Minutes 12-08-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Craig Benedict went t~r.flugh Attachment C1, which shows Meadowmont with two different routes. Commissioner McKee m~de reference to the emails that the County Commissioners have received and asked Craig Benedict to point out the sensitive areas. Craig Benedict said th~t a lot of the emails that have been received were from the Meadowmont area, and they were concerned that the rail corridor through Meadowmont bisects uses on either side of the tracks =~senior care facilities on one side and health care facilities on another. Commissioner McKee asked about the environmentally sensitive areas. Craig Benedict pointed these out. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the discussions of cost-sharing. Chair Pelissier said that this has not been discussed yet. David King said that the difference in the cost between C1 and C2 is small and he would hope that both alternatives go fotward for more discussion and research. Commissioner McKee said that it was his understanding that Meadowmont was built with mass-transit in mind. Craig Benedict agreed. Commissioner McKee said that to walk away from C1 would be to walk away from an objective that seems to have been fairly clear in the developer's intent and planning and permitting process. Chair Pelissier said that the°major problem with C1 is that there is no park and ride. Frank Clifton said that firiangle Transit would prefer to keep both routes and move forward. - ' Commissioner Foushee suggested keeping both alternatives on the table in order to do due diligence. David King said that, in this case, he agreed with Commissioner Foushee to keep both on the table for the next stage of analysis. Commissioner McKee said that he would not have a problem keeping both alternatives on the table, if at the end point, both routes were more or less equal. Commissioner Gordon said that the County Commissioners have been given the letter from Mr. Wilson, and they need te note that they got this letter. Chair Pelissier said that th~e decision will be formalized at the December 13th meeting. Craig Benedict went thraugh Attachment D1a, which was Assumptions (revenue, costs, timing), and the information is incorporated by reference. David King reminded the Board that 50% of the total cost will come from the federal government and 25% from the state government. The total capital cost will be part of the sales tax revenue that is generated in ~range County. Commissioner Gordon made reference to pages 1-3 and said that the Gateway Station is really very expensive. She asked why this was. Craig Benedict said that if was because of the fly over that went above I-40. Craig Benedict went through Attachment D2a, page 24. He said that the biggest ridership number for light rail would be in the UNC area. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 87, Summary of Evaluation Results for LRT, BRT-High, and BRT-Low Alternatives. She asked Craig Benedict to describe the significant findings in this chart. ' Craig Benedict went thro~tgh this chart and noted that ridership was higher for the BRT options when compared with LRT.