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Commissioner Halkiotis said that about four years ago the Board authorized Chair <br />Jacobs and him to meet with DOT officials. They brought up the case of a minority woman that <br />was driving in a snowstorm and she ran off the road an NC 57 and no one noticed because of a <br />large drop off and she died. There is a huge concrete pipe under the bridge and the car was <br />lodged in the water between the pipes. They told DOT about this and now Division Engineer <br />Mike Mills has authorized $55,000 for guardrails in this area. Commissioner Halkiatis asked <br />any citizen that sees any road conditions that are not protected by guardrails to let the Manager <br />or the Clerk's office know. DOT has been responsive to the County's requests. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he has received calls about a new church that opened <br />upon US 70 at the DurhamlOrange County line. This is a large church, and in this case on <br />Easter Sunday, there were a lot of cars going in and out of the parking lot. He would like <br />information about why the church was allowed to be built that way without any additional road <br />improvements. There are no turn lanes or stop lights. He said that he does not want anyone to <br />get hurt here. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked for additional information on the EPA issues that took <br />place yesterday. At this time Orange County is anon-compliant area for air quality. He said <br />that an the national news, he heard that Chatham and Johnston Counties are in the top 100 <br />fastest growing counties in the United States. He asked if the taxpayers in North Carolina or <br />Orange County are going to be subsidizing efforts to clean up the air that is a by-product of the <br />profit-driven development industry. He hopes that they can host aone-day symposium on <br />smart growth. He would like to discuss this at a work session. <br />Commissioner Carey asked about the new church and if it is in Orange County's <br />jurisdiction and it was answered yes. <br />Commissioner Carey said that when they learned that late last year that there were not <br />any loans issued through the small loan revolving fund, the County Commissioners asked that <br />there be a study on it. He asked if this was going to be reviewed in an upcoming work session. <br />Chair Jacobs said that Commissioner Brown and Economic Development Director Dianne Reid <br />have worked on this. <br />Dianne Reid said that the Small Business Loan board of directors met and they talked <br />about some alternatives and they will reconvene within the next couple of weeks. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she attended the last meeting of the design committee <br />for the third CHCCS high school which was on April 5th. The structure is for 800 students, <br />expandable to 1,200. Most of the details have been decided, but they are trying to find ways to <br />further reduce costs. Rod Visser has been taking notes at these meetings. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the Transportation Advisory Committee will consider <br />the approval of the Regional Priority List and there is one proposed change from Chapel Hill. <br />There are three projects that deal with the Homestead Raad area that they might roll them all <br />into one project. She discussed other items to be considered by the TAC. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that there was a Transportation Summit at CISCO far the <br />DCHC MPO and CAMPO. There were a lot of people that showed up to observe it. There was <br />a presentation of the Long Range Transportation Plan, the 2025 and 2030 for both Metropolitan <br />Planning Organizations. She highlighted that the DCHC had more money allocated to transit <br />and alternatives to roads than the CAMPO organization. There was an outstanding difference <br />in the two long-range plans. Also, the April 2005 air quality conformity issues were discussed. <br />There was a difference in the State recommendation and what the federal government will <br />probably do. <br />Another topic was the I-40 HOV lanes and there was a presentation on this from a <br />consultant. The consultant did support the HOV lanes for a portion of I-40. There was a <br />representative from DOT who said that Secretary Tippett did support something that would <br />reduce congestion in this area. <br />