Agenda - 05-08-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 Chair Jacobs said he thought the planning group in the early 2000's for the Hillsborough 2 Economic Development Districts also did roads across from Hampton Pointe to get Highway 10 3 to align better with 86. He asked if this was part of the plan. 4 Craig Benedict said that is part of the plan, but this access management plan will take it 5 to a higher level. He said that was the early study work, and there was a line drawn with an 6 idea of that road continuing; but when development did not happen on that side, DOT put a light 7 at Old NC 10. He said this is still not the best location. He said this access management plan 8 is the type of plan needed to clearly ask a developer to move forward. 9 Chair Jacobs referred to the Orange Grove Road access management plan and the 10 development that straddles Eno Mountain Road. He thought the agreement was to line up 11 Mayo Street and Eno Mountain Road. He asked if this is going to happen. 12 Craig Benedict said there was a courtesy review of this, and comments were sent to 13 DOT. He said staff is looking for a reservation to the northern side of this, meaning Eno 14 Mountain would move a little. He said there have been no decisions made regarding who will 15 build it. 16 Margaret Hauth said there is no feasibility study from DOT, so no one knows where the 17 alignment will be at this point. She said there is not enough information about where a road 18 might go to require a reservation. 19 Chair Jacobs asked if there would ever be a reservation if development moves ahead. 20 Margaret Hauth said if it gets designed, it will have to move around any development 21 that is built in its way. She said the town was inconsistent in its support for the alignment in 22 years past, but it is back on the list now. 23 Craig Benedict said there may need to be action to jumpstart DOT's feasibility plan. He 24 said DOT wants more specifics to see that this is achievable and to see what the impacts will 25 be. He said a line on a map used to be better than nothing, but it is not that easy now. 26 Mayor Stevens said he felt that this was a catch-22. He said there was enough 27 information, and it was a small enough project to interest a developer; but there was not a lot 28 that could be done, given the DOT road. 29 Margaret Hauth said with so many roads controlled by the state and funding the way it 30 is, it behooves a municipality to go ahead and spend local funding to do the analysis in order to 31 move a project forward. 32 Commissioner Price said the previous transportation administration had agreed to work 33 on the alignment on Churton Street. 34 Chair Jacobs said this could be brought up at their DOT quarterly meeting, and the 35 Board could ask about a possible feasibility study being done for this area. 36 37 d) Widening of Interstate 85, Especially Bridges 38 Mayor Stevens said the area around 1-85 is very critical to Hillsborough's economic 39 development. 40 Eric Hallman said two years ago there was a discussion about how Hillsborough and the 41 County had not prioritized this area for development. He said they are paying the price now for 42 projects being pushed out. He requested that, as the prioritization process for the 43 transportation improvement plan moves forward, everyone do what they can to encourage this 44 project. 45 Commissioner McKee asked how this project is ranked with DOT. 46 Craig Benedict said the 1-85 widening was put out between two different TIP programs. 47 He said it makes it more problematic that it was half in the end of one 10 year period and then 48 in the start of another 10 year period. He said it was pushed back last year due to the amount 49 of money that was available. He said this is about weighing priorities, and he thinks that after 50 this first strategic transportation initiative funding formula, maybe staff can figure out how to