HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 09-15-20; 12-2 - Information Item - Memorandum Regarding Orange County Transit Plan – Transit SummitPLANNING & INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT
Craig N. Benedict, AICP, Director
Comprehensive Planning
(919) 245-2575
(919) 644-3002 (FAX)
www.orangecountync.gov
131 W. Margaret Lane
Suite 201
P. O. Box 8181
Hillsborough, NC 27278
MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of County Commissioners
FROM: Tom Ten Eyck, Transportation/Land Use Planner
CC: Craig Benedict, Orange County Planning Director
Tom Altieri, Comprehensive Planning Supervisor
DATE: August 27, 2020
SUBJECT: Orange County Transit Plan – Transit Summit #1
This memo is an announcement that Orange County Planning, with the help of the consulting
group, Renaissance Planning, Inc., will be hosting an on-line Transit Summit on Thursday,
October 1st, 2020 from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM. This is one of the key public outreach activities
to engage various stakeholder groups as well as the public at large with the 2020 Transit
Plan Update, and participation information is available on the project website
(www.octransit2020.com) as well as the County website.
In January 2020, Orange County Planning Staff began work with Renaissance in defining the
scope and deliverables of the consulting work. Over the past several months, planning staff
and the consulting team have met to discuss key project deliverables, the creation of a project
website and the public participation plans; the team has also hosted meetings for the Policy
Steering Committee—a multi-jurisdictional stakeholder group that informs the goals of the
overall plan update—as well as for the multi-agency staff work group from within the region.
With COVID-19 at the forefront of County operations, safety considerations have led the
discussion since meetings began in late February, and the first Transit Summit will be held
using the Zoom platform.
In preparation for the first Transit Summit, planning staff and the consulting team are creating
and administering a survey to residents of Orange County to receive feedback on what type
of services are most desirable to County Residents. The consulting team brings with them
expertise in reaching out to diverse stakeholder groups to ensure that minority and
historically-marginalized groups within the community are included in the survey and
planning process, and multi-lingual phone lines are being established to receive survey
feedback as well as to gather comments throughout the entire update. The team is also
working with various County departments, including Transportation Services and Community
Relations, to be able to do onboard advertising and survey drops in order to reach out to as
many different public and stakeholder groups as possible before the first Transit Summit.
Advertising will take place on the Orange County website and Orange County social media,
and municipal colleagues have been invited to promote on their media channels. Anyone
who is interested in the update process is directed to the project website, which includes an
FAQ page, a project history page with ongoing updates, a section for how to get involved,
and a signup to receive emails reminders for key events.
The entire update is an iterative process that will be revised and informed by meetings and
feedback from county residents; findings from the first Transit Summit will help inform the
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Regional Connections Opportunity Report, the Transit Choices Brochure, the project website
as well as the focus for the second Transit Summit, which is scheduled to take place in early
January 2021. All of this will, ultimately, inform the final plan.
If you have any questions regarding the information contained herein, please contact Craig
Benedict at 919-245-2592 (email: cbenedict@orangecountync.gov), Tom Ten Eyck at
919.245.2567 (email: tteneyck@orangecountync.gov) or Tom Altieri at 919.245.2579 (email:
taltieri@orangecountync.gov).
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