Agenda - 10-06-20; 8-a - Minutes

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8 1 land in 3 areas along 1-85 and 1-40 known as the Buckhorn, Hillsborough, and Eno River 2 Districts. 3 4 The Hillsborough district, all 724 acres of it, is well on its way to completion. Much of this district 5 has already been built and consists of a hospital, a community college, and compact residential 6 housing. According to the Plan, the remaining 200 acres "will require design solutions to buffer 7 neighborhoods from future development." That's what the Plan says! But the RTLP project 8 would cover 65% of this land with 6-story buildings and parking lots. A small part of the 9 remaining 35% will be ornamental trees and bushes as well as some retention ponds. But the 10 developer wants to use the biggest portion remaining--two creeks and their corresponding 11 floodplains--as "buffer" too. 12 13 According to the Eno River Association, this warehouse complex would be built on a critical 14 conservation corridor connecting the Eno watershed with the New Hope watershed. They 15 understand that the site plan does not go far enough to protect water quality. 16 17 Just last year, residents temporarily lost the use of Davis Road when a 50-foot sinkhole split the 18 road, just downhill of the proposed access point. A 7-foot high culvert was installed and the road 19 re-paved several months later while the residents used Orange Grove Road instead of Old 20 NC86. If you examine the topography of this area, the parcels in question sit higher than Davis 21 Road. And we all know that water runs downhill - especially on pavement. What's the design 22 solution for this problem? 23 24 Finally, across the street from this warehouse complex are a church, a preschool and a historic 25 African American cemetery. Diesel exhaust, vibrating engines and squealing brakes are 26 obviously a poor fit. What's the design solution for this problem? Bushes? A few trees? And if 27 Davis Road needs to be widened to manage 18-wheelers trying to exit from the warehouse 28 complex onto this country road, how much easement is available by the cemetery to allow for 29 more road? 30 31 1 know you'll do the right thing and require the developer to come up with better design 32 Solutions to make this a better fit. Thank you for your time and consideration. 33 34 William Mitchell read the following remarks: 35 I'm part of Save Hillsborough. I live at 310 Davis Rd and appreciate the commissioners giving 36 me a few minutes to express my concerns about the proposed RTLP project—and specifically 37 to speak about potential traffic safety issues that we feel have not been adequately addressed. 1 38 will focus on one particularly hazardous situation that will likely arise if this development is 39 approved. 40 As you're probably aware, the plan originally proposed by the developer's traffic 41 engineer was to route trucks exiting from the warehouses directly north to Interstate 40 42 by means of the existing service road adjacent to the 1-40 off ramp. When that plan was 43 rejected by NCDOT, a revised proposal re-routed the exiting traffic to Davis Road, at a 44 spot 1,000 feet from its T-intersection with Old NC Hwy. 86. Trucks would turn out of this 45 Davis Road access point to exit left from the warehouse complex--make another left 46 onto Old NC Hwy. 86--and then make their way to the Interstates (1-40 and 1-85). 47 The NCDOT recommends that, based on the developer's traffic impact analysis, a traffic 48 signal would be installed at Davis and Old 86 in order to manage the large volume of 49 truck and vehicular traffic. What could go wrong? 50 Members of our community who live along this stretch of road can tell you from first- 51 hand observation: there's a blind curve at Jedi Way, which meets Davis Rd. just a little