Agenda - 02-27-2014 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I The provision and maintenance of sidewalks in the County's jurisdiction will be an issue for SRTS implementation. This issue was previously discussed by the BOCC on October 6, 2011 in the context of reviewing proposed subdivision development requirements. At that time the BOCC did not adopt an official sidewalk policy, but expressed the intent of revisiting the issue in the future. Orange County (as well as most, if not all, counties in North Carolina) does not maintain local streets or sidewalks. Public roadways are part of the State maintained system. The NC Department of Transportation ( NCDOT) does not build nor maintain sidewalks. In municipalities, streets and sidewalks are generally maintained by a municipal public works staffs or by homeowners associations. Several years ago Orange County entered into a sidewalk maintenance agreement for a portion of Homestead Road adjacent to the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The agreement is multi -party including NCDOT which allowed an encroachment agreement in its right -of -way. The Towns maintain the sidewalk. Minutes from the October 6, 2011 BOCC meeting are available at: http: / /server3.co.orange. nc. us :8088 /WebLink8 /0 /doc /23832/Page 1.aspx The Draft SRTS Action Plan is available at (a large file): http: / /www.co.orange.nc.us /planning /documents /UpdatedSRTSPlan- allchapterscombined.pdf Staff will provide any other information at the meeting, and the Boards can discuss issues related to this item as necessary. No Attachments b) Implementation of Downtown Hillsborough Access Study Improvements This is a multi -part project to improve pedestrian safety and access in downtown. Orange County has taken lead on constructing a sidewalk on the east side of South Churton adjacent to the Courthouse and introducing a crosswalk at Nash & Kollock Street. This project has cleared environmental review and still has a few remaining review steps. The project is jointly funded by NCDOT through local maintenance funds and Orange County. Due to a policy change at NCDOT that may involve making improvements to the east side of Churton, which was not originally part of the project scope, the Town is planning to proceed with improvements to the Bank of America Parking lot, which it leases, in August to improve the off - street parking situation and creating loading zones before further reducing on- street parking. This allows the project to move forward while the impacts of the policy change are designed. Work on Churton and King Streets can then be scheduled Feb -April 2015, with final details and clean -up work following in June - August. The schedule is still very dependent on identifying funding and scheduling coordination with NCDOT. A final round of public information is planned once the plans have been formally approved by NCDOT to help ensure the schedule is least disruptive to the downtown merchants.