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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.16.23 OUTBoard Minutes 1 MINUTES 2 Orange County OUTBoard 3 Monday, October 16, 2023 4 Attendance Member: Position: Present: 1 Randy Marshall (Vice-Chair) Bingham Township No 2 Natalie Ziemba Cedar Grove Township Yes 3 Gregory WoIoszczuk Chapel Hill Township Yes 4 Roy Schonberg Chapel Hill Township No 5 Jamie Crandell Eno Township Yes 6 Erk Legg Cheeks Township Yes 7 Art Menius Little River Township Yes 8 Todd Jones At-Large Yes 9 Joshua Mayo At-Large No 10 Michael Hughes At-Large No 11 Sherry Appel At-Large Yes 12 Amy Cole At-Large Yes 13 Adam McGovern At-Large Yes 14 Nish Trivedi, Transportation Director Yes 15 Darlene Weaver Transportation Planning Manager Yes 16 Darlene Laws Office Assistant (Temp) Yes 17 Fred McAdoo Efland community member Yes Oliver Fowler Public Yes Todd Orr Public Yes 5 6 Agenda Item 1: Call to Order 7 Meeting started at 6:35 p.m. by vice-chair. A roll call was done. 8 9 Agenda Item 2: Consideration of Additions or Changes to Agenda. 10 Nish Trivedi added two items to the agenda: Orange County Transportation Systems Public Involvement 11 Plan and Transit Dashboards, both covered later in the agenda. 12 13 Amy Cole asked about sidewalk repair agreement with the County Commissioners. Nish stated County 14 approved it. NCDOT initiates the signing process. 15 16 Agenda Item 3: Public Comments 17 Oliver Fowler, Hillsborough resident, provided comments. He attends Hillsborough Town meetings but was 18 unable to attend any OUTBoard meetings. He expressed concern on the department and County websites, 19 bus signs, schedules, stop locations, and requested more info on Circulator#2 bus and route start dates. 20 He would like to see more user-friendly options and access to buses in neighborhoods. Both Art and Nish 21 informed the group that the website was updated a few months ago and we continue to make 22 improvements to it. County has also overhauled the entire website Countywide. 23 24 25 26 Nish explained all the improvements made to Hillsborough circulator: expanded services hours and 27 receiving new vehicles for the reverse circulator. The Circulator is funded through the transit tax and 28 remains fare free.We will improve our marketing. Beginning in November,we will be improving our Short 29 Range Plan. Nish will follow up on how the plan will be updated. 30 31 Todd Orr stated he applied for the vacant OUTBoard position and is looking forward to serving. 32 33 Agenda Item 4:Approval of Minutes—August 2023 34 Art requested Lines 244-245 be amended. Randy Marshall adjourned the meeting,and that future minutes 35 include titles and full names. Changes will be approved at the next meeting. Darlene Weaver stated 36 meetings are recorded and transcribed using Microsoft Teams, though not accurately. It does not always 37 provide clear words or who said them. Amy Cole recommended keeping them short and to the point. 38 39 Amy also requested clarification on what Chuck Edwards provided in October. How is OUTBoard going to 40 use the information? Darlene Weaver noted that it would be covered in the NCDOT Quarterly Luncheon 41 updates segment of the agenda. A follow-up with NCDOT will be done to ensure information consistency. 42 Nish reminded OUTBoard that the non-STIP is a bi-annual item covered by the OUTBoard,twice a year. 43 44 Amy asked if we could coordinate those OUTBoard updates by inviting Congresswoman Renee Price to 45 attend an OUTBoard meeting. Darlene Weaver stated she would reach out to Congresswoman Price to 46 extend an invitation to the meeting and that she had invited the School Board including School Board 47 member Bonnie Hauser. 48 49 OUTBoard requested updating line 110 to change the word ballers to the technical term ballards and 50 replace alternate with at large. 51 52 Agenda Item 5.a. Safe Routes to School 53 Approved in 2014. Changes occurred since then: October 2022, County adopted a Complete Street Policy 54 and Vision Zero, and approved a sidewalk maintenance agreement. County continued to grow. It will be 55 ten years old in 2024. Work will be in-house because plan already exists. Nish requested feedback from 56 OUTBoard on best professional practices for the update. It will go through a public process and completed 57 within a year. Comments on a Scope of Work welcomed and scheduled for your approval. 58 59 The School Board is conducting their own facilities assessment.The program is a federal program for non- 60 infrastructure improvements through the transportation authorization bill called Infrastructure 61 Investment and Jobs Act or Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Bill. Funding is limited to non-highway improvements 62 such as in education, and enforcement. 63 64 Amy recommended UNC's Graduate School program - City and Regional Planning for some of the work 65 and actively engage in communities that directly shape the Safer to School initiative. She stated a lot of 66 people will see that walking route to school is beneficial to them and recommended actually reach out 67 and going into these communities.She mentioned her previous efforts in the original plan,she went door- 68 to-door along Orange Grove Road, and people were very supportive of the committee having the 69 infrastructure in place so that students could safely walk to school. The area lacks the resources and she 70 wants people involved in building this plan, its help make this plan better when committee is involved. On 71 Orange Grove Road, there is a large mobile home park and an apartment community where children 72 attend Grady Brown Elementary and Cedar Ridge High School. 73 74 Nish asked: (1) are there certain communities to reach out to directly and (2) what about including all 75 County public schools in the process. OUTBoard supports involving schools and students in the planning 76 process. Amy stated there are neighborhoods adjacent to the schools where kids walk or ride their bikes 77 to school. 78 79 Sherry Appel recommended short, clear and concise presentation for any outreach event. This would 80 reduce presentations. Presentation must be clarify on we can and cannot accomplish through the plan, 81 covering financial constraints and other related topics. We must be organized, direct and factual before 82 going out to public and include all schools, PTAs,students,and School Board.She recommended Facebook, 83 Instagram,X, and TikTok and that it could be a thesis project for a high school or UNC graduate student. 84 85 Amy asked about OUTBoard's interacting with students and recommended a student liaisons on 86 OUTBoard. Previously, OUTBoard partnered with Cedar Ridge High School students to produce a video. 87 Collaboration might potentially result in TikTok videos of students participate in the planning process. 88 89 Natalie Ziemba talked about youth delegate on the Orange County Parks&Recreation Council which works 90 with the Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks, and Recreation. She added students submit an 91 application as a volunteer non-voting position. Natalie will supply staff the processes used by DEAPR.Staff 92 will follow up on potential position. 93 94 Art stated they worked with Todd McGee on a Facebook page for bike safety. Nish informed OUTBoard the 95 Department has a Facebook page but was inactive since 2021. Nish stated he would reach out to UNC for 96 possible assistance. Amy suggested reaching out to other departments such as Communications, Science, 97 and Business. Art recommended UNC-CH's Public Engagement Program. Nish stated that he would also 98 put together"meeting in the box". 99 100 OUTBoard questioned impact of transportation for nearby public and private schools like Orange Middle 101 School and Hillsborough Christian Academy. The traffic problem should be addressed as part of the 102 process. Nish stated that during the Lawrence Road development review, NCDOT no longer distinguishes 103 between public, charter, and private schools. Changes in state law make NCDOT and local government 104 financially responsible for infrastructure improvements associated with schools. 105 106 Amy recommended school faculty be included in the planning process,and messaging to parents may vary 107 due to the school and/or district. Some parents support walking to school, while others take them to 108 school. Daniel sated his daughter (former senior at Cedar Ridge High) designed a walkway along the 109 roadway for her senior project. Nish would prepare a Scope of Work for the November meeting. The 110 project will begin after OUTBoard approves the scope of work. 111 112 Agenda Item 5.b. Orange County Land Use Plan 2050 113 Nish stated Orange County has begun to update its comprehensive plan. The first public session will be 114 held on October 26th. He requested that all Board members join and engage in the process. Clarian is the 115 consultant running the project. The process will take two years to complete in spring of 2025. Nish 116 requested OUTBoard help spread the message (flyer) and participate in the planning process. 117 118 Amy asked if OUTBoard would provide public comments or review the plan. Nish said both are part of the 119 engagement, OUTBoard can participate collectively or as individual public residents. When the plan is 120 completed, staff will present it to OUTBoard for comments and possible endorsement depending on 121 Planning Department's requests, it is their project. 122 123 Agenda Item S.c. Orange County Transportation Service Public Involvement Plan 124 Nish pointed the department's PIP (Public Involvement Plan) and using it to engage the communities 125 through environmental justice practices. Reaching out and actively engaging the communities. Darlene 126 Weaver stated staff is looking for OUTBoard's feedback on the OCTS PIP. The Facebook page and other 127 social media sources are part of the PIP. Comments from the County's Communications Department and 128 others will be used to update the Department's PIP. 129 130 Nish thanked Darlene Weaver for drafting the department's first Public Involvement Plan. Darlene 131 explained how she drafted by researching various states and counties PIPs. The objective of the PIP is to 132 get the information out to the public and ensure public has access to the information. She explained how 133 to reach different age groups—seniors to youth—through different means. 134 135 Nish stated we used DCHC MPO PIP as the adopted one for a base. Hard copies are made available upon 136 request. Document includes a section on the SWG (Staff Working Group) because of department 137 responsibilities to them. It also includes Environmental Justice best practices like Communities of Concern 138 and actively going out to them rather than waiting for them to contact us. 139 140 Sherry inquired on surveys. The document includes surveys one is event or project specific, other 141 satisfactory based in coordination with the County's Strategic Plan. Darlene Weaver noted about paper 142 and internet surveys for convenience. Nish is looking into interactive online survey, like Mentimeter, for 143 immediate survey results.The County's Strategic Plan will monitor certain surveys every two years.They'll 144 be tracking it every two years, so we'll just be looking at improvements over two years. 145 146 Agenda Item 5.d.Transit Dashboard 147 Nish provided update on the Dashboard. He showed a link to a dashboard which showed the service 148 routes,vehicle locations, bus stops,and other data.This is a real-time, public map and data tracking. Users 149 are be able to track the whereabouts of their bus.This information is expected to be accessible within the 150 next month. If the OUTBoard has any suggestions for improvement, please submit them. It will be updated 151 with your feedback and published when compete. 152 153 Amy asked if track was proprietary or independent. If replaced, would we still have the tracking? Nish 154 stated we will update the software and tracking simultaneously if/when we change technology, like going 155 from Ecolane to Trapeze, which will also require a similar transition. The dashboard is our property and 156 will be part of the department's website. 157 158 Tracking does not monitor people, who or where individuals are picked up. Jamie Crandall expressed 159 concern regarding the passengers' privacy becoming public knowledge. Are there any legal matters that 160 the OUTBoard would need to address? Nish stated this has already been addressed as other agencies are 161 already doing this, like NextBus.Oliver thanked staff for the dashboard and statistics, and recommended 162 linking map to Google. Nish answered that we already work with IT department as they coordinate with 163 Google. 164 165 Agenda Item 6: Staff Updates and Reports 166 Nish stated County and CPRPO approved the NC54 Multimodal Corridor Study. He stated that our next 167 task is to request DCHC MPO (Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro) (Metropolitan Planning Organization) 168 approve it. The Board received a document including DOT project updates and statuses. He stated DCHC 169 MPO is conducting the 2055 Metropolitan Transportation Plan update. 170 Sherry asked about 1-40 widening. Nish noted that this is a design-built project and conducted piece by 171 piece as one project. The interchange at NC 86 is used as a staging area with a secondary staging areas 172 near Arthur Minnis Road and New Hope Churton Road.Their anticipated completion date is 2027. 173 174 Regarding Hillsborough Train station, Nish stated that when construction starts, project sponsors typically 175 have set time to finish construction and make available to public use.Town is working with NCDOTT.Amtrak, 176 and Norfolk Southern to get the train to stop in Hillsborough. We are working with the town for a possible 177 multimodal transportation hub in the same area. We submitted the regional transfer center as a rail and 178 transit project for SPOT 7. Nish discussed 1-0305, 185 widening is in the STIP but not committed, although 179 the interchange at NC 86 is part of the project. The County Managers authorized OCTS to do a bike/ped 180 plan for the County. We will work with MPO to get funding for the study. 181 182 The Churton Street widening and Orange Grove Road extension projects, both were approved as County 183 priorities. NCDOT hosted neighborhood and community involvement sessions.Alternatives were planned, 184 in collaboration with Hillsborough.The Town currently working with an engineering firm for a detail study 185 of the multimodal corridor. Once the town of Hillsborough finalizes the engineering design with Stantec, 186 NCDOT will implement the improvements. 187 188 When Collins Ridge was approved and finished in 2019, Orange Grove Road extension was a committed 189 project, which would have been a second entry for Collins Ridge. NCDOT held community meetings, four 190 designs were proposed,the Town of Hillsborough passed a no-build resolution, and it was removed from 191 the STIR As a town priority, it is being resubmitted for a SPOTS 7 rating. NCDOT will repeat public 192 participation, engineering, design, and construction when it is funded. Collins Ridge will continue 193 developing and this will help improve traffic in the area. 194 195 Oliver Fowler stated that he attended the Churton Street widening public involvement sessions.They are 196 including multimodal options and a shared bike lane. Danville,Virginia now has a gaming casino. Danville 197 is reached by Highway 86. If that is enlarged due to increased traffic on Hwy 86 and Churton Street is not 198 widened, more bottlenecking will occur. 199 200 Agenda Item 6.b.: NCDOT Quarterly Luncheon 201 Nish stated that he will provide the Board with full updates on the DOT Luncheon in November. The 202 following quarterly meeting will take place in January. He will return to the Board with further information. 203 204 Art stated that the next meeting will be held on November 20th. Nish stated elections are and the Annual 205 Report and Work Program would be in November. 206 207 The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.