Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Jacobs would like far staff to came back in the fall with a suggested plan far <br />the boardroom. He feels that presentations are based on mare than just screens. He said that <br />presentations are difficult far the staff to do in a way that is both visible to the Board and the public <br />simultaneously. He feels that this facility should meet both of those needs. He supports <br />Commissioner Cordon's suggestion, but feels that the staff could come back with a plan after the <br />budget cycle. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she would like for staff to come up with a plan for <br />proceeding within a month. She said that the short-term plan could be implemented during the <br />summer. <br />John Link reiterated that the staff would ask for advice from the architect and come back <br />with a plan with steps for the County Commissioners to consider sometime before the end of June. <br />Commissioner Brown mentioned that the Cable Advisory Board might be able to address <br />some of these issues. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would like to extend this recommendation to the F. <br />Gordon Battle courtroom also. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if the plans are available for the new Orange County high <br />school. Jahn Link said that he would be meeting with the Orange County superintendent next <br />Tuesday and will ask him to provide a set of plans. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he and Commissioner Brawn met with the Planning <br />Director several weeks ago to talk about a hypothetical open space development. He said that <br />they were going to meet with him again soon to discuss how to deal with the planning process with <br />the public and work on a timetable for the comprehensive plan update. Also, he wondered if <br />Commissioner Gordon could update the County Commissioners an what happened at the <br />Transportation Advisory Council (TAC} with the I-40 widening issue. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that when the Transportation Improvement Plan {TIP) is <br />developed, at some point, the Chair, Vice-Chair and another member of the TAC will meet with <br />officials from the Department of Transportation {DOT} to try to reconcile the state transportation <br />improvement program and the regional priorities for transportation. She said that this meeting was <br />held and there was a surprise in that the DOT had already done the planning for widening of I-4Q <br />from six lanes to eight lanes near the Wake County line at a cost of about eight million dollars. <br />There is a current TIP that the DOT wanted updated and modified to add this widening. There is a <br />high occupancy vehicle (HOV} lane study going on that is supposed to be finished in about a year. <br />In order to put in high occupancy vehicle {HOV} lanes they would need to add lanes to bridges <br />because there is not enough roam for eight lanes and also HOV lanes. One of the reasons that <br />DOT wants this at this moment is because I-540 will be finished and it might cause a problem. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that there was no assurance that DOT is going to be recommending <br />HOV lanes. She said that the Triangle Transit Authority has just voted to add a significant number <br />of new buses to provide increased bus service including I-40. <br />Chair Carey asked if there was anything that the Board could do to make sure that the TAC <br />does not modify the current plan to add the additional lanes before the HOV study is completed. <br />Commissioner Gordon suggested writing a letter indicating the Caunty Commissioners' <br />support for HOV lanes. The Board agreed that Chair Carey would write a letter indicating support <br />far HOV lanes. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) is working on their <br />budget. The concentration is an phase one which is a rail route going between paints in Wake <br />County and points in Durham County. The airport and Orange County are in phase two. The <br />question remains in the planning for Orange County of where to expand TTA services. She <br />suggested that the Board ask TTA to consider a new position for another planner to prepare for <br />transit with specific land use planners in the various counties. <br />Commissioner Jacobs supported this idea. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to a meeting hosted by Triangle J on looking at <br />building design. He made reference to a letter from Triangle J sent to Pam Jones. A similar letter <br />was sent to school systems and government bodies in the Triangle J region. He said that Wake <br />County government and the Wake County school system are rewriting their guidelines to <br />