Agenda - 09-05-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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17 1 Commissioner Price said she agreed with Commissioner McKee. She said not all of the 2 residents of Mebane and Efland want to go to Duke. Many of them want to get to Hillsborough 3 and points within Orange County. She asked about the consultants and what is being spent on 4 them. She pointed out that these are for the light rail, and if there is no guarantee on getting 5 funding, why would the consultants be needed. 6 David King said the plan for Durham and Orange County includes a light rail system and 7 2.8 miles of that are in Orange County. He said there has been effort to come up with a way to 8 allocate the cost. He said that in order to compete for federal funds, planning work must be 9 done to determine how things will fare before entering the long process. He said the indication 10 is that this project will fare well. He said this light rail looks more productive in all directions 11 than other systems. He said that moving forward involves the planning and consultants. He 12 again invited the Board to attend the meeting being held tomorrow. 13 John Tallmadge said the route from Mebane to Hillsborough to Durham is not the only 14 service in Northern Orange County. He said that part of the reason for the planning process is 15 to provide connections within the county and to connect the two counties. 16 Commissioner porosin said the budget form does not have enough information, as 17 related to transparency. He said administrative costs should be spelled out in the budget, as 18 well as the personnel line item. He said this line item, as well as the consultant line item, should 19 be itemized out to detail who and what it covers. He said the consultant line item is large and 20 there should be a breakdown of who these consultants are. 21 Commissioner Gordon asked for insight and refinement on how the $30-60 million in 22 costs will be rolled out in the next couple of years. She asked for the costs of the 4 month and 23 the 24 month process and what is done at the end of the process. 24 David King said by the end of this year TT hopes to have a draft environmental impact 25 statement. He hopes to look at the distance between the draft statement and the record of 26 decision and see a 20 month period. He said this will leave a 4 month cushion, versus a 24 27 month time clock. He said the cost to get to the draft environmental impact statement is $5.8 28 million, and this will take it to the end of the year. He said, to finish from that point, is estimated 29 to cost no more than $30 million. He said that among the things to be done are: making a 30 decision on where to have terminal station at UNC; how to negotiate Meadowmont; how to 31 cross New Hope Creek; and how to pass by the west side of Erwin Road. He said TT then has 32 to work with N.C. Railroad Corridor. He said these are some of the things that the consultants 33 will be doing, and he said any other budget feedback is welcomed. 34 Commissioner Gordon said $6 million seems like a lot of money compared with the 35 costs for the bus system, and she asked for an explanation of why there is a $6 million spread 36 in the estimate. 37 David King said there are a lot of uncertainties, such as the New Hope Creek area. He 38 said there is an alignment that was committed to, but TT also committed to looking at an 39 alignment close to 15-501. He said if this happens to be a clean and quick decision on the part 40 of all parties involved then the cost will fall in the low range. If not, then it will fall in the higher 41 range. He said there is too much uncertainty around this issue. He said there is similar 42 uncertainly with the Meadowmont versus 54 east. 43 Commissioner Gordon said she feels it is important to continue to provide these 44 explanations. 45 Commissioner Rich said she assumes that the timeline goal is early 2014 for 46 implementation of bus capital projects. 47 John Tallmadge said that will depend upon the consensus of what is being done. He 48 said that TT does anticipate increasing Southpoint service and frequency of service to UNC 49 prior to the start of the fall semester.