Agenda - 10-06-2011 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Several years ago Orange County entered into a sidewalk maintenance agreement for a portion of Homestead Road adjacent to the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The sidewalk is in the County's jurisdiction at this time but inevitably would be annexed since it is part of adjacent ETJs. The agreement is multi-party including NCDOT which allowed an encroachment agreement in its right-of-way. The Town maintains the sidewalk. Decisions to be Made In order to proceed with the design guidelines -for the Efland core area, staff needs direction from the BOCC on the sidewalk issue. Design guidelines for areas with a pedestrian network are quite different from areas without sidewalks. Additionally, preliminary research shows there could be particular challenges in the Efland area because public (NCDOT) right-of-way is much narrower in some areas than the current standard of 60-feet (or more, depending on roadway type), and in some cases parcels actually extend to the centerlines of streets and the public road is located-within an easement. Questions staff has include: 1. Does the BOCC want to proceed with the County "getting into the sidewalk business" at this time? 2. If so, is staff authorized to begin development of a sidewalk program for certain areas of the County (i.e., the Efland-Buckhorn-Mebane corridor to start). Does the BOCC have direction on any of the funding and maintenance issues discussed above, particularly the issue of providing sidewalks in an area that is already partially developed (the Efland core area)? (Note: a sidewalk program is likely to result in amendments to development regulations). Options for providing sidewalks include: a. Orange County or developer (for new construction) pays for and builds the sidewalks and either Orange County contracts with a city for maintenance or a Property Owners Association (setting up a POA would be a requirement for new construction) is responsible for maintaining the sidewalk. County general funds would be used under this option. Note that NCDOT would require a maintenance agreement with the County and NCDOT is willing to enter into third party agreements with the County as a "back-up" signatory for maintenance. b. Orange County creates a special assessment district for sidewalk. Property owners within the district would be required to pay into the special district and a fund would be created for sidewalk construction and maintenance. Orange County would be responsible for maintenance, likely through contracting with another city for maintenance tasks. c. Other options as the BOCC decides. 3. If not, should staff proceed- with the Efland core area design requirements/guidelines? The requirements/guidelines will be more minimal than what the Small Area Plan recommended because of the differences in urban form a sidewalk network brings to an area.