Agenda 04-05-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 1 issues and smaller projects. He said that for example, when light rail was a thing, there was a 2 tax, and it would be nice to be able to use those funds within the bounds that have been set. He 3 said they are trying to figure out how to do smaller projects within the boundaries that are set. 4 Commissioner Greene said the county was updating the Orange County transit plan and 5 revise it since light rail has ended. She asked if the OUT Board was consulted. 6 Erik Broo said yes, and they talk about it every meeting. 7 Commissioner Greene said the transit policy steering committee was meeting the next 8 day and they will be receiving results of the second round of input. 9 Craig Benedict, Planning Director, said the OUT Board is made of planning staff and 10 Orange County public transportation and they discuss the plan at each meeting. 11 Commissioner Greene asked if the OUT Board was specifically included. 12 Nish Trivedi said yes, they have been included in the input process. 13 Erik Broo said Nish Trivedi and his team were reviewing the document every meeting. 14 Chair Price said the bridge study discussion has been going on for over a decade. She 15 said she hopes this time something happens. 16 Erik Broo said the topic comes up frequently. 17 Chair Price said that over the years, NCDOT has begun listening to Orange County's 18 desire for bike lanes. She said they have to be called "4-foot shoulders," but are intended for 19 bikes. 20 Erik Broo said that he hopes NCDOT would offer funding for projects that are not directly 21 adjacent to roads, because it would show North Carolinians that they do care about multi-modal. 22 He said transportation does happen with bikes even though they are not on the road. 23 Chair Price said they are changing the culture. 24 Lamar Proctor presented for the Orange County Planning Board. He said the board met 25 ten times. He said they revised the LIDO as an update as required to meet the updates to NC 26 General Statute 160E. He said there were some substantive changes that were also discussed 27 by the Board of Commissioners. He said they also reviewed projects within the county. He said 28 they also reviewed changes that are happening in Durham that affect the Eno economic 29 development district because they are reducing public water and sewer to the area. He said 30 that it will not be as big as they wanted, regarding future growth, in that area. He said they have 31 a new chair, Adam Beeman. He said that Adam Beeman led a discussion on residential solar. 32 He said that it was eye opening to see the hoops they had to jump through and unforeseen 33 expenses to add solar to residential. He said that it dovetails with issues that the Planning 34 Board is concerned with. He said they will likely work more with other boards in the future. He 35 said new census data will require an update to the comprehensive plan. He said they will 36 continue to work on community outreach. He said they may teach a Planning 101 course to the 37 public, to help them learn the process and where their voice can be heard. He said that 38 broadband access is important to the Planning Board, as is climate change. He said that the 39 growth of Mebane into western Orange County is creating concern for residents. He said they 40 want to encourage renewable energy development. He said the Planning Board is concerned 41 with maintaining water resources. He said Orange County has some clean ecosystems that 42 should be protected and used wisely. 43 Commissioner Richards said there is a need to update the planning. She said that 44 between the UDO, the comprehensive plan, and the new census data, it all needs to be 45 updated. She said she wants to do all of that in a collaborative way. She asked if there is a 46 work plan to get that done in the next year. 47 Lamar Proctor said there were policies and procedures established that they would 48 follow. 49 Commissioner Richards asked about the work plan for tackling that. 50 Craig Benedict said that when the comprehensive plan was put together, there were 51 eight lead advisory boards. He said that it is especially important to include them. He said they