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A motion was made by TAC Member _and seconded by TAC Member for the adoption of <br />the following resolution, and upon being put to a vote, was duly adopted. <br />WHEREAS, the Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) recommendations in May 2008 <br />included rail transit extending from Raleigh to Durham to Chapel Hill; and <br />WHEREAS, the Durham-Chapel-Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) <br />incorporated the STAC rail transit into the adopted 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan in <br />April 2009; and <br />WHEREAS, the North Carolina General Assembly approved the Congestion Relief/Intermodal <br />Transport bill in August 2009 that enables local areas to fund public transportation through an <br />increase in sales tax, car registration fees and special district property taxes; and <br />WHEREAS, the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) implemented the Triangle Regional Transit <br />Program in 2010 to study the financial, ridership, environmental and public input aspects of <br />regional bus and rail transit, and subsequently conducted a visioning process and Transitional <br />Analysis to study rail corridors in Durham, Orange, and Wake counties, and <br />WHEREAS, the TTA completed an Alternatives Analysis on the three highest-performing <br />corridors that included the Durham-Orange corridor in July 2011 and issued an Addendum to the <br />"Detailed Definition of Alternatives Technical Report" in August 2011 which clarified that <br />reasonable alternatives to the proposed alignments crossing the Little Creek and New Hope <br />Creek areas will be studied; and <br />WHEREAS, the TTA and the DCHC MPO have both conducted comprehensive public <br />involvement activities, which included public workshops, public hearings and presentations to <br />local elected boards, for the visioning process, Transitional Analysis and Alternatives Analysis; <br />and <br />WHEREAS, light rail transit technology has a greater potential to promote economic growth <br />and focus transit-supportive development around station areas as compared to bus rapid <br />transit technology; and <br />WHEREAS, alignment option A3 in the UNC station area is supported by the Town of Chapel <br />Hill, UNC at Chapel Hill, and UNC Hospitals and would allow for future extension of the <br />alignment to the west to possible destinations such as downtown Chapel Hill, downtown <br />Carrboro and the Carolina North Campus; and <br />