Minutes 01-22-2019 Regular Meeting

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20 Commissioner Bedford said the report discussed cumulative revenue of$1.4 to $1.9 billion, and said she would subtract that from the $3.3 billion it will cost to build and finance the line. Patrick McDonough said this study is focused on the neighborhoods around the line, and the tax value in the report is for through the prism of property tax. He said the costs to build and operate the light rail are contained within the sales tax and the transit plans. He said these are separated so that if the BOCC elects not to develop around the light rail stations, there would still be costs for the light rail operation and maintenance. Commissioner Price said at the MPO meeting there were challenges from Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger, and Town Council Member Parker about the growth projections, and she asked if there is a plan to address these challenges. Patrick McDonough said GoTriangle offered to meet with the Chapel Hill Town Council, and that the numbers presented by Dwight Bassett to the Economic Sustainability Committee in December are quite close to those presented by GoTriangle. He said confusion may be coming in as people are looking at the market study versus the guidebook concept plans. Commissioner Price said this report is just one idea. Patrick McDonough said that is right. He said this report's subtitle could be "one possible future," and there are thousands of possible futures. He said the actual outcome be shaped by the private market's response to zoning, regulatory and public and investment decisions made by Chapel Hill Town Council. Commissioner Marcoplos referred to the 1360 acres, and asked if the involvement of UNC land could be clarified. Patrick McDonough said GoTriangle engaged UNC within the first few months of getting started, and tried to get at the question of if the University has private development on its land, is it taxable or not. He said this is a public policy debate, and they considered other university communities around the country. He said each of the station pages in the report includes a development summary. He referred to the one for Mason Farm Road, UNC hospital and UNC campus, all of which say no private development. He said the presumption is that development will not happen in these areas. He said in terms of other stations, like Gateway, there has been concerns raised that Eastowne (page 124) was included in the calculations, but they are not in the tax calculation. He said in the appendix, it does show up as being counted, and this was heavily debated, as ultimately this a negotiation between the Town of Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina. He said these discussions have been broached, and there are other communities where there are payments in lieu of taxes. He said this was a market oriented study, and it tried to capture what that would be so that one can understand the scale of the opportunity in terms of what would settle there, if the market allowed it. He said he recognizes that this may not be what public policy prefers, but it is one possible future. Commissioner McKee referred to the acreage, and said the first number is 7026 acres, which is the amount within the concentric circles in the station areas. He asked if this is correct. Patrick McDonough referred to the Gateway station, and said there is a red line around the station. He said a similar boundary is shown at every station. He said the sum of all of these red line areas is 7026 acres. Commissioner McKee said that 7026 total acreage is Durham and Orange Counties combined. Patrick McDonough said that is correct. Commissioner McKee said of that total, 1361 is the total acreage in Durham and Orange Counties that is developable or re-developable. He asked if that is correct. Patrick McDonough said it is both, and it depends on the status of the land as to whether it is developable or re-developable. He said the local planning departments would provide insight into these decisions.