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Home My WebLink AboutOUTBoard minutes 032118Approved 4/18/18 MINUTES1 ORANGE COUNTY OUTBOARD2 MARCH 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; Ed Vaughn, 8 Cedar Grove Township Representative;Brantley Wells, Hillsborough Township Representative; Art Menius, At-Large 9 Representative; Alyson West, At-Large Representative;Ted Triebel, Little River Township Representative;Donna 10 Musson, Eno Township Representative11 12 MEMBERS ABSENT:Jeff Charles, At-Large Representative;Justin Miller, At-LargeRepresentative; Gary Saunders, 13 At-Large Representative;Erle Smith, Chapel Hill Township Representative;14 15 STAFF PRESENT:Kim Livingston, DEPAR; Abigaile Pittman, Transportation/Land Use Planner;Nishith Trivedi, 16 Transportation Planner; Meredith Kern, Administrative Assistant.17 18 OTHERS PRESENT:Cheryl Sadgrove, Minutes Preparer.19 20 AGENDA ITEM 1:CALL TO ORDER AND DETERMINATION OF QUORUM21 HeidiPerrycalled the meeting to order at6:34p.m.and confirmed the presence of a quorum.22 23 24 AGENDA ITEM 2:APPROVAL OF MINUTES25 FEBRUARY 21,2018,MEETING26 27 Art Menius requestedadding thedate of the June BOCC Meeting (June 5) at line 74.28 29 MOTION by Alex Castroto approve the February 21, 2018,OUTBoard Minuteswith correction. Seconded by Art 30 Menius.31 VOTE:UNANIMOUS32 33 34 AGENDA ITEM 3:CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA35 There were no additions.36 37 AGENDA ITEM 4:SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS38 39 AGENDA ITEM 4A:APPROVAL OF MOUNTAINS TO SEA TRAIL (MST)THROUGH ORANGE COUNTY (KIM LIVINGSTON,40 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT,AGRICULTURE,PARKS AND RECREATION,AND ABIGAILE 41 PITTMAN)42 Kim Livingston shared a map of the possible Mountains-to-Sea Trail route through Orange County, which would be 43 about 15 milesofthe roughly 1,000-mile trail. 44 45 The parts in Orange County are called Segment 11 and Segment 12. Segment 12 is Hillsborough’s River walk46 greenway,which will connect to Eno River State Park. OrangeCounty isfocused on Segment 11, which will startin 47 Hillsborough and will use the Occoneechee Mountain trails, connect to the Seven Mile Creek Preserve, go across 48 ruralproperty toconnect to the Cane CreekReservoir, and exit the county toward Saxapahaw.49 50 Kim Livingston reviewed that the planning process for the Orange County trail segments began more than two years 51 ago and included several community meetings. On January 23, 2018, the Orange County Board of Commissioners 52 adopted the proposed route. 53 54 Kim Livingston reviewed that the connection to Saxapahaw had been anticipated to beSaxapahaw-Bethlehem 55 Church Road but AlamanceCountyis working on bringingthetrail through Morrow Mill Road,which is less busy. 56 Approved 4/18/18 57 Kim Livingston also said there has been a desire to connect Hillsborough to Chapel Hill through a multi-modal trail 58 and Orange County staff has been directed by the Orange County Board of Commissionerstowork onthat but 59 county staff sees that as a project separate from the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. 60 61 Kim Livingston reviewed that for Segment 11, Dimmocks Mill Road was identified as the best wayto get over 62 Interstate 40. The trail is expected to follow the road in places where it is proving difficult to get landowners to agree 63 to grant an easement or sell land for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.The adopted route is the proposed route, but things 64 change. Orange County only works with landowners who are willing to sell land or donate an easement for the trail. 65 Those working to create the trail know the proposed routewill shift to get this complete. In the interim, there will be 66 road routes.The Cane Creek area isready for trailblazing but there is a memorandum of understanding with Orange 67 Water and Sewer Authority that allows Orange Countyto put the trail on OWASAland with some conditions. 68 69 Kim Livingston would like to focus her efforts now on connecting Occoneechee Mountain to Seven Mile Creek 70 Preserve. That trail would cross the property of three landowners. 71 72 Ed Vaughn said he issurprised some homeowners do not want the trail to be near them. 73 74 Kim Livingstonsaid a lot of the concern expressed is fear of crime. A brief discussion followed that cars get broken 75 into when people parkto use trails.Kim Livingston said the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has advised that any 76 parking lots be visible from main roads. 77 78 Ted Triebel asked whether several landowners areconcerned about their loose dogs running on the trail if they were 79 to grant an easement or sell property for the trail.Kim Livingstonsaid she has heard that concern but only from one 80 property owner. 81 82 Ted Triebel asked what theOWASA conditionsare.Kim Livingstonanswered that one condition is that the county 83 cannot build the section on OWASA property until there is a clear connectioncompleted.So, either the county has to 84 convince OWASA that there is connecting trail via Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road or the county has to 85 complete the trail all the way from Seven Mile Nature Preserve to the reservoir. 86 87 Kim Livingston said another condition is that if trail is going on OWASA property less than 50 feet from adjacent88 property owners, the neighbor has to agree to the placement of the trail as well. There is a narrowsection that will be 89 close to neighboring property. 90 91 Ted Triebel asked Kim Livingston for her prognosis. 92 93 Kim Livingston said the trail isdoable. She thinks what isdoable in the next three years is connectingOcconeechee 94 Mountain to Seven Mile Creek and buildingthe trail in the Cane Creek Reservoir area. 95 96 Kim Livingston said the connections through the middle of Segment 11 are likely to take 10 years or longer. In the 97 meantime, there will be a road route. 98 99 Alex Castrosaid OWASA’s park is only opentwodays a week. Kim Livingston answered that is only the portion near 100 the dam and the reservoir. The trail will be well away from both and so available every day. She added that none of 101 OWASA’s conditions areunreasonable. 102 103 David Laudicina asked Kim Livingston if she hasthought of noting old mills and dams and other historical markers. 104 Kim Livingston answered that Orange County Cultural Resources Coordinator Peter Sandbeck is aware of all those 105 places and that is a great suggestion.106 107 Jenn Sykes said she did notthinkRiverwalk and Occoneechee Mountain had been officially connected yet. Kim 108 Livingstonsaid the land has been acquired. She doesn’t know that the trail is complete.109 110 Alyson Westsaid Chapel Hill’s greenway master plan includes a Millhouse Road connection to Hillsborough.111 112 Approved 4/18/18 Kim Livingston said Orange County’sMillhouse regional park has some greenway andislooking at some affordable 113 housing and greenway options in that area.114 115 Heidi Perry said the2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan includes an Old N.C. 86 connection. Kim Livingston said 116 she is aware of that.117 118 Art Menius said Orange County is slowly moving towarda county historical marker process. 119 120 Alyson West asked what kind of facilities would be at Seven Mile Creek.121 122 Kim Livingstonsaid the road and parking area are currently under constructionand staff has constructed official 123 trails. This will be a nature preserve.124 125 Jenn Sykes said it could be possible to connect Hillsborough’s Kings Highway Park with Seven Mile Creekand asked 126 Kim Livingston how that could be done. 127 128 Kim Livingstonsaid that isn’t something she has explored but she could see that being a good spur trail. 129 130 131 AGENDA ITEM 5.REGULAR OUTBOARD AGENDA (ACTION ITEMS)132 133 134 AGENDA ITEM 5A.BICYCLE SAFETY IMPLEMENTATION SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT (ART MENIUS,ABIGAILE PITTMAN)135 Abigaile Pittman said the subcommittee hasbeen focused on creatingvideos involving some local well-known 136 people, high school students and some professional videographers. She and Heidi Perry described some of the 137 scenarios from the videos. Videos created so far have involved Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens and the principal of 138 Cedar Ridge High School. Two more videos in April will involve Orange County Commissioner Renee Price and 139 Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood.The videos will be shown June 5 at the meeting of the Orange County 140 Board of Commissioners.141 142 Art Menius added thatprimarily the distribution will be on YouTube and shared on social media. 143 144 AbigailePittmannoted that the subcommittee hastoencumber all of itsmoney through estimates and purchase 145 orders by April 30. 146 147 David Laudicina said he used to frequently see cyclists pulling a baby trailer on Dairyland Road and asked how the 148 subcommittee addresses that safety concern. 149 150 Heidi Perry answered that you have tobuild a greenway.151 152 Alyson Westsaid enforce the speed limit. 153 154 David Laudicina pointedout the baby traileris wider than the bicycle.155 156 Abigaile Pittman reported thatOrange Countyhas plans to install 20 signs around edges of rural buffers. On seven or 157 eight of those sign poles, the bicycle subcommittee will install a drive safely sign.158 159 Heidi Perry added that thesubcommittee was also thinking of holdinga reception with possibly a bike rodeo for kids. 160 161 162 AGENDA ITEM 5B.DRAFT OUTBOARD ORIENTATION TABLE OF CONTENTS (ABIGAILE PITTMAN)163 Abigaile Pittman said good comments were made about the orientation materials at the last meeting. Staffheld 164 meetingsto discusschanges.The orientation materials would be available online and include a lot of links to primary 165 sources so that as information from the primary sources changes, anyone reading through the orientation materials 166 would have access to the latest information. There will also be a page with transportation acronyms. 167 168 Approved 4/18/18 Heidi Perry asked how one would access the materials.AbigailePittman answered that one would go to Orange 169 County’s website and click on the Planning Department and then the Transportation section. 170 171 Heidi Perry asked if it is searchable. Abigaile Pittman answered that she thinks it can be made searchable. 172 173 Heidi Perry said Carrboro has a video for new advisory board members about servingon an advisory board. Abigaile 174 Pittman said she will pass that along to community relations. 175 176 Alyson Westsaid she wonders whether there isa place to explain wheremost funding comes from in orderto give 177 readers some idea of scale or proportions of funding.Abigaile Pittman said she and Nish Trivedi discussed that and 178 determined those proportions cannotbe estimatedbecause they change.179 180 Alex Castro suggested explaining where in the project or funding process the county is month by month. Nish Trivedi 181 said that is a very challenging question because state and federal funding cyclesare not aligned.182 183 Alex Castrosaid Orange Countyonly has 1 out of 24 votes on the Burlington-Graham MPO. It is important for people 184 to understand that. AbigailePittmansaid there are changes taking place. The Technical Coordinating Committee 185 (TCC)subcommittee is looking at how projects are scored and how we can collaborate regionally. 186 187 188 AGENDA ITEM 6:INFORMATIONAL ITEMS189 There were none. 190 191 AGENDA ITEM 7: Staff Updates192 193 AGENDA ITEM 7A:MPO/RPOAND NCDOTUPDATES (NISH TRIVEDI)194 Nish Trivedisaidhe will be bringing an update of all Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in one update that 195 will include how Orange County is influencing and shaping the MPO’s decisions and how the MPOsare affecting 196 Orange County.He summarized the updates given on Page 51 of the agenda packet. 197 198 Abigaile Pittman added that she was told at the Burlington-Graham MPO meetingthat 6.0 will be a trial period with 199 three years between processes. Nish Trivedi said he has not heard that.200 201 Nish Trivedi said Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization’s (TARPO’s)draft Fiscal Year 2019 Unified Planning 202 Work Programis ready for public comment and so is the Burlington-Graham MPO’s.203 204 Heidi Perry asked how people would know that it was time to comment because she follows TARPO communications 205 and has not seen anything. Nish Trivedi will look into it. 206 207 Nish Trivedi noted an attachment contained updates on North Carolina Department of Transportation(NCDOT) 208 updates.209 210 Abigaile Pittman said a traffic light will be installed at Buckhorn Road and U.S. 70 by early May. HeidiPerry asked if 211 the signal would be tripped by a bicycle. Abigaile Pittman will check because it was not mentioned. 212 213 Heidi Perry asked if there are anyother projects staffwantsto call to the board’sattention. 214 215 Abigaile Pittman noted the fencing was installed on Orange Grove Road Bridgeover Interstate 40.216 217 Art Menius asked about the bridge on U.S. 70 east of Hillsborough. 218 219 Brantley Wells said a temporarybridge will be builton the north side of U.S. 70tomaintain traffic while theold bridge 220 is replaced.221 222 Abigaile Pittman noted Graham is about to grow rapidly, which may affect traffic in Orange County.223 224 Approved 4/18/18 225 AGENDA ITEM 8:ADJOURNMENT 226 227 OUTBoard meetingwas adjourned by consensus at 7:47p.m.228 229 230 ____________________________________ Heidi Perry, Chair