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PLANNING & INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT <br />Craig N. Benedict, AICP, Director <br />Comprehensive Planning <br />(919) 245-2575 <br />(919) 644-3002 (FAX) <br />www.orangecountync.gov <br />131 W. Margaret Lane <br />Suite 201 <br />P. O. Box 8181 <br />Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br /> TO: Board of County Commissioners <br /> FROM: Tom Ten Eyck, Transportation/Land Use Planner <br /> CC: Craig Benedict, Orange County Planning Director <br />Tom Altieri, Comprehensive Planning Supervisor <br /> DATE: August 27, 2020 <br /> SUBJECT: Orange County Transit Plan – Transit Summit #1 <br /> <br />This memo is an announcement that Orange County Planning, with the help of the consulting <br />group, Renaissance Planning, Inc., will be hosting an on-line Transit Summit on Thursday, <br />October 1st, 2020 from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM. This is one of the key public outreach activities <br />to engage various stakeholder groups as well as the public at large with the 2020 Transit <br />Plan Update, and participation information is available on the project website <br />(www.octransit2020.com) as well as the County website. <br /> <br />In January 2020, Orange County Planning Staff began work with Renaissance in defining the <br />scope and deliverables of the consulting work. Over the past several months, planning staff <br />and the consulting team have met to discuss key project deliverables, the creation of a project <br />website and the public participation plans; the team has also hosted meetings for the Policy <br />Steering Committee—a multi-jurisdictional stakeholder group that informs the goals of the <br />overall plan update—as well as for the multi-agency staff work group from within the region. <br />With COVID-19 at the forefront of County operations, safety considerations have led the <br />discussion since meetings began in late February, and the first Transit Summit will be held <br />using the Zoom platform. <br /> <br />In preparation for the first Transit Summit, planning staff and the consulting team are creating <br />and administering a survey to residents of Orange County to receive feedback on what type <br />of services are most desirable to County Residents. The consulting team brings with them <br />expertise in reaching out to diverse stakeholder groups to ensure that minority and <br />historically-marginalized groups within the community are included in the survey and <br />planning process, and multi-lingual phone lines are being established to receive survey <br />feedback as well as to gather comments throughout the entire update. The team is also <br />working with various County departments, including Transportation Services and Community <br />Relations, to be able to do onboard advertising and survey drops in order to reach out to as <br />many different public and stakeholder groups as possible before the first Transit Summit. <br />Advertising will take place on the Orange County website and Orange County social media, <br />and municipal colleagues have been invited to promote on their media channels. Anyone <br />who is interested in the update process is directed to the project website, which includes an <br />FAQ page, a project history page with ongoing updates, a section for how to get involved, <br />and a signup to receive emails reminders for key events. <br /> <br />The entire update is an iterative process that will be revised and informed by meetings and <br />feedback from county residents; findings from the first Transit Summit will help inform the <br />1