Agenda - 03-21-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

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10 1 the stretch from Occaneechee Mountain back to the 7 Mile Creek Preserve. He said the goal is 2 to extend the existing trail from where it stops with the River Walk to the 7 Mile Creek Preserve. 3 He said this meeting will be held at the Whitted Building at 7:00 p.m. 4 Mayor Stevens recognized Orange County for their contribution to River Park with the 5 signage, etc. 6 Commissioner Jacobs said there is a public information open house about hydrilla on 7 March 1st, at the Cedar Grove Community Center. 8 Commissioner Marcoplos said when he travels on the cut through from Orange Grove 9 Road to Weaver Street, there is a narrow railroad underpass which is limiting. He said if this 10 were changed, more traffic could use this route instead of Churton Street. 11 Margaret Hauth said the right of way through the underpass is owned by the Carolina 12 Railroad Company. She said some work was done recently to reinforce that trestle. She said 13 one of their engineers will be in town tomorrow to look at the two trestles located there. 14 Commissioner Weaver said the residents on that road want the traffic to go slowly. 15 Commissioner Jacobs asked if there is a status update on the Hillsborough Youth 16 Athletic Association (HYAA) ball fields. 17 Margaret Hauth said HYAA is welcome to use the fields until the train station is built. 18 Commissioner McKee asked if the Town has any interest in helping to develop new 19 fields. 20 Mayor Stevens said the Town can offer process help, but not monetary help. He said 21 the Town purchased that land in order to land bank it for a potential rail station, but also so the 22 Town could have some control over this land going forward. 23 Commissioner McKee asked if there is room on that property to shift the fields over, or 24 to ask the Collins Ridge developer to donate some property. 25 Margaret Hauth said there is room on the Town's 20 acres to relocate the fields, but the 26 topography may not be accommodating, and it may interfere with the goal for economic 27 development in the area. 28 David Stancil said DEAPR met with Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association leadership, 29 and property options are being considered. He said a partnership with the Town would be 30 welcomed. 31 32 3) Transit/Transportation 33 a) Managing transportation/traffic impacts of new growth (Transportation Improvement 34 Plan 35 Churton Street/Orange Grove Road update**; Rail Station update**; circulator route 36 update**; Go Triangle bus routes*; interstate improvements and `by-pass' strategies*, 37 Mayo-Eno Mountain project*; other traffic mitigation projects*) 38 39 NCDOT has Kimley Horn under contract to design this project. Some preliminary meetings 40 were held last year. The alignment of the road has not yet been determines. The best crossing 41 type and location for the railroad is being evaluated. Once that is determined, the remainder of 42 the project will be more certain. The project reschedule is unchanged in the draft Transportation 43 Improvement Plan (TIP) with Right of Way scheduled in 2020 and construction in 2023. 44 45 The rail station remains a committed funded project. There are some studies and computer 46 modelling requested by Norfolk Southern and the NC railroad whenever a new passenger 47 station is proposed to determine the potential impacts on freight. The timing and necessity of 48 these studies has not yet been settled among all the parties. 49