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16 <br /> elapsed since the adopted alignment was initially selected, and (b) <br /> redevelopment along the US15-501 corridor within Chapel Hill has become a <br /> higher priority for the Town. Orange County agrees with this assessment that <br /> economic development within Orange County has been greatly accented in <br /> recent years (after 2035 LRTP decisions were made) because sales tax <br /> distribution is based more on point of sale versus population based. Therefore <br /> the revenue sharing for other sales tax receipts as well as a potential Y2 cent <br /> mobility sales tax has new relevance and revenue based on location. Since <br /> revenue sources for regional mobility are county based and initiated, the return <br /> on mass transit investment needs to be linked to economic development tax <br /> base return within the same county. <br /> This is an opinion and not a question. We note that recent statements from <br /> elected officials indicate that the municipalities of Chapel Hill and Durham seem <br /> to be of a different opinion. <br /> 4. Investments have been made along the NC 54 corridor in anticipation of fixed <br /> route service. BRT can service that same investment and match investment with <br /> the land use density that is proposed or exists in the corridor. Is greater than 25 <br /> dwelling units per acre proposed to support LRT in Hwy 54? BRT high has also <br /> shown to positively affect land use patterns. <br /> This question contains the unsupported assertion that Bus Rapid Transit can <br /> generate the same type of land use impacts as Light Rail in the United States. <br /> While Bus Rapid Transit has had success affecting land use patterns in the <br /> developing world, particularly in countries where as few as 1 in 7 people own a <br /> car and there are far weaker private property rights, that success has not been <br /> replicated in the United States. <br /> The city with perhaps the longest-existing BRT network in the United States is <br /> Pittsburgh with its system of busways. Between 1981 and 2004, a period of 23 <br /> years, Pittsburgh saw approximately $663 million (in $2011 dollars) in private <br /> development along its 9.1-mile East Busway. Charlotte's 9.6-mile Blue Line light <br /> rail, which began construction in 2005, has already seen $1.45 billion (also in <br /> $2011 dollars) in new or planned development (predicted to be open by 2013) <br /> adjacent to its stations. <br /> Comparing these two transit projects, the Pittsburgh East Busway BRT has <br /> helped generate approximately $29 million per year in development while Light <br /> Rail has helped generate approximately $181 million per year in development. <br /> Page 8 of 13 <br />