June 2014
At Tuesday night's Board of County Commissioner's meeting, the commissioners will vote to create a multi-jurisdictional, time-restricted Solid Waste Advisory Group (SWAG). This 12-member advisory group will consist of 2 representatives from each of the 4 local governments, 2 from UNC, and 2 citizens, and will be tasked with defining the nature, scope, and timing of solid waste issues including, but not limited to:
It’s relatively slow this week in Orange County, but there’s still plenty going on. The Carrboro Alderpersons will consider affordable housing and amendments to the Joint Planning Agreement, who, their Chapel Hill counterpart will work on the budget and discuss what to do with the Old Library Property. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board will also talk about implementing a Mandarin Chinese program, while the county commissioners will have a full agenda that includes the budget, rural curbside recycling and transportation project prioritization.
Here’s the full summary:
CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, June 3rd, 7:30pm, Carrboro Town Hall Board Room
On Tuesday, June 3, at 6:00 pm, the Board of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA is likely to announce that it will merge with the YMCA of the Triangle Association (YOTA). The meeting will take place at Amity Church, 825 N Estes Drive, adjacent to the CHCYMCA.
I just returned home from a three plus hour meeting about Obey Creek. This was the last meeting before Chapel Hill decides to enter a development agreement negotiation. Phase I the Compass Committee ended last winter, Phase II addional information gathering has been during the last six months and phase III negotiations will probably begin soon. The first hour was a repeat of the traffic analysis presentation that was given last month at the library. More data will be obtained from additional studies but the analysis incorporates 1.2% traffic growth rate as the back ground increase in traffic. It projects 10% of the Obey Creek development traffic to be carried by mass transit. The next two hours were devoted to the general Obey Creek plan, modifications and potential points for negotiation. The general plan would allocate 50 acres for green space ( part of which could become come a school if needed) and 30acres developed near 15-501. At the end Roger stood up and stated that if Council permitted less than 1,000,000 square feet he would use current zoning for creating 120 homes on the 85 acres.
Budgets will again be the focus of Orange County's public bodies this week. Both the Chapel Hill Town Council and the Hillsborough Town Board will vote to approve their budgets for the upcoming year tonight, while the county commissioners will hold another work session to continue working through their spending plan tomorrow. The Orange County Board of Education will also consider its budget after hearing about strategies to recruit and retain minority teachers. The Carrboro Alderfolks have the development of a new park and an update for the Local Living Economy Task Force on their agenda.
Here’s the full summary:
CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, June 10th, 7:30pm, Carrboro Town Hall Board Room
Addressing affordable housing so that all people can afford to live in our community is an extremely important issue to many in our community. It has been given as a reason to develop and redevelop our towns and as a reason not to. Many organizations including the Community Home Trust, EmPOWERment Inc., Habitat for Humanity, the InterFaith Council, CASA, Orange County Justice United, and The Marion Cheek Jackson Center have been working with the towns and county to provide and/or advocate for housing at prices attainable across all spectrums of income.
In this season of municipal budget discussions, a rundown of what our towns and elected boards are working on around affordable housing seems appropriate. I asked members of each elected board what their board is focused on this year. Here is a summary.
According to the Daily Tar Heel, UNC is going to start charging for evening parking this fall. All students will shoulder this cost as an annual $10.40 charge to their student fees. Non-affliated visitors to UNC will pay $2/evening. Nighttime employees will pay an annual fee between $227 (for those with an income of less than $25K/year) to $390 (for those making over $100K/year), which is the same price as daytime permits.
In the article, UNC DPS spokesman Randy Young says:
“The folks who are only working at night, their shift is basically the same as people who work during the day, except that traditionally, they’ve been receiving free parking,” he said. “So they would pay for their parking at night, for their nighttime work, the same way employees during the day have to. In the past, daytime parking permits have essentially subsidized those who park at night.”
We did it.
Six months ago, the CHCCS PTA Council adopted as it's primary local advocacy priority to fully fund schools. We knew that a difficult budget year loomed and that the community would have to come together to make a difference.
Tonight the Orange County Board of County Commissioners agreed by a vote of 5-2 to increase general property taxes by 2 cents per 100$. In addition, they will be allocating almost $1M from fund balance.
The bottom line? Both CHCCS and Orange County Schools will be fully funded at the local level based on their initial budget requests.
Here's the Storify from the Orange County Board of Commissioners' budget debate.
Triangle Transit and Chapel Hill Transit are pleased to join forces to provide the Downtown Chapel Hill Community with updates on the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project as well as Chapel Hill Transit services and projects. Find out how additional transit options will benefit and impact business and residents of Chapel Hill, proposed alignments, and timetable for construction and operation.
WHO:
Presenters:
- Brian Litchfield, Director of Chapel Hill Transit
- Patrick McDonough, Manager of Planning and Transit Oriented Development
- Natalie Murdock, Public Involvement Manager, of Triangle Transit
WHAT:
Prepared presentation and Questions and Answers over light appetizers
WHEN:
Thursday, June 19, 2014, 6:00-7:15 PM
WHERE:
LAUNCH Chapel Hill, 321 W Rosemary St
COST:
Free, Please RSVP Here
By 2035, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro area is expected to add nearly 200,000 residents and approximately 120,000 jobs. In 2011, Durham County residents demonstrated their support for transit initiatives by approving the transit sales tax. In 2012, Orange County residents concurred, approving a transit tax of their own. Light rail transit between the Durham-Orange Corridor’s three main activity centers—UNC (Hospitals and University), Duke (Medical Center and University), and downtown Durham—has been proposed as a means to support the growth. Triangle Transit is pleased to report that planning for the proposed Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit (D-O LRT) Project has reached the project development phase, and Triangle Transit is studying the social, environmental, and human impacts of the proposed project. And Chapel Hill Transit’s North-South Corridor, along with other service changes, will help address growth and congestion. You may learn more about these projects at www.ourtransitfuture.com and www.NSCStudy.org.
Date:
Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 6:00pm
Location:
LAUNCH Chapel Hill, 321 W Rosemary St
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