Agenda - 12-13-2022; 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

9 1 Commissioner McKee relayed the contents of a phone call he received from a resident 2 about the help they received from Corey Root and other housing staff. He said the resident was 3 in a dire situation and was very complimentary of staff, and was extremely grateful for the help 4 they received and the outcome in preventing their house from becoming uninhabitable. 5 Chair Price thanked Corey Root for the work she has done, especially throughout the 6 pandemic and keeping people in their homes. 7 8 c. 2022 Orange County Transit Plan Update — Public Hearing 9 The Board held a public hearing, received the Policy Steering Committee, Staff Working Group, 10 and Orange Unified Transportation Board recommendations, closed the public hearing, and 11 considered taking action on the 2022 Orange County Transit Plan (OCTP) Update. 12 13 BACKGROUND: In 2012, the Orange County Board of Commissioners along with the Durham- 14 Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) and GoTriangle adopted 15 the first Orange County Transit Plan. This Plan was funded using a newly-adopted Article 43 Half- 16 Cent Sales Tax, and it included investments in new and expanded bus service and new capital 17 infrastructure projects such as the Chapel Hill North-South Bus Rapid Transit Project, the 18 Hillsborough Train Station, and the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit(DO LRT) Project. The Plan 19 was updated in 2017 to meet federal requirements associated with the DO LRT Project. 20 21 In March 2019, the DO LRT Project was discontinued. This project was central to the Transit Plan 22 as the Plan's primary investment, representing a critical partnership between Durham and Orange 23 counties, and serving as the transit infrastructure around which other transit services and growth 24 strategies were planned. In response to the discontinuation of the DO LRT project, Orange County 25 staff began the process of creating a draft framework to create a new Orange County Transit Plan 26 that prioritizes investments, funds service improvements, and improves the resiliency of the public 27 transit network. 28 29 At its November 17, 2019 meeting, the Orange County Board of Commissioners approved the 30 planning framework for updating the Orange County Transit Plan. The framework included a 31 Policy Steering Committee (PSC)composed of two (2)Commissioners serving as Co-Chairs, and 32 one representative each from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Mebane to lead the 33 process. The County and/or municipal appointees are intended to represent the interests of 34 GoTriangle and DCHC MPO. 35 36 The PSC is supported by a staff team led by County staff and including staff representatives from 37 the aforementioned municipal jurisdictions, as well as DCHC MPO, Triangle J Council of 38 Governments (TJCOG), the Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization (TARPO), and the 39 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). 40 41 In January 2020, Orange County Planning staff began work with Renaissance Planning, Inc., the 42 consulting firm chosen to update the Orange County Transit Plan. Over the past two years, 43 Planning staff and the consulting team have established key project deliverables and the timetable 44 for their delivery, defined the scope of the consulting work, established a project website 45 (www.octransit2020.com), created the public participation and outreach plans, and conducted 46 regular meetings with the PSC, transit service providers, and key stakeholders with updates on 47 the plan's progress. Both the PSC and the staff team provided direction and guidance to the 48 consulting firm whose tasks included analyzing data, facilitating public input processes, soliciting 49 feedback from specific stakeholders, and drafting the Transit Plan. The new Plan is intended to 50 outline transit investment priorities through 2040. 51