Agenda - 05-01-2012 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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23 County. This will have far-reaching benefits obtainable within one to three years by bringing passenger rail services as well as connecting existing and planned bus services, to serve our entire county. Because we want to help you make the tax referendum work, we ask both the County Board and Town Board to communicate their mutual approval of this to each other as soon as possible, and subsequently to the public when promoting the upcoming tax referendum. We also plan to promote this on a grassroots level. Orange County and Davidson County are the only counties along North Carolina's current passenger rail line where the train does not stop. Davidson County may soon add a train station, leaving Orange County as the only county without access to one of the fastest growing train services in the Southeast. One of our local residents was recently heard saying, "It's like having a super-highway passing through our county with no exit in our county." We trust you will unite with your colleagues to continue your support for the Orange County Train Station as a joint venture between Orange County and the Town of Hillsborough, for the reasons listed on the following page. We thank both the Orange County Commissioners and the Hillsborough Town Board Members for all their continued support towards this train station effort. Let us know how together we can help encourage the passage of this referendum. Support for Passing the %-cent Transportation Tax — Benefits of Orange County Train Station in Hillsborough The train station in Orange County/Hillsborough benefits the citizens across the entire county to access the existing 6 passenger trains that travel through Orange County daily. Hillsborough is in the geographic center of Orange County making the planned train station accessible to all of our seven townships. A passenger train station in Orange County/Hillsborough, as a new transportation service, supports economic development and transit-oriented development. The train station can be achieved in 1-3 years. Relatively little needs to be done to open the train station (platform, modular station). Cost estimates for Phase 1: temporary train stop with covered permanent platform and modular station = $2 million. Phase 2: permanent train station = $5-6 million. Does not include road infrastructure, but does include sufficient parking for both Phases, on the land already purchased. A train station in Orange County supports tourism, one of the major economic drivers for our county. Our own train station located adjacent to existing bus routes will easily connect to UNC, its hospitals in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough (in 2015); the Orange County campus of Durham Technical Community College; and sporting, cultural events and festivals in Hillsborough, Carrboro, and Chapel Hill. These train-bus connections will serve residents, tourists, students, alumni, commuters, and area businesses. Our schools will be able to take students on trips without running their own buses or contracting bus services. Many school systems throughout North Carolina already take students by these trains to museums, historic sites, and cultural activities. In the future, connections to planned expanded bus services will enable access by train to education and jobs. This would provide opportunities for people who are currently underserved, including rural residents, students, and unemployed residents. An increase in ridership of the Orange County 420 buses and the Hillsborough Circulator buses. Both of these run in close proximity to the land already set aside for the train station. Expanded bus services will therefore include access to/from Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Mebane and rural Orange County from/to the train station. Potential significant cost savings to Orange County with a reduced need to transport people from Orange County to multiple locations for medical appointments throughout Durham. The 6 existing trains already stop in Durham. The land for the train station has been purchased and is waiting for infrastructure so the train can stop where it already passes by six times a day, with more trains planned in the next year.