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NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />supports restoration of funding to Project Homestart and pledges to petition federal elected officials to <br />assist the Inter-Faith Council in their restoration efforts. <br />This the 21St day of January 2443. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />b. Resolution In Suanart of Adeauate Bridae Lenath and Vertical Clearance for US 15- <br />501 Crossing of New Hope Creek <br />The Board considered a resolution in support of an Adequate Bridge Length and Vertical <br />Clearance for US 151541 Crossing of New Hope Creek. <br />Chair Brown said that this resalution was asking DOT to make the bridge wide and tall <br />enough to allow wildlife to proceed along the New Hope Creek floodplain corridor. This has been <br />adapted by the City of Durham and the Town of Chapel Hill. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to <br />approve and authorize the Chair to sign the resolution as stated below: <br />RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF ADEQUATE BRIDGE LENGTH AND VERTICAL CLEARANCE <br />FOR <br />US 151501 CROSSING OF NEW HOPE CREEK <br />WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) <br />in TIP Project U-4412 plans to expand US 151541 to six lanes between Mt. <br />Mariah Raad and Garrett Raad and such expansion will require removing and <br />rebuilding the bridge across New Hope Creek in this area; and <br />WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina Department of Transportation has <br />issued an Environmental Assessment dated July 7, 2442 in which the recommended bridge <br />alternative has a height of 8 feet, a length of 245 feet and a width of 122 feet; and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County has adopted the New Hope Creek Corridor Preservation Plan and <br />such plans anticipate the portion of the New Hope Creek corridor crossed by the bridge will provide <br />both recreation trail and wildlife corridor amenities: and <br />WHEREAS, the New Hope Creek Corridor is recognized as providing a <br />regionally significant wildlife corridor in the Piedmont by the State of North <br />Carolina's Natural Heritage Program; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT-recommended alternative combination of bridge length, <br />height and width provides a wildlife crossing that is less protective than <br />other bridges NCDOT has under construction in the New Hope Creek <br />watershed and provides less wildlife protection than that called far in the mast recent scientific <br />literature; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT-recommended alternative is less protective than that <br />recommended by the State of North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, <br />the City of Durham, Durham County, the Town of Chapel Hill, the New Hope Creek Corridor Advisory <br />Committee, the Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation <br />Advisory Committee and others {the Durham Open Space and Trails Commission and the New Hope <br />Audubon Society); and <br />