Agenda 11-02-23; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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26 1 Commissioner Greene said that it is a lot of it. 2 Chair Bedford said yes but also at the MPO she would say that they should not put any 3 points on the project because they want to wait and work with their partners. 4 5 A motion was made by Commissioner Richards, seconded by Vice-Chair McKee, to 6 approve the NC 54 Multimodal Corridor Study in Orange County. 7 8 Commissioner Hamilton said she would like to not vote on it tonight, but have it brought 9 back within a reasonable timeframe. She said she wants to read it over with what she is learned 10 today to make sure she understands what the study says. She said she does not understand the 11 process well enough. She said that if it is a safety thing, she would rather the study be approved. 12 Commissioner Portie-Ascott said as they continue to wait, the roads will continue to be 13 overcapacity and overburdened. She said there is still an increased risk of serious injury and the 14 disproportionate impact on minority residents. She said she is ready to move forward. 15 Commissioner Greene said she would have been okay with a condition on the multiuse 16 paths. She said that she is not sure they can condition it on that. 17 Nish Trivedi said they have a complete streets policy, and they can use that for leverage. 18 Commissioner Greene said when they were considering the school site off of Hwy 70, they 19 were told that a complete streets option was not available because there was not enough 20 development in the road. 21 Nishith Trivedi said that was previously in 2019 and it is different now. 22 Commissioner Greene asked if the policy was not available just a few months ago. 23 Nishith Trivedi said that the complete streets policy was adopted by the county in October 24 2022. 25 Commissioner Greene said they just heard the school program this year and clarified that 26 this was part of the Lawrence Road project. 27 Nishith Trivedi said that they provided comments when the TIA was done for Lawrence 28 Road and used the complete streets policy to provide comments during the TIA review to address 29 bike-ped and other issues along that area. He said that they do not have a corridor study for US 30 70 yet. 31 Commissioner Greene said that the school was within the site and not on the road. 32 Nishith Trivedi said that they are providing sidewalks on site. 33 Commissioner Greene said that they are providing sidewalks within the site but not on the 34 road. 35 Nishith Trivedi said that is because they do not have a study for Hwy 70 yet that would 36 allow them to push for them to accommodate it. 37 Commissioner Greene said she is concerned this will end up being a widened road without 38 the other modes and that it will ultimately create more traffic. 39 Vice-Chair McKee said the map on slide #2 says a lot. He said that TARPO is a 40 rural area organization. He said the reason for the 4 feet bike shoulder in southern Orange County 41 was because during his tenure on TARPO he negotiated with Moore and Lee County that he 42 would vote for some of their projects if they would help him get the bike shoulder. He said this is 43 not the prettiest way to make it happen but that is what happened. He said that this is likely more 44 than a decade of process. He said he understands Commissioner Greene's concern, but they 45 may end up with the same outcome if they do not approve the study. 46 Commissioner Greene said the plan they have is not called a multimodal plan. She said 47 that the 10 feet bike and ped lanes are not mentioned in the plan. 48 Nish Trivedi said that it is the shared use path (SUP) that is in the recommendations for 49 the study. He said that during the alternatives analysis there was the possibility of a SUP in the 50 median itself but because of the public meetings and workshops they prefer that it be done on the 51 north side. He said that the shared use path is a critical part of the study.