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166 <br /> DRAFT <br /> 711 be. I'm all over, trying to participate in that discussion, but I think this is just kind of an ad hoc proposal here that really is <br /> 712 a basis for rejection, even though I as I said, I support property rights and I support tax diversification. Thank you. <br /> 713 <br /> 714 George Barnes-Thank you for allowing me a couple of minutes to speak. I'm George Barnes with Glandon Forest <br /> 715 Equity. I'm sure I'm the least popular person in this room, but I wanted to speak to Mister Marshall,one question you <br /> 716 had, and then also just address a couple of the other points. There's been a lot of comment on the proposed use node <br /> 717 consideration on the proposed use being given to the local community and I do appreciate and respect all of the <br /> 718 community members concerns, I do. I will say that a lot of study and market analysis did go into this. Not by me, because <br /> 719 I'm not privy to that, but by the intended user and they have the means to track where their dollars and their customer <br /> 720 dollars are being spent and where it's coming from and where are the people that own those cards live. The reason they <br /> 721 wanted to be here, is because in their mind, it better serves the needs of the community and their customer base. I've <br /> 722 also heard comments on"Why does it need to be here,there's one 5 miles down the road to the east, there's one 7 miles <br /> 723 down to the road to the West,"that might be true, but we can't assume that those stores will stay there, and we don't <br /> 724 know what the intended users' plans are for those stores. I don't want to get hung up on how a certain store might look in <br /> 725 a certain area, because this is a different store. It is going to be 10,640 square feet, but it will have a lot of coolers for <br /> 726 fresh foods in there, and it's a little something different than what I've been involved with before with this intended user. <br /> 727 <br /> 728 Beth Bronson-Were you involved with employing the traffic impact analysis? <br /> 729 <br /> 730 George Barnes- Indirectly. <br /> 731 <br /> 732 Beth Bronson- I just wanted to clarify that, since the author of the report is not here to speak on it, and the <br /> 733 recommendations that were made were kind of generic,that there was only one day that the author of the report was <br /> 734 actually onsite to get the average. In doing so, do you know the company that you employed, do they do traffic analysis <br /> 735 in the county, do they normally do it in a rural area? <br /> 736 <br /> 737 George Barnes-That's a really good question and I appreciate it.We did employ them, and it was a requirement and we <br /> 738 have employed them throughout the state with other projects. This is the standard way of doing traffic impact analysis. <br /> 739 The firm's name was on the County's list of firms that we could work with, it's a very reputable firm. They take historic <br /> 740 data, current data, date from being on the site into consideration in coming up with that report. Then they share that with <br /> 741 the county and also NCDOT. <br /> 742 <br /> 743 Beth Bronson-So you are aware that the projected traffic means that it would be to the point at which it would be prudent <br /> 744 for the Department of Transportation to assess for a traffic light or assess for some kind of intervention to help alleviate <br /> 745 the traffic that's being created and that's within one year of right now. I'm trying to find any kind of discussion that was <br /> 746 had with the developers about any kind of proactive measures or anticipation of.... <br /> 747 <br /> 748 Charity Kirk-Can I clarify?You feel like the dollar store going in is going to affect traffic so much so that the DOT is going <br /> 749 to have to do something and that it was not addressed in the study? <br /> 750 <br /> 751 Beth Bronson-The traffic is going to continue to increase regardless of whether or not there is a retail space there. Does <br /> 752 this report sufficiently reflect that? I think that is to be determined because there's only one day of analysis of data <br /> 753 collection that was performed. But there is an expected projection of already increasing traffic and so, by adding the <br /> 754 retail center,you are creating additional safety concerns that are outlined in the County's assessment. I just wondered if <br /> 755 there was any kind of response that you guys had for the county to specifically address that? <br /> 756 <br /> 757 George Barnes-We addressed all the concerns that came our way. I can say that the intent is to provide a closer to <br /> 758 home shopping option for the customer base and again, they know where their customers are, to offer general <br /> 759 merchandise,American made, consumable items.As it relates to DOT,they had their report and reviewed it, and we are <br /> 760 accustomed to doing what DOT requires us to do. If they said we needed to install a turn lane or a stoplight,we'd have to <br /> 761 do that.All that was required of us was to...I know you brought up the idea of the right turn lane a couple of times, it's not <br /> 762 on 54, 1 just wanted to be clear, it's on White Cross Rd.,for the stacking, so the cars don't stack up into the highway. <br /> 763 <br /> 764 Beth Bronson-To be clear, there's already a right-hand turn lane on 54 to get into White Cross... <br />