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26 <br /> March 12, 2019 Mt. Moriah Baptist Church Meeting - Staff met with members of the church <br /> and approximately over 40 people attended. The Orange County Planning Director provided an <br /> overview of the plan and some specifics about a possible rail crossing relocation and grade <br /> separation in a 5-10 years horizon. The public notification process for the Buckhorn (and other <br /> areas) Traffic Separation Study (TSS) began in 2016 and was initiated by the North Carolina <br /> Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR). The TSS <br /> includes environmental and cultural impact survey. Residents were shown all three proposed <br /> alignments as recommended in the TSS (Attachment 1) and asked to work with staff to find the <br /> alternative with the least impact. They were also reminded of the two public meetings, public <br /> hearing and public review processes NCDOT and Mebane conducted when drafting and <br /> adopting the TSS. The City of Mebane notified the County of this project and we offered <br /> comments about what alignment option has the least impact (i.e. No impact) to the church and <br /> cemetery and the best alignment for a future intersection to US-70. <br /> The Church has provided a letter to Orange County (Attachment 2) requesting: <br /> • The Mebane TSS for Buckhorn Road be removed from plans and that closing the train <br /> crossing at Buckhorn Road not to be an option. <br /> • A resolution assuring that the E-B-M AMP will not be part of any long rang plans for the <br /> Efland-Buckhorn community's residents and economic future. <br /> Planning Director's Recommendation - The Planning Director recommends that the draft <br /> 2019 E-B-M AMP be revised to exclude the elements of the Traffic Separation Study TSS <br /> between the Industrial Drive/Buckhorn Road intersection and US-70 Frazier Road intersection <br /> (Attachment 3). The concerns of the residents will be forwarded to NCDOT and NCRR. The <br /> Planning Director also recommends the BOCC adopt the E-B-M AMP (Attachment 4). Adoption <br /> of the plan will lead to more orderly growth, which promotes the public health, safety, and <br /> general welfare and helps to achieve the purposes of the adopted Comprehensive Plan. <br /> Commissioner Price thanked Craig Benedict and staff for holding the community <br /> meeting. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin asked if there is a plan moving forward. <br /> Craig Benedict said the overall access management plan is a document that goes <br /> beyond the deletion of this, and this plan becomes part of the Unified Development Ordinance <br /> (UDO). He said when development comes forward in the area, staff can refer back to this plan <br /> and take the details into account in the review of any projects. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said DOT is still looking at rail crossings, and asked if the Board <br /> may need to revisit this again in the future. <br /> Craig Benedict said yes, and the traffic separation study was focused on about 5 other <br /> crossings, back towards Mebane. He said some work has been done with private crossings <br /> from here almost to Durham. He said in the process for getting funding for these types of <br /> projects, there has to be feasibility plans that look at the cultural aspects. He said he would <br /> expect SPOT processes would be involved prior to projects being submitted. He said staff has <br /> to stay on top of things to provide community and Commission input. He said staff will submit <br /> priority lists for projects to be submitted for SPOT 6.0. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Dorosin seconded by Commissioner Price for the <br /> Board to adopt the 2019 Efland- Buckhorn-Mebane Access Management Plan (Attachment 4) <br /> with attachment 3 (after situation). <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />