged), days of the week,and time of daycounts were taken.Nish Trivedi noted those questions212 and mentioned the times are detailed in the existing conditions report.213 214 Approved3/21/18 5 Nish Trivedi shared the“tapestry segmentation” graphic that categorizes people withwords like “urban chic” and 215 “young and restless.”Several questions were asked about this graphic, which Nish Trivedi noted.216 217 Alex Castro spoke about the increase traffic he has noticed during commute hours going both directions.218 219 Nish Trivedi continued with the presentation, showing a slide that noted areas for tourismalong NC 54 including the 220 RigmorHouseand Anderson Community Park.221 222 Nish Trivedisaid the study showed that wayfinding signs are needed. 223 224 Alex Castro noted the map of tourist attractions isn’t even good enough for people who know the area to easily 225 identify the places. Nish pointed out that tourism is an important element of the study and this area has strong 226 potential in the tourism market.227 228 Heidi Perry asked if UNC got notifiedto enhance public feedback to the study. Nish Trivedi notedto ask.229 230 Alex Castro said the Town of Hillsborough has very good wayfinding signs.231 232 Nish Trivedi showed amap indicating nodes. He shared a partial list of the shareholder group, which has 100 entities 233 on it. Committee members suggested adding Orange County Parks and Recreationand the Town of Carrboro if 234 they’re not on the list.Nish pointed out they were and the list continues to grow.235 236 NishTrivedi shared the project website, which is nc54west.com. He reviewed that there is an interactive map on that 237 website where people can leave comments. 238 239 Heidi Perry asked if all the regionaltransit groupsare included on the shareholders list.Nish Trivedi answered yes. 240 241 Alex Castro said Alamance County used to run a commuter bus from Burlington to UNC. He thought they used to 242 park it and run it backfor the reverse commute and he asked whether it is still running. Heidi Perry answeredthere 243 are at least four runs at each peak. Abigaile Pittman said she can get information on that. 244 245 Alex Castro said he lives along this corridor,near Saxapahaw. He said there is reverse trafficas well. In the 246 afternoon,there is eastbound traffic instead of just westbound. Nish Trivedi said it was a conclusion of the study that247 the nodes at the ends are generating the traffic rather than the corridor generating the traffic. 248 249 Art Menius said it’s almost a one-to-oneexchange of people going to work in Orange and Alamancecounties.250 251 Heidi Perry asked if astudy has been done to determine where bus routes could be added. Nish Trivedi answeredas 252 staff we have made sure transit is included as an important element in the plan. It wasalso brought up aspart of the 253 workshops, which took place in Orange County, Graham and Carrboro(one in each location).254 255 Heidi Perry asked how many people cameto the workshops.Nish Trivedi answered 21inGraham, more than 35 in 256 Orange County,and he did not have the Carrboro number with him. Heidi Perry said lessthan 100 people are 257 making a decision about a road that has somany people on it. 258 259 Alex Castro said UNC Healthcareworkers have different hours. He asked how many there are and when are they 260 comingto work.He and Heidi Perry advocated for getting that information. 261 262 Heidi Perrysuggested If people along the corridor are trying to go from one end to the other, maybe a transportation 263 service can be provided.264 265 Alex Castro said traffic counts reflect vehicle counts. Alex Castro said it’s his observation that during peaktraffic 266 times 90 percent of the vehicles have single occupants.267 268 Approved3/21/18 6 Art Menius, reading off the web, said that 1,129 UNC employees live in AlamanceCounty, which is a little under 10 269 percent.270 271 NishTrivedinotedthe corridor itself is convenient to Chatham County and Raleigh. He thenreviewedalist of public 272 workshops. The next workshops will take place in early May and will give the public an opportunity to comment on 273 the consultant’s recommendations. 274 275 Alex Castro asked how the public isbeing informed of these meetings. NishTrivedi answeredthe consultant firm 276 conducting the corridor study gave Orange County a press release to put on the web. The firm connected with the 277 county communications director to broadcast in newsletters two weeks before the meeting, the week before, and the 278 day before. 279 280 Heidi Perry and Alex Castro asked if it was advertised at UNC. Nish Trivedi answered that he was not sure but 281 everyone onthestakeholder list was given the information.He will follow up by asking how UNC was involved. 282 283 NishTrivedireviewed that the draft plan will be done by September.284 285 Alex Castro asked if traffic counting was ongoing. Nish Trivedi said he thinks most of the traffic counting wasdone on 286 weekdays and some on weekends. 287 288 Heidi Perry asked is the goal to try to accommodate more traffic or to reduce the amount of traffic.289 290 Nish Trivedi said the plan is designed to address all the issues pointed out to the consultants by providing variety of 291 recommendations at the conclusion of the study.292 293 Nish Trivedi said consultants did some calculationsand projections 20 years out. There’s an argument for widening. 294 Residents say they don’t want that but rather want bike/pedestriansafety and transit.295 296 Heidi Perry said my point is it isa given there willbe more traffic. She thinksthe goal should be toreducetrafficand 297 not to accommodatean increase, which is what happens if a bigger road is built. 298 299 Alex Castro said the NC119 traffic is coming down from the outlet, Cone HealthMedcenter, and Alamance300 Community College.301 302 David Laudicina noted there is a large Honda factory on NC 119.There was brief speculation on where the people 303 who work at that factory might live. 304 305 Heidi Perry said no one in this room knows where the people using the NC 54 corridor live. Wejust guess. Someone 306 canfind out wherethe Alamance Community College students live.307 308 8B.SPOT5.0LOCAL INPUT POINTS FOR TARPO,DCHC AND B-GMPO(NISH TRIVEDI)309 310 Nish Trivedi presented informationand apologized that it was not on the January agenda, which would have allowed 311 for this board to have input. He explained that each MPO has to put together aprocess approved by NCDOT. The 312 Triangle AreaRural Planning Organization (TARPO)process has been adopted. We cannot make anymore changes 313 to that process. It is too late for input for DCHC,too.314 315 NishTrivedisaid the two MPOsand TARPO are going to accept NCDOT scores. The qualitative part is different. 316 TARPO requires that the county prioritizeprojects. Orange County has two regional projects and three divisional 317 projects. He’ll discuss those morein April after NCDOT releases the scores in late March. DCHC MPO basesthe 318 prioritizationon their input process which is more quantitative and does not require any action.319 320 Alex Castro asked about TARPO. Are the other threecounties subjected to the fragmentation. Does Sanford. Nish 321 Trivedi answeredSanford is in Lee County. Orange County isthe easiest because we have no cities in TARPO. 322 Approved3/21/18 7 Other counties have cities so they must coordinate with transportation priorities with them. We are simply Orange 323 County. 324 325 8D.ORANGE COUNTY &NCDOTHIGHWAY (DIVISION 7&DISTRICT 1)LUNCHEON MEETING NOTES,NOVEMBER 30,2017326 (ABIGAILE PITTMAN)327 328 Abigaile Pittman noted the materials included in the agenda packet. She then passed around a news release that 329 NCDOThad just sent out regarding lane closures to install the chain-linked fencing on the Orange Grove Road 330 bridge over Interstate 40. 331 332 Heidi Perry said we didn’t get a sidewalkalong Orange Grove Road.Abigaile Pittman said there is discussion about 333 having awork session discussionregarding a county sidewalk policy. Heidi Perry said a date needs to be set for that 334 discussion. AbigailePittman said the county hasmultiple adopted plans supporting sidewalks but no formal policy. 335 She reminded the Board that counties don’t maintain roads. The county has transit stops with no sidewalk access. 336 Heidi Perry said it makes them impossible to access and she noted there was just a fatality in Chapel Hillat a bus 337 stop with no crosswalk because there is no sidewalk. Abigaile Pittman said NCDOT doesn’t createsidewalksbut 338 Orange Countycould apply for an encroachment agreement if they planned to construct a sidewalk.339 340 Alex Castro said Eno HavenApartments, which isaffordable housing for seniors,has a sidewalk that does not 341 connect to Meadowlands Drive where the Jerry M. Passmore Center(senior center)is located.Some Eno Haven 342 residents push walkers along Business 70 to reach the Passmore Center.343 344 Abigaile Pittman said a sidewalk to finish that connection was discussedrecently with a work group for the Master 345 Aging Plan, andbased on that discussion shethinks Hillsborough will consider financing that sidewalk using fees in346 lieu fundsfor thesidewalk connecting Eno Haven to Meadowlands Drive.347 348 Abigaile Pittman noted one more thing of interest regarding paving the unpaved section of Arthur Minnis Road, 349 referring toPage 71 of the agenda packet. It’s been ontheNCDOT agenda for about 5 years. There’s a group of 350 residents in the middle who don’t want it paved but there is a new owner who may dedicateright of way and then 351 NCDOT would have75 percent of homeowners approving the project and can then use eminent domainforthe rest 352 of what NCDOTneeds to pave that section.353 354 8.E NCDOTPROJECT UPDATES (HANDOUT)355 356 8.F 2018REGULAR MEETING CALENDAR (HANDOUT)357 358 AGENDA ITEM 9:BOARD COMMENTS359 360 Heidi Perry invited discussionabout creating a greenway connecting Carrboro to Hillsborough, perhaps along Old NC 361 86. She asked what the steps would be to make it a project. 362 363 NishTrivedi answered that Orange County is inthe process of putting it in the Metropolitan Transportation Plan 364 (MTP), which has bike/pedestrianmoney that is not allocated. Hillsborough and Carrboro are in support of it. In the 365 next NCDOT Spot Safety Programprocess,wecan see if it qualifies for that funding. 366 367 Heidi Perry said maybe we could get an update at the next meeting. Nish Trivedi said he will find out if it needs a368 corridor study or goes to theSpot Safety Program.369 370 Heidi Perry said in the MTP 45 plan it ispretty obvious that there are a lot of bike/ped projects from Raleigh to 371 Durham and Durham to Carrboro and none to Hillsborough.372 373 David Laudicina asked if people who live on Old NC86 are in support.NishTrivedi said he needsto find out if a374 corridor studyis needed.Heidi Perry said also it would be good to have a chance for people who live there have 375 input. Brantley Wells said additional land would be needed, so the people along there would have to be notified.376 Approved3/21/18 8 377 Heidi Perry saiditcould be a path separate from Old NC 86. Brantley Wells said a separated path would still be378 crossing land. Heidi Perry said before more development happens in that area, it would be good to get a bike/ped 379 plan on a map to keep some space for the infrastructure forit. 380 381 Nish Trivedi asked if Heidi Perry just wants to talk aboutbike/ped orconsider transit and vehicular traffic.382 383 Heidi Perry said it is a narrow corridor and not sure if room for another lane. Bike riders go from Hillsborough to 384 Carrboro daily and there are tourist attractions on either end.385 386 Art Menius suggested placing a substantive discussion about this on next month’s agenda.387 388 Alyson West askedif there’s a county connected greenway plan.Heidi Perry said TARPO has its own bike/ped plan. 389 Nish Trivedi said the TARPO plan only looks at land within its jurisdiction. 390 391 NishTrivedisaid he would find out what next steps wereneeded to make it an MPO project. 392 393 David Laudicina said there are a lot of back roads. Is there a better way to do it? 394 395 Heidi Perry said maybe there’s an energy easement. I think we should look at maps and brainstorm.396 397 Alyson West said involving county parks and recreation staff.398 399 Alex Castro asked who would maintain it once it was built.400 401 Heidi Perry said seems part of it could be paid for by bicycle tourism. 402 403 David Laudicina noted N.C. 86 is straighter than Old 86.404 405 Heidi Perry said the traffic is too fast on N.C. 86. 406 407 408 AGENDA ITEM 11:ADJOURNMENT409 410 OUTBoard meeting was adjourned by consensus at 8:32 p.m.411 412 413 ____________________________________ Heidi Perry, Chair