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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOUTBoard minutes 091918Approved 11/28/18 MINUTES 1 Orange County OutBoard Meeting 2 September 19, 2018 3 4 5 Members Present: Heidi Perry (Chair) At-Large Representative; Alex Castro (Vice-Chair), Bingham Township 6 Representative; Donna Musson, Eno Township Representative; David Laudicina, Cheeks Township Representative; 7 Jenn Sykes, At-Large; Ed Vaughn, Cedar Grove Township Representative; Brantley Wells, Hillsborough Township 8 Representative; Alyson West, At-Large Representative; Ted Triebel, Little River Township Representative; Art Menius, 9 At-Large Representative; 10 11 Members Absent: Jeff Charles, At-Large Representative; Justin Miller, At- Large Representative; Erle Smith, Chapel Hill 12 Township Representative; Gary Saunders, At-Large Representative 13 14 Staff Present: Abigaile Pittman, Transportation/Land Use Planner; Nishith Trivedi, Transportation Planner; Tina Love; 15 Administrative Assistant III 16 17 Others Present: Linda Griffin, Minutes Preparer 18 19 Agenda Item 1: Call to Order and Determination of Quorum 20 21 Agenda Item 2: Approval of Minutes from August 25, 2018 Meeting 22 Motion by Art Menius to Approve Minutes, seconded by Alex Castro. 23 Vote: Unanimous 24 25 Agenda Item 3: Consideration of Additions to the Agenda 26 There were none. 27 28 Agenda Item 4: Regular OUTBoard Agenda 29 30 4b. Bicycle Safety Implementation Subcommittee Report (Abigaile Pittman) 31 32 Abigaile Pittman presented a summary of recent events including a presentation to the Commissioners on June 5, 33 bicycle safety videos, the campaign logo and slogan, a draft of the bicycle safety web page, the purchase of branded 34 marketing materials, the design of five draft posters, the purchase of fifteen road signs, and the approval of 35 encroachment agreements by NCDOT. Upcoming work includes erecting the road signs, the design and distribution on 36 social media and radio ads. Community events may be deferred until next spring. 37 38 Abigaile Pittman: I think that some of the photos should be changed out for a couple of the posters, or some of the 39 wording revised because the safety message is not coming across well. 40 41 Jenn Sykes: The word ‘Police’ could be photo-shopped onto the car hood or another screen shot of a police car could 42 be used. 43 44 Abigaile Pittman: Consider adding wording to the ‘4 ft.’ poster stating that the law allows crossing the double yellow line 45 when passing bicyclists. 46 47 Abigaile Pittman: Does the Board think the information on the youth poster could be turned into a brochure? 48 49 There was general agreement among Board members, adding that the flip side of a folded brochure could be used for 50 providing rules of the road. 51 52 Abigaile Pittman: There could possibly there could be two different kinds of brochures. 53 54 55 Approved 11/28/18 4b. Efland-Buckhorn-Mebane Access Management Plan Update (Nish Trivedi) OUTBoard Action: To review and 56 comment on the Draft Efland-Buckhorn-Mebane Access Management Plan (E-B-M AMP). 57 58 Nish Trivedi: The background of this plan; it was originally adopted in November 2011. A Transportation Study was done 59 in 2017. It looked at existing conditions, environmental, traffic analysis and other issues related to the 2011 E-B-M AMP. 60 He explained the process of updating the plan. The Access Management Plan is the proposed long-range master plan 61 for the possibility of new roads and the connection to existing roads. The main purpose is to maintain the overall safety 62 of the transportation system, minimize congestion and crashes, provide efficient traffic flow and safety; and ensure 63 access to adjacent properties as development occurs over time. The plan is a long-range vision of the area. It is a means 64 of requesting right-of-way dedication during the development review process. Nish explained the history of the planning 65 process and what the plan does and does not do. In 2017 Volkert conducted the transportation study. The original 2011 66 E-B-M AMP included a map of the area and identified key intersections in the area. It included a variety of access 67 management strategies including 2 possible street cross sections. In September 2011 the Planning Board and 68 OUTBoard reviewed it and made its recommendations. There was a public information meeting held in November of that 69 year and the Board of County Commissioners adopted it that same month. In 2017 Volkert worked with Pilot 70 Environmental Inc. in completing the study. They determined the development potential for the area based on 71 environmental and other constraints as well as the traffic impact of that development. 72 73 Alex Castro: The Plan didn’t address multi-model concerns; it is only about roads. And there is nothing about commuter 74 rail, only about roads. 75 76 Nish Trivedi: The Plan addresses multimodal in the recommended NCDOT Standards Street cross-sections which are 77 covered later in the presentation. This study included a big spreadsheet with 30 rows of data that showed what the 78 various development sites might be. Hypothetical example is a 100 acre property was evaluated and it was determined 79 that only 30 acres was actually developable due to environmental issues, market factors and other constraints. 80 Maximizing the 30 acres development would result in a traffic impact; more cars on the road will be generated from that 81 development. The 2017 Transportation Study also considered NCDOT 24 different street cross sections, what State 82 routes should look like. It proposed 3 NCDOT standard street cross-sections for this area. The Study also took into 83 consideration the impact at intersections, what would be needed at those intersections, would turn lanes be needed due 84 to increased traffic. The slides show some of the intersections that would need turn lanes, stops signs, etc. to address 85 the increased traffic for that development. Now we are in the process of updating the original 2011 E-B-M AMP using 86 the 2017 Study. 87 88 David Laudicina: Study for Railroad 89 90 Nish Trivedi: NCDOT is having conversations with the railroads for improvements at railroad crossings. I have been told 91 that the railroad wants to close at-grade crossings. NCDOT is working with them on this issue and we have not heard 92 any specifics. The railroad has plans for this area and has ongoing conversations with NCDOT. I keep hearing different 93 things on their wish list going forward. We conducted a community meeting to let the public know what is going on in this 94 process and get their feedback. The study also included recommendations, and these are all presented to you for your 95 consideration as we draft the E-B-M AMP. We are taking the original 2011 E-B-M AMP, adding the 2017 Transportation 96 Study, with public comments, to create a whole new plan. The 2017 Transportation Study analyzed potential roads and 97 whether those roads were feasible and ensure everyone had access to their property while development occurs, and the 98 circles are for various intersection improvements. The green lines are from the study itself. The purple lines you see are 99 where staff determined additional roads and studies would be needed to address increased traffic brought on by the 100 development. The red circles are the intersections from the Transportation Study. We as staff think that additional 101 intersections will be needed, and more study and possible improvements needed for those intersections. Mebane has 102 also recently adopted a Comprehension Transportation Plan this June 2018. That is shown as the yellow line and yellow 103 circles. The study proposed 3 different cross sections and they include bike and pedestrian accommodations either by 104 paved shoulder and/or sidewalks. 105 106 Heidi: Does this include bike lanes? 107 108 Nish Trivedi: There are wide paved shoulders and/or sidewalks in the street cross sections but no specific bike lane 109 notations because plan does not include road design. Paved shoulders could be used as bike lanes. 110 111 Approved 11/28/18 Heidi Perry: What was the first right-of-way? 112 113 Nish Trivedi: There are four different street cross sections recommended in the plan, 60, 80, 90, and 100 feet. It 114 included a 60 ft. right-of-way for areas east of Buckhorn Road, 90 ft. right-of-way west of Buckhorn Road, and 80 ft. right-115 of-way for some of the major areas. The study also recommended improvements to various intersections, adding turn 116 lanes for various routes such as US-70, Buckhorn Road, West Ten Road and Ben Wilson Road. As part of community 117 outreach, we sent out letters to property owners in and around the study area. 118 119 Ted Triebel: How many people attended the public information meeting? 120 121 Nish Trivedi: We sent out over 700 notices about the community meeting. The community meeting was held last August 122 28, 2018 at Gravely Hill Middle School. An estimate 100 people attended. 123 124 Heidi Perry: What was the hot topic? 125 126 Nish Trivedi: Most wanted to know what is happening with their neighborhood. Some of them were at the intersection of 127 Green and Turner, some were from Mebane. The meeting had nice positive feedback. People engaging in knowing 128 what’s going on in the area. We created a website to keep the public informed and involved in the process and getting 129 more feedback as this process continues. We handed out a survey at the Community meeting to get feedback about 130 what was presented to them. We did not send these surveys through the mail. We also put this on the website, so 131 people can download from the website and return back to us. We have not gotten any back yet from that source. The 132 next steps – we are currently at the next step phase as we presented this to the Planning Board of the 5th of this month in 133 the same way as presented to you in your attachment to provide your comments. We will come back next month in 134 October for your recommendations to present to the Board of County Commissioners’. A tentative Public Hearing is 135 scheduled to go before the Board of County Commissioners’ in November along with the Planning Board’s and 136 OUTBoard’s recommendations. Depending on what they decide to do, they will act in November or December for their 137 decision. The plan will be implemented through the Unified Development Ordinance which requires development be in 138 compliance with adopted local plans like an Access Management Plan and it is through them we would use this 139 Ordinance to ask people to dedicate the right-of-way in the event these roads are needed. Any Questions? 140 141 Abigaile Pittman: You have a month to review this plan (which is in your packet) and make comments at the next 142 meeting. 143 144 Nish Trivedi: You are welcome to send me any of your comments and I will get the comments together. My contact 145 information is provided. 146 147 Heidi Perry: In the Executive Summary near the end it states Orange County uses Access Management Plans to ensure 148 land use decisions take into consideration their impacts on transportation networks. Nothing is said about bicycle safety. 149 150 Nish Trivedi: Safety is included; we can include text about bicycle safety if you would like. There are also some of the 151 surveys that were completed at the Community Meeting in your packet, with the questions and answers we asked at the 152 Meeting. 153 154 Jenn Sykes: Was Ikea seriously asked about one of those sites? Someone thought Ikea looked at Mebane. 155 156 Nish Trivedi: It was at one time going to Cary and then they pulled out. I have not heard about them coming to Mebane. 157 158 Heidi Perry: Does anyone else have any questions for Nish? 159 160 Nish Trivedi: Just to let you know that from the 2011 E-B-M AMP only one road was built, the service road for Morinaga 161 Candy Factory. Even that road had to go through the NCDOT process. 162 163 Heidi Perry: Where is NCDOT with this Plan? 164 165 Nish Trivedi: They attended the Community Meeting to answer any questions. There is no design or construction of the 166 roads, nor is there any funding for them. No projects or work are specifically identified in the Plan. 167 Approved 11/28/18 168 Alex Castro: I see 4 crossings of the railroad, I am familiar with one at Mt Willing Rd where a young woman was racing 169 the train and did not make it at that crossing, so my question is, what kind of road modifications will be made if the 170 railroad does not want any more at-grade crossings with increase of traffic flow, is there any thought of reconfiguring 171 those roads so they are no longer at-grade crossings? The crossings are there, they are major roads. 172 173 Nish Trivedi: The Plan does not go into any detail about what specific crossing will be closed. It does not make any 174 recommendations at any railroad crossing. Some intersections with the railroad are identified in the Plan as needing 175 additional study. 176 177 Alex Castro: No at-grade crossing between 85 to 70 and the segment I am looking at on page 66; it just shows the 178 railroad. If they close all those at-grade crossings and you can’t get from 70 down to 85 in this area and if you are 179 coming out of the Economic Development Zone you are not going to get up there. The big rail crossings are Buckhorn 180 Road and Mt Willing Rd. I know this Board with the Planning Department looked at what was going to be done in terms 181 of the traffic flow down Buckhorn Road and the railroad and some of the proposals were ludicrous down to tractor trailers 182 being able to manage the roundabouts they were proposing. 183 184 Abigaile Pittman: That was part of Mebane Traffic Separation Study that was done, which studied about 5 existing 185 crossing. The Study recommended closing a couple and 3 were remaining. For Buckhorn they did 3 different options for 186 doing an overpass and the Orange County Planning staff had a preference that varied somewhat – A connection with 187 Frasier Road was favored, but without a round-about on Buckhorn Road just north of the interstate interchange. 188 189 Alex Castro: Some were problematic like the one where that accident occurred. That is very difficult for tractor trailers 190 and are also a problem for low-boy trailers that get hung up because of the crest of the railroad crossing and so, that is 191 why I brought up the question. The railroad is not going away, and you are talking about access management road 192 improvements and they co-inhabit, and you must co-exist with the railroad and how are you dealing where they meet. 193 194 Abigaile Pittman: The railroad also has some plan to alter the curve to make it less sharp because of the future train 195 speed increase. More planning needs to be done at the intersection of Buckhorn Road and the railroad. If you ever 196 want to see the Mebane Traffic Separation Study it is on the City of Mebane Website. The railroad will not have the 197 much higher speeds in Orange County as in other counties. 198 199 5.0 Staff Updates 200 201 5a MPO/RPO and NCDOT (Nish Trivdei) Materials to be provided at Meeting 202 OUTBoard Action: Receive Information. 203 204 Abigaile Pittman passed out project updates for the Burlington-Graham MPO which was not available at the time the 205 agenda packet was distributed. 206 207 Alex Castro: Question, Hwy 54 Corridor. Temporary traffic lights. They have been removed. Do you have any 208 information about what they found out about the lights, the effectiveness, traffic, cross traffic or any other results of the 209 test period? 210 211 Nish Trivedi: I can find out for you. 212 213 Alex Castro: The lights were removed completely. They were active for about 60 days at most. They were installed for 214 longer than that. A lot of people were complaining that it was causing traffic problems. 215 216 Heidi Perry: Was it signalization timing or something else? 217 218 Nish Trivedi: It slowed down traffic. It was supposed to improve the traffic. 219 220 Alex Castro: They put one at Hatch Rd and one at Neville and both roads were one way, the north side of both roads 221 were a dead end at 54, Hatch goes a little further but basically, they were a dead end at 54 and it was to prevent traffic to 222 flow out of Neville up 54 during the rush hour. 223 Approved 11/28/18 224 Nish Trivedi: I will find out from the consultant and get back to you. 225 226 Heidi Perry: It would be good to know what the people thought who were trying to get out and then the people already on 227 54. You will let us know? 228 229 Alex Castro: One traffic light has been added at Mebane Oaks Rd, that is far out. Play chicken crossing 54. 230 231 Heidi Perry: Report on 54? 232 233 Nish Trivedi: It has been pushed out another month. I will keep you informed. I will be presenting to you for your 234 comments in November. 235 236 Alyson West: When is STIP? 237 238 Nish Trivedi: Should be done in January or February. I think they pushed it out for another month due to the hurricane. 239 240 Alyson West: Are we going to see it again? 241 242 Nish Trivedi: Yes. Right now we are working on Division Points and pursuing local points on projects you recommended 243 get priority. OCPT’s 2 transit vehicles and Old Greensboro road. There is a chance NC 86 going north of Hillsborough to 244 NC 57 widening and intersection improvements getting funded if other division projects don’t. The Old Greensboro Rd. 245 was too high of a cost and will not get funded. 246 247 Alex Castro: They did put in a new Bridge on Old Greensboro Rd. east of the Edwards property, west of Jones Ferry Rd 248 and that permits bicyclists to be on the road at the bridge when someone is coming, just wide enough I would say. It 249 does have a shoulder to it. 250 251 Nish Trivedi: Right now, State projects and Regional projects have been determined. Right now you can go to NCDOT 252 STIP process and see the results, both with a map as well as the spread sheet which shows you the projects across the 253 state that have gotten Statewide and Regional Funding and the draft of the Division. 254 255 Heidi Perry: So, when you said we did not make a recommendation for 54 it didn’t get points but that’s the same 54 you 256 are going to be reporting on in October or November? 257 258 Nish Trivedi: Yes. There are several NC 54 projects in the STIP. There is the Old Fayetteville Rd and 54 intersection 259 improvement, Carrboro doesn’t want that one. 260 261 Alex Castro: The development of the Lloyd Property. 262 263 Nish Trivedi: Another NC-54 project from Orange Grove Road to Old Fayetteville Rd, the Operation Improvement project 264 is already funded, so they are doing that project. The widening of that same portion of NC-54 was not recommended for 265 points so it did not get funded. They are also waiting for the corridor study to be done. It is the 3rd highest scoring 266 Regional Project in Division 7. Just letting you know the results of the Regional Project. If it received local points it would 267 have been done because NCDOT division did put points on it. 268 269 Heidi Perry: Whether we wanted it or not. 270 271 Nish Trivedi: If it was recommended as one of the top 2 Orange County priorities in TARPO and it had gotten the local 272 input points. Division 7 put the points on it because they thought it was a great project and the study was almost 273 complete. The study would have been completed before the draft STIP went out for review. We did not put points on it in 274 either MPO or RPO so it’s not getting done. There is the other NC 54 widening project from Orange Grove Road to NC-275 119 in Alamance County. BGMCO submitted this project to NCDOT. BGMPO, I believe put points on it but nobody else 276 did therefore it did not get funded, that I am aware of. I will show you the results when the draft STIP is released. The 277 only project that has as chance for funding is NC 86 north of Hillsborough from 70 to NC 57, widening and improving the 278 intersection. 279 Approved 11/28/18 280 Heidi Perry: Widening of lanes? 281 282 Nish Trivedi: Yes. The draft will be out in January or February 283 284 Alex Castro: With these roads flooding and everything NCDOT did have a site, DriveNC.org which indicated what 285 segments of what roads were closed. You could go county by county, so if you were going out you could tell if you 286 needed to find an alternate road because such n such a road was flooded. That looked like it was effective. 287 288 Ted Triebel: The Waze app is a GPS app– road closures and stuff like that. I think the flooding was happening faster 289 than the site could keep up with. In some areas it was still cresting and in other areas it was going down, so you had to 290 know what was happening 291 292 5b. OUTBoard Members whose terms are ending (Abigaile Pittman): 293 Abigaile Pittman: At the end of the month the Board will have six vacancies. Abigaile the terms ending are for Alex 294 Castro, Earl Smith, Ted Triebel, Gary Saunders, Jeff Charles and Justin Miller. A Public Service Announcement (PSA) 295 was sent out several weeks ago, and a second one went out earlier today. I have copies available should Board 296 members want one to pass on potential applicants. A number of applications had been submitted but that more were 297 needed 298 299 Tina Love: I will email the PSA to Board members. 300 301 Certificates of Appreciation to the two Board members present: Alex Castro and Ted Triebel; and the staff and the Board 302 thanked them for their years of service. 303 304 Ted Triebel: I want to thank Heidi Perry for chairing the Board and Alex Castro for his astute comments to the Board. 305 306 Alex Castro: I want to thank Abigaile for coming forward. I am also on the Aging Advisory Board and helping with work to 307 implement the Master Aging Plan. One of the problems we had was that we developed it as dreamers, if you will, and 308 we lacked the practitioners, the people to make it happen. It’s people like Abigaile and Stephanie Trueblood, a planner 309 from Hillsborough that populated the committees and what they do is make it more realistic in terms of what we can 310 aspire to in terms of improvement. I think that is what we do at the OUTBoard meetings; we try to add to the government 311 what we feel all communities would wish to see in terms of what is happening transportation-wise. It is good that we are 312 cross-populating getting people involved. One of the things that I consider as an outstanding accomplishment of the 313 OUTBoard is the bicycle safety effort, and the fact that the High School students were involved in producing the video 314 PSAs. I feel other noteworthy accomplishments were the fencing on the bridge over I-40 on Orange Grove Road; and 315 the Department on Aging’s AARP grant for the purchase of Semme seats. There is a great deal of bureaucracy with 316 NCDOT and the BOCC. It seems that there are many bureaucrat hurdles for such simple things as fencing on a bridge. 317 or signage for bus stops. We’ve got to fight the good fight and it will always be ongoing. 318 319 Heidi Perry: With the end of Alex Castro’s term the Board will need a new Vice-Chair. 320 321 Tina Love: Board Members can continue to attend meetings for up to one year or until someone is appointed to take 322 their place. 323 324 The meeting adjourned. 325 326 OUTBoard meeting was adjourned 327 ____________________________________ Heidi Perry, Chair