Agenda - 09-16-2008 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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~Y Chair Jacobs said that the topic of Orange/Chatham regional planning was raised at the last AOG meeting. Those present wished to know what was discussed at the joint meetings and they asked for a more formal structure. It was promised that a more full report would be brought back at the next AOG meeting. Staff will make initial presentations and then the elected officials present at the joint meetings could speak on these items, if they wish. Planning Director Craig Benedict said that, based on some previous meetings, staffs were asked to meet and discuss regional planning with Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, UNC, OWASA, Chatham County, and Pittsboro. During the discussions, it was realized that this regional perspective could also include such entities as the City of Durham, Durham County, and Cary. The areas of interest include land use planning, transportation, parks, open space, environment, and GIS information and mapping. Some of the areas of joint interest include Jordan Lake Watershed, Haw River Watershed, 15-501 Transportation Corridor, development of regional impact, and the regional value-added shared-use food and agricultural processing center. There was discussion about how best to share this information among staffs, elected officials, etc., as new information becomes available. He made reference to Attachment 1-a. Chair Jacobs said that the three main topics were regional watershed protection issues, transportation planning and public transportation issues, and joint. planning. He said that part of that discussion will include joint use of Jordan Lake water supply. There were also discussions about trying to get a compilation of the similarities and differences between the comments made on the Jordan Lake rules proposed. George Lucier said that the group talked about selecting specific projects rather than going too global in terms of the joint planning exercise. These could include the Haw River Watershed, Jordan Lake Watershed, 15-501 corridor, and planning for local parks -Southern Park would be an example. Chair Jacobs said that there was discussion about the interest of working together on some of these issues, and Chatham's Board was interested in the same things as Chapel Hill and Orange County, and this has not been the case in the past. Some of the discussions involved Carolyn Elfland from UNC, and public transportation was a major topic. George Lucier said that there are 12,000 houses that have been approved but not yet built in Chatham County, and many of them would use the 15-501 corridor. Jim Ward asked if there was interest in talking about a possible bypass around Chapel Hill coming from the south. He said that 15-501 is already a parking lot at times and there needs to be relief, and public transit cannot take all of these trips. George Lucier said that there is not enough financial capital, and this would have to get on the Transportation Improvement Plan with DOT. He said that DOT is deeply over committed and it is starting to delay projects. Jim Ward said to try and at least get it on the DOT's agenda. Commissioner Gordon said that she is a member of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and in the next two meetings, the results of the transportation study will be available, which will address some of this area. She said that it would be timely to bring up the issue of a bypass when this study comes out. George Lucier said to bring it up at the next meeting of the MPO and Commissioner Gordon said that it would probably be in May. Bill Strom asked about an interlocal agreement. Craig Benedict said that in 1989 there was a proposed courtesy review agreement and he said with the boards' approvals, they could implement something like this and he said they could work towards a joint planning agreement. Bill Strom said that there should really be a joint planning agreement discussion on the table because there are joint interests.