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18 <br /> 1 Danny Rogers said there are reasons to be optimistic, but there may be other surprises <br /> 2 coming down the pike. <br /> 3 Chair McKee asked if GoTriangle would be open to an independent analysis of the <br /> 4 engineering and financial plan. <br /> 5 Jeff Mann said the FTA conducts an independent analysis of the financial plan <br /> 6 throughout the process. <br /> 7 Chair McKee asked if GoTriangle is open to Orange County having a consultant, at the <br /> 8 County's expense, review the financial plan before moving forward. <br /> 9 Jeff Mann said yes, but there may not be time before December. <br /> 10 Saundra Freeman, GoTriangle Chief Financial Officer, said three consultants have <br /> 11 already reviewed the financial plan, and what Chair McKee is proposing will take several <br /> 12 months to complete. <br /> 13 Chair McKee asked if GoTriangle is willing to give Orange County additional time to <br /> 14 conduct an independent financial analysis. <br /> 15 Saundra Freeman said yes, an independent analysis would be fine, but the timing is <br /> 16 tricky. <br /> 17 Jeff Mann said there is a hard deadline, of the end of 2016, to submit a financial plan, <br /> 18 with a request to enter engineering. He said the plan must be submitted by the end of <br /> 19 December, and there is insufficient time to complete an analysis before then, but one could be <br /> 20 done at some time. <br /> 21 Chair McKee said he felt that he is being backed into a box, and the timeframe is so <br /> 22 short. He said the level of detail is so great, and the implications for the taxpayers of Orange <br /> 23 County are so critical. <br /> 24 Saundra Freeman said GoTriangle is convening a financial consortium, which will <br /> 25 include the appropriate financial staff from Orange County, to walk through the model. She <br /> 26 said a great deal of detail will be provided through that process. <br /> 27 <br /> 28 b) Extension to North Carolina Central University(background) <br /> 29 <br /> 30 Danny Rogers reviewed the following background, and made the following PowerPoint <br /> 31 presentation: <br /> 32 <br /> 33 In February 2016, GoTriangle received a Combined Final Environmental Impact Statement <br /> 34 (FEIS)/Record of Decision (ROD)for the Durham-Orange Light Rail <br /> 35 Transit (D-O LRT) project from UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill to Alston Avenue in <br /> 36 Durham. In response to comments received during that process, GoTriangle started <br /> 37 to evaluate the option to extend the project south on Alston Avenue to a station near North <br /> 38 Carolina Central University (NCCU). Preliminary engineering and ridership <br /> 39 forecasts found the station to be feasible and capable of generating high ridership. <br /> 40 GoTriangle is currently studying the natural environment and community impacts, as <br /> 41 well as addressing state, federal, and local funding constraints. <br /> 42 <br /> 43 Recent guidance from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) indicates that the DO LRT <br /> 44 project must enter the News Starts Engineering phase by February 2017. In order to meet this <br /> 45 milestone, allow the NCCU station to advance into the next phase along with the other parts of <br /> 46 the project, and ensure that the entire new alignment qualifies for the 50% Federal match, the <br /> 47 Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan <br /> 48 <br />