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

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10 1 Cost estimates range from $2.0 to $6.0 million for a station. Just the cost of the 2 platform (approximately 400 feet) and locating a small 500 square foot modular building on site 3 are approximately $1.0 million. This does not include the cost of road access and various 4 utilities. To help fund the costs associated with a station and minimize impact of the operating 5 budget, the Town is considering putting out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to developers to 6 consider offers to purchase and develop a portion of the property. If this strategy is 7 implemented, it would be done at an appropriate time in the future. Ideally, this would help pay 8 for any expenses the Town might incur in bringing a train station to Hillsborough and Orange 9 County, allow for a more coordinated effort in developing a transit-oriented development, and 10 possibly assist in funding a relocation of the HYAA ball fields, if necessary. 11 12 Craig Newton, a Facilities Engineer with NCDOT, will be present at the meeting to share 13 additional information and respond to any questions. 14 15 Staff will provide any other information at the meeting, and the Boards can discuss 16 issues related to this item as necessary. 17 18 Attachment 4-d—Hillsborough Train Station Sketch Site Plan 19 20 Hillsborough Town Manager Eric Peterson said that they have the property but have 21 been unsuccessful in getting the funding for the station. Things are looking very positive. One 22 of the benefits is the opportunity to do a transit-oriented development. 23 Craig Newton, Facilities Engineer with NCDOT, said that he has worked for NCDOT rail 24 division since 2000 and he has worked on train stations during this time. He said that he has 25 worked with the Town of Hillsborough for a while now and he has seen a huge untapped market 26 for trains coming through Orange County. He said that NCDOT is hoping to be a financial 27 partner in this project. The environmental study needs to be completed and that will put 28 NCDOT in a better position to receive state and federal grants. He has looked at separating 29 the track project from the station project because they do not depend on one another. The train 30 station would be about a $7-8 million project. The typical funding split for most of the station 31 projects has been 80% federal, 10% state, and 10% local. He said that it would be difficult to 32 do a project of this size without a federal funding partner. 33 Commissioner McKee asked if the track upgrades would accommodate commuter rail 34 as well as the Amtrak. Craig Newton said that there is a separate effort to look at capacity 35 analysis to see how this would work. He did not know the answer. 36 37 e) Possible Marketing Opportunities for Waterstone and Surrounding Economic 38 Development District(EDD) Properties 39 40 Orange County Economic Development staff has had several meetings with 41 Waterstone's Texas-based developer and North Carolina representative in Raleigh, Jim Ciao of 42 Stratford Land, to include a recent meeting on February 11, 2012. Staff maintains contact with 43 the development group to assess the owner's current strategy to market Waterstone's currently 44 available site inventory. Separately, staff has also met with various other developers and 45 realtors who have previously expressed interest in adjacent land tracts, such as along Interstate 46 40 and Old NC 86, that offer business recruitment potential. 47 48 The Economic Development office has also prepared targeted marketing brochures for 49 Waterstone and the other developable properties in the Hillsborough Economic Development