October 2, 2018
Dear Mayor and Chapel Hill Town Council members:
CHALT believes strongly that shared information is essential for better decision-making and we hope that Wednesday evening’s meeting will foster a productive dialogue and stronger collaboration between the Town and the County on the three important topics before you.
We are troubled by the staff presentation materials prepared for the DOLRT presentation, which indicate that our Town planning staff are presenting GoTriangle’s data and Gateway Consulting’s vision. What is needed, instead, is rigorous analysis by our staff, which will provide our elected officials and the public with the information necessary to: 1) objectively evaluate the merit of Orange County’s investment in this project; and 2) allow council members to make sound land use and transit decisions for our town’s future.
We remain deeply concerned about the $3.3 billion cost of the DOLRT project, the fact that the project route does not connect to downtown Chapel Hill or to other economic development centers in town, the lack of access to the system for low-income workers and for those individuals who are unaffiliated with UNC who need transit, and other significant issues.
We ask that you share these comments and request that Town staff update their presentation to provide the following information:
- Include supporting assumptions used to generate tax revenue projections, worker access to jobs and other numbers;
- For all figures that provide projections for the metro area as whole, break out numbers separately for Orange County and Chapel Hill;
- State accurately the tax-exempt status of UNC Health and how that affects the outcomes for the Town and county;
- Include stormwater data that will delineate the most buildable areas, thus avoiding putting buildings in places likely to flood and to identify the necessary stormwater infrastructure investments needed to prevent flooding downstream;
We also ask you to:
- Direct staff to bring back the information needed to make land use decisions for the Gateway station and other station areas within the Town of Chapel Hill’s zoning jurisdiction so that decisions made by the council reflect town and county goals, values and interests rather than allowing DOLRT’s ridership needs to drive this process;
- Continue to plan and advocate for a fully functioning, well-funded Chapel Hill Transit system, including Bus Rapid Transit.
- Ensure that, regardless of the transportation technology adopted, the Future Land Use map, Campus Master Plan and Station Area plans will result in a livable and sustainable college town that remains a desirable place to live.
Finally, a great deal of planning between GoTriangle’s consultant and our Planning staff has gone on, with little input from the public or informed direction from the Council. The Wednesday briefing is a work session with no public participation. We ask the Council to exercise its right to zone and make land use decisions that will benefit Chapel Hill citizens, and not to cede them to GoTriangle.
Charles Berlin
Linda Brown
Alex Cabanas
Richard Chady
Debbie Finn
Lindsay Garrison
Joan Guilkey
Tom Henkel
Charles Humble
Rudy Juliano
Adrienne Madry
Julie McClintock
John Morris
Del Snow
David Schwartz
Neva Whybark
Diane Willis