Agenda 04-02-2019 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 1 There has since been communications with their CEO about the timing issue, and there may be 2 some flexibility with that. The attorneys are working on the negotiation of those remaining 3 terms. There are 2 agreements: a lease agreement with NCRR, and a project agreement with 4 NCRR, Norfolk-Southern RR, and GoTriangle. 5 6 John Talmadge said there is a path to resolving the remaining issues on a timeline that 7 works for submitting the FTA grant application. 8 John Talmadge said the FTA application is a process, and it is the last step in the 9 process. He said GoTriangle has been providing materials to the FTA for many months, and 10 once the FTA agrees that the agency is ready, GoTriangle will send a letter requesting to apply 11 for the full funding grant, and the terms of the grant are negotiated. 12 John Talmadge said another step, in being ready to apply for the FTA grant, is the 13 environmental documentation. He said GoTriangle released a supplemental environmental 14 assessment draft in October, and had public comments on it. He said this document contained 15 a plan for downtown that required the closing of Blackwell Street, and a signature civic space 16 span across the railroad there. He said in December, because of communication from the 17 railroads that the shared crossing in the plan was not acceptable, as well as feedback from 18 downtown stakeholders regarding the closing of Blackwell Street closing, and an 19 encouragement from the FTA to deal with the RR objections, GoTriangle created an alternative 20 design that includes underpasses, the tunnel section in the middle, and a bridge on the east 21 end of that stretch. 22 John Talmadge said GoTriangle is waiting on final direction from the FTA about the 23 environmental review requirements, but is anticipating a revised supplemental environmental 24 assessment. He said this would be a document including the updated downtown changes, and 25 technical corrections to the October supplemental environmental assessment; followed by a 30- 26 day public comment period. He said it is unknown when this will occur, and GoTriangle expects 27 to hear from the FTA momentarily. 28 John Talmadge said the FTA is asking for a Draft Risk Assessment Report, which is 29 something the FTA requires of every single project applying for large capital improvement 30 grants. He said the FTA is looking at the scope of the project, the cost estimates, and the 31 schedule for delivering the project through construction. He said a team from the FTA has 32 submitted a number of changes to the budget that it would like to see in the final budget that 33 would go through the application. He said these changes are as follows: 34 35 • Pettigrew Street Changes 36 $128.8 million additional needed for real estate lease fees for the railroad; contract or 37 overhead. 38 • Construction escalation (inflation during construction period) needed to be more 39 conservative. It was at 3.1% annual rate, and FTA said it should be 3.6% based on 40 what the FTA has seen in construction costs nationally. This is an impact of adding 41 $47.8 million in year of expenditure to the project. 42 • Contingency#- how far has the design progressed, and the FTA does a statistical 43 simulation to see how much they want to see to have a good robust budget. This was 44 an additional $60.4 million. 45 46 John Talmadge said this totals $237 million in addition to the budget in year of 47 expenditure dollars. 48 John Talmadge said GoTriangle has been working with this information during the 49 recent weeks, and information about borrowing rates, and has had conversations with the cost- 50 sharing partners and the City of Durham, in order to create a final financial plan.