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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOUTBoard minutes 031908Approved May 21, 2008 Page 1 of 5 1 MINUTES 1 ORANGE UNIFIED TRANSPORTATION BOARD MEETING 2 MARCH 19, 2008 3 4 MEMBERS PRESENT: Sam Lasris, Cedar Grove Township; Nancy Cole Baker, Pedestrian Access Advocate; Jan 5 Grossman, Bicycle Transportation Advocate; Julian (Randy) Marshall, Bingham Township; Paul Guthrie, Chapel Hill 6 Township; Karen Barrows, Little River Township; Pascale Mittendorf, Hillsborough Township; Alice Gordon, Board of 7 County Commissioners; Bryn Smith, CFE Representative; Dawn Brezina, Eno Township; Eric Tillman, EDC 8 Representative 9 10 MEMBERS ABSENT: Sandra Quinn Johnson, Eno Township, Planning Board Representative; Al Terry, Transportation 11 Services Board Representative 12 13 STAFF PRESENT: Karen Lincoln, Transportation Planner; Donna Davenport, Administrative Assistant II 14 15 OTHERS PRESENT: Pat Strong, TJCOG 16 17 I. Call to order and roll call 18 19 II. Consideration of additions to the agenda 20 21 III. Board Comments/Updates 22 23 Randy Marshall inquired about the bids for widening and resurfacing of Orange Grove Road. How could they be 24 reminded to add two feet from Dodson Crossroads to NC 54, and also the two feet that was promised this year? 25 26 Sam Lasris suggested they be contacted. He said he went to the DOT website and gave five places that had 27 problems and they quickly had them repaired. He suggested the website. 28 29 IV. Approval of Minutes of November 14, 2007 meeting 30 a) January 16, 2008, meeting minutes (Attachment 1) 31 b) February 20, 2008 meeting minutes, (Attachment 2) 32 OUTBoard Action: A. Approve January 16, 2008 minutes 33 34 MOTION made by Paul Guthrie to approve minutes. Seconded by Jan Grossman. 35 VOTE: Unanimous 36 37 OUTBoard Action: B. Approve February 20, 2008 minutes 38 39 Bryn Smith shared concerns about the minutes not being inline with what had been suggested before about 40 summarization. The February minutes were not summarized but detailed. 41 42 Sam Lasris agreed with her statements. 43 44 MOTION made by Bryn Smith to table the minutes for February 20, 2008. Seconded by Paul Guthrie. 45 VOTE: Unanimous 46 47 V. Comprehensive Plan Update: Transportation Element 48 49 Nancy Baker discussed the information from the joint meeting with the Planning Board, and discussed the 50 OUTBoard’s meeting following the joint meeting. She discussed her work regarding the possible objectives she had 51 prepared in a different format than the consultant’s format. She explained that she had developed a format that 52 Approved May 21, 2008 Page 2 of 5 2 demonstrated the connection between transportation and other uses and issues that must be coordinated to create 53 an efficient and holistic transportation system. 54 55 Sam Lasris indicated that comments could be made and sent to the Planning Board by the 14th. Karen Lincoln 56 reiterated that the consultant had requested all comments by the 14th. 57 58 Paul Guthrie stated that Nancy’s approach to the Transportation Element made the package better. He stated the 59 lack of vision in the draft Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan put together by the consultant was a 60 concern and asked how it would be used. 61 62 Jan Grossman said that the wordsmithing should not be the most important issue. 63 64 Karen Lincoln stated that Commissioner Gordon had asked that the OUTBoard comment regarding criteria for citing 65 a solid waste transfer station. The consultant doing the solid waste transfer study is holding public input sessions 66 April 3rd and April 10th. 67 68 MOTION made by Bryn Smith to add this item to the agenda. Seconded by Karen Barrows. 69 VOTE: Unanimous 70 71 Commissioner Gordon stated that she did not feel well and may not be able to stay for the entire meeting, although 72 she would try to stay. She explained that the solid waste transfer station siting committee was developing three sets 73 of criteria: 74 • Exclusionary criteria stipulating areas where development is prohibited by federal, state, or local laws or 75 regulations and other factors that may significantly impact the environment, facility costs, or project 76 implementation; 77 • Technical criteria regarding specific engineering, operation, and transportation parameters that should be 78 considered to assure that sites are feasible from a technical design, environmental, and economic prospective; 79 and 80 • Community-specific criteria to consider the impacts that the facility will have on the surrounding community. 81 She suggested that the OUTBoard might wish to provide comment regarding technical criteria for siting the transfer 82 station. For example, the transfer station should not be sited on a road designated by Orange County’s Bicycle Plan 83 as a priority bicycle route. 84 85 Pascale Mittendorf asked about the definition of a transfer station. Commissioner Gordon explained that Orange 86 County does not have a site for a new landfill. The County will contract with another governmental jurisdiction to 87 dispose of the County’s solid waste. 88 89 Pascale Mittendorf asked about the location. Commissioner Gordon answered that the location had not yet been 90 decided. 91 92 Bryn Smith stated that such facility should not be located on a designated bicycle route because the conflict of truck 93 traffic and bicycle traffic on Orange County’s narrow shouldered roads would not be desirable. 94 95 Jan Grossman also suggested that the site should also not be located somewhere the transfer station traffic would 96 have to travel over designated bicycle routes to access it. He noted that the present site was not a bicycle route. 97 98 Sam Lasris asked if the board would be in favor of doing this. 99 100 MOTION made by Karen Barrows to make a recommendation that bicycle route and travel on bicycle routes will be 101 minimized. Seconded by Jan Grossman. 102 VOTE: (10 yes, 1 no) 103 104 Approved May 21, 2008 Page 3 of 5 3 MOTION made by Bryn Smith made a motion that the criteria favor sites convenient for rail access for the transfer of 105 the waste out of the County. Seconded by Randy Marshall. 106 VOTE: Unanimous 107 108 Paul Guthrie returned to discussion about Nancy’s proposed revisions to the Transportation Element. He stated that 109 the board needed to be visionary and that was not seen in the document prepared by the consultant. 110 111 Nancy Baker reviewed her document that explained that transportation is a network of nodes (places) and edges 112 (connections between the nodes) and traffic is the activity on that network. The last two sections define qualities the 113 OUTBoard wants the system to include and the system should relate to other systems. 114 115 There was discussion about the document template and the information listed in the document. 116 117 Paul Guthrie described the format and the way the plan was laid out will set the course for the document which takes 118 the given (existing conditions) and projects into the future. He said the consultants should know they have limited the 119 vision of this document by the way it was portrayed up front. 120 121 Karen Barrows asked Paul to give examples of what he means by a visionary. Paul Guthrie responded that the plan 122 should reflect on what will the county be like in the year 2030 and ask if the current structure is adequate for the 123 community of 2030 (and propose actions to ensure adequate facilities for 2030). 124 125 Jan Grossman expressed that he is not sure the group believes that Orange County should have more control over 126 funding. 127 128 Sam Lasris stated the plan is an effort to take control of it. 129 130 Commissioner Gordon stated that the group should propose what it thinks needs to be done. Sam Lasris said the 131 group did make comments before, but the consultants did not change the document to include them. 132 133 Bryn Smith said someone told her there could be legislation pushing the counties to begin funding their roads and 134 taking away State money. 135 136 Nancy Baker asked how our objectives could be flexible. Sam Lasris asked if there is something in the plan about 137 funding. Karen Lincoln answered that it comes in the implementation part that will follow. 138 139 Nancy Baker asked Karen Lincoln if the objectives would change. Karen Lincoln said they might. She also stated 140 the plan should be revisited in a reasonable amount of time. 141 142 Paul Guthrie expressed concerned that one area that nether document deals with is the place where individuals can 143 come and go from one type of transportation to another, transit connection centers. Karen Lincoln said that issue is 144 addressed under A (future nodes) that includes development of regulations conducive to efficient transportation hubs. 145 The transportation plan could identify appropriate locations for multi-modal stations. 146 147 Eric Tillman said that private transportation was excluded from this plan completely. Nancy Baker replied that it 148 belongs in several places. Paul Guthrie asked what is “private transportation”? Eric Tillman said privately owned 149 transportation providers (taxis and subscription van services). Nancy Baker suggested calling it private commercial. 150 Paul Guthrie offered a suggestion that it should be publicly and privately owned transportation. 151 152 Eric Tillman stated that Section 2F (establish Hillsborough in-town bus route) was a Hillsborough issue. Karen 153 Lincoln said Hillsborough does not have a public transportation system, but could contract with Orange Public 154 Transportation to establish an in town bus route. Paul Guthrie said we could encourage the establishment of 155 appropriate bus transit service systems throughout the County. The issue would be the ownership, public or private? 156 Approved May 21, 2008 Page 4 of 5 4 157 Someone asked about congestion mitigation (Section 3-B). Karen Lincoln said there could be a statement to 158 investigate or encourage Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plans for major employers. Jan Grossman 159 added that the solution was not adding more lanes. Karen Lincoln mentioned the TDM manual for Southern Human 160 Service Center. 161 162 Karen Barrows asked how section F (encourage safer interaction between car drivers and bicycle riders) was going 163 to happen. Nancy Baker said there needs to be more education regarding driving on roads where there is significant 164 bicycle traffic, for users of both modes. This may be incorporated into the Driver’s Education program. Sam Lasris 165 added we could state promote safer interaction between bicycle riders and drivers through education. 166 167 Commissioner Gordon noted that Carrboro had been left out of 5-A (plan with other groups in the County). 168 169 Other comments were directed at the draft Transportation Element prepared by the consultant, and noted: 170 • there are typos; 171 • maps need to be better; 172 • transportation related objectives that came from other advisory boards should be cross referenced; 173 • some of the charts are outdated; 174 • the plan does not address air quality; and 175 • the plan does not address freight 176 • issues. 177 178 Sam Lasris moved to the Needs Assessment and asked for the Board’s opinion about them. Eric Tillman stated a 179 number 7 should be added, “Increase transit cooperation between public and private transit providers”. 180 181 VI. Buckhorn Village Class A Special Use Permit – Planned Development 182 183 Sam Lasris moved to the next item, the Buckhorn Village Planned Development. 184 185 Nancy Baker stated there were many examples of similar shopping center developments and maybe they should be 186 consulted for good examples of how they integrate into communities. 187 188 Sam Lasris reiterated that comments should be submitted to Karen and those will be forwarded to the developer and 189 submitted to the Board of County Commissioners at the continuation of the Public Hearing on April 1. He stated that 190 the Board of County Commissioners will listen to all of the comments and they would be in the public record. 191 192 Eric Tillman stated that he had not been to the public hearing but the Petro station traffic was terrible now. 193 194 Sam Lasris asked if the DOT would present its recommendations at the Public Hearing. Karen Lincoln stated a 195 revised Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) was not submitted until a week before the Public Hearing. The NCDOT review 196 of the TIA takes 60 – 90 days, so we will not know NCDOT’s comments by then. The NCDOT will respond in writing 197 to the developer and the County. Sam Lasris asked if DOT does their review on buildout and Karen Lincoln 198 responded no. DOT would look at anticipated traffic generated by the development and what exists now. 199 200 Karen Barrows asked for clarification on Section V. Karen Lincoln answered this was a requirement of the 201 development and this would be a part of the Special Use Permit. Also, a bike and sidewalk plan is required for all 202 planned developments. 203 204 Nancy Baker asked about connectivity. Karen Lincoln answered that all major subdivision proposals are reviewed for 205 connectivity, and those subdivisions are usually required to provide a stub out to adjacent undeveloped properties or 206 to connect to adjacent development where possible. Sam Lasris stated he had not seen anything be required as far 207 as connectivity unless it was required by size. 208 Approved May 21, 2008 Page 5 of 5 5 209 Sam Lasris stated that anyone who had additional comments should send them to Karen Lincoln. 210 211 VII. Future Agenda Items (Spring) 212 Karen Lincoln reviewed future agenda items: a presentation from ERCD of proposed trails and discussion of draft 213 pedestrian and bicycle routes, and a presentation from NCDOT Transportation Planning Branch regarding the State 214 Comprehensive Transportation Plan. 215 216 Sam Lasris also noted a presentation on alternative fuels. 217 218 Randy Marshall noted that Karen Lincoln was not present when there was discussion about the two foot widening on 219 Orange Grove Road. Karen Lincoln said the resurfacing program for 2008 contains a project to resurface Orange 220 Grove Road from Dodson Crossroads to Dairyland Road and widen shoulders 2 feet and separate project to widen 221 shoulders 2 feet on Orange Grove Road from Tree Farm Road to Dodson Crossroads. 222 223 VIII. Adjournment 224 225 MOTION made by Randy Marshall to adjourn. Seconded by Bryn Smith. 226 VOTE: Unanimous 227 _________________________ Sam Lasris, Chair