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Alternative Modes of Transportation Including Transit The Orange County Board of Commissioners is pleased that the plan includes alternative transportation modes including intensive transit improvements to provide an integrated transit system throughout the urban area. V. Non Traditional Revenue Sources Although highway projects have, historically, been given higher funding priority than transit projects, the Orange County Board of Commissioners believes that should not be the case in the future. The Baard therefore recommends that the sentence in the first paragraph of Section 1.3 - Non Traditional Revenue Sources, indicating that the plan's funding shortfall occurs in the bus transit and fixed guideway projects, be deleted. Although the Board acknowledges the need for additional revenue sources. the Board recommends that the recommended non traditional revenue sources be further analyzed and discussed by local governments before they are adopted. VOTE: UNANIMOUS d. Resolution Submitting Comments to NCDOT and DCHC TAC Regarding the Draft 2004- 2010State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) The Board considered resolutions providing comments on the draft 2004-2010 state transportation improvement program (STIP) to NCDOT and to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee. Planner Karen Lincoln said that there are two resolutions concerning the draft Transportation Improvement Program. The first is to send comments to NCDOT for all of the projects within the draft 2004-2010 TIP for projects within Orange County. The second resolution is to the Durham-Chapel Hill- Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee with comments regarding projects within the Metropolitan Planning Boundary. The Board referred this item last week to the Transportation Task Force to review the comments. The language has been incorporated. Commissioner Gordon pointed out some typographical errors, which were noted by Karen Lincoln. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiatis, seconded by Commissioner Gordan to approve and authorize the Chair to sign resolutions to submit comments to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (for Orange County projects}, and to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee (for projects within the DCHC Metropolitan Planning Area}. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 10 and the NC 86 bicycle lanes. He said that the Orange Grove Road Transportation Work Group was looking at the bicycle plan and they discussed revisiting it. It is built on the premise that this is a commuting plan. The observation of the work group, the staff, and Hillsborough elected officials is that we have more recreational bicycling than we do commuting bicycling. There has been some interest in reconstituting this group to look at the bicycle plan. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Hillsborough Western Bypass. He said that this is encouraging a new road through a protected watershed. This is item `e' on page 11. He would like to discuss this issue at some time. Also, on page 13, item b-2, "Landscaping of Interchanges," there is a statement that, "Orange County requests that NCDOT landscape all reconstructed interchanges in an aesthetic manner." He has read that the plantings that NCDOT intend to use attract birds and butterflies, right into the path of traffic. It is more damaging to wildlife to plant these things than it is to have other kinds of plantings. He would like to refer this to the Commission for the Environment or some other appropriate group for some research. Commissioner Gordon suggested deleting the part about the Hillsborough Western Bypass.