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areas of Orange County and use their bikes for transportation. The Bicycle Plan Component Task Force created the Draft Bicycle Transportation Plan. The Task Force provided their input as to what the goals of this plan should be and also which cycling routes are the most important to the cyclists of Orange County. Staff was then directed to develop a plan with recommendations for implementing the goals and making improvements to the priority routes. The Task Force endorsed this draft plan at their June meeting. At the Planning Board's August 5, 1998 meeting the Board accepted the draft plan and sent it to the Commissioners with the following recommendations from the Bicycle Plan Component Task Force and modified by the Planning Board: 1) That a permanent and formal Bicycle Advisory Committee be formed; 2) Dedicate part-time (the task force recommended full-time) staff support for the Advisory Committee; 3) Update the 1974 Bikeways Act; and 4) That this task force remain together until after TIP project e-3606 is complete ($ 50,000 that the State has programmed for Orange County to develop a bicycle suitability map). QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: Chair Gordon clarified that the Board of Commissioners are simply being asked to review the plan, make recommendations and then make comments and/or suggestions to the Planning Board for a recommendation. She commented that the Orange County Commission For the Environment has stated that they are interested in this project and they have indicated they could undertake suggestion #1 and #2 which were listed in the agenda abstract. Those items are 1) that a permanent and formal Bicycle Advisory Committee be formed, and 2) that part-time staff be dedicated for the Advisory Committee. The Commission For the Environment could incorporate those tasks into its work. Commissioner Halkiotis asked clarification as to why the Commission for the Environment was interested in taking on this project. Chair Gordon stated that they are interested in this issue as part of their work on air quality and transportation. She also commented that the Bicycle Plan Component of this Task Force will end unless it is made a permanent committee. She felt that it was a philosophical point as to whether it was best for the Commission for the Environment to handle this or to have another Task Force remain in place. Commissioner Halkiotis stated that he was opposed to this suggestion. He feels that the Bicycle Plan Component Task Force should be allowed to continue their work since they have indicated a desire to do so. QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD: None. QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM CITIZENS: Mark Schulz, a member of the Orange County Bicycle Task Force as well as a commuter cyclist who bicycles to work, spoke in support of the Bicycle Transportation Plan Component of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment. He strongly supports this plan. He regularly commutes from his home in Hillsborough to his work at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has bicycled over 2500 miles for the last two years and most of those miles were commuting miles. He asked the Board of County Commissioners to give this proposed Plan their endorsement. He gave several recent examples of times he was run off the road by motorists passing him illegally. In both of those instances a combination of lack of courtesy and a lack of shoulders on the road caused him to be forced into the embankment. He asked that the Board approve the plan tonight rather than refer it to the Planning Board. The Bicycle Task Force completed this Plan in August, 1998 and he strongly requested that it Q:119990221d.c