TITLE: Title
Request to Set Public Hearing for Adoption of the Updated Bicycle Plan
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is to set a public hearing for Thursday, October 27th, 2020 to consider adoption of the Updated Bicycle Plan.
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DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Zachary Hallock, 919-918-7329, zhallock@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:zhallock@townofcarrboro.org>; Tina Moon, 919-918-7325, cmoon@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:cmoon@townofcarrboro.org>; Trish McGuire, 919-918-7327, pmcguire@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:pmcguire@townofcarrboro.org>
INFORMATION: The Board of Aldermen received a presentation on the preliminary draft of the Updated Bicycle Plan on November 19th, 2019. That agenda item can be found online at: <https://carrboro.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4244346&GUID=60FCC38E-E4DD-46D4-A9DF-BE296C30A536>
Staff used the feedback received both prior to and during that meeting to make revisions to the draft plan document, major changes are described below.
• People First Language - this change has been made throughout the document. (Some instances, like quotes from survey respondents or guidance documents have not been changed.)
• Bolin Creek - The master conceptual plan for Bolin Creek was reviewed and referenced in development of this Plan. No discussion of alignment takes place within this plan until direction is provided by council.
• Campus to Campus Connector - Due to the difficulties associated with implementing a CMAQ funded shared use path crossing the railroad in Downtown, added text describing rail trail projects in the long term narrative section. The other aspects of the Campus to Campus Connector (a neighborhood bike route through Lloyd-Broad and Chapel Hill’s Tanyard Branch Connector) are shown.
• Improvements on N Greensboro/Hillsborough - These have been added in the long term vision narrative, as staff are currently navigating the process to implement a protected bike lane on Jones Ferry. Lessons learned from the implementation will help further these projects in the future.
• Complete Streets - The NCDOT complete streets policy only applies to highway projects with an identified bike-ped project along its route. This means that if a highway project (capacity expansion or operational improvements) is funded through the STIP, and we have a bike-ped project indicated, that bike-ped will be funded from the NCDOT Highway allocation instead of as an independent project.
• Equity - The use of racial equity to prioritize future projects has been added as the 2nd key priority at the end of the plan
• GARE - The Town’s participation in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity was beginning around the same time as this planning process. Because of this, Town staff had not yet received training in the racial equity toolkit. Steps were taking to incorporate the Town’s participation in GARE to the fullest extent possible and staff are committed to utilizing the racial equity toolkit to revisit Town policies, programs, and procedures, throughout the course of plan implementation and when future updates occur.
The final draft of the Updated Bicycle Plan can be found as Attachment B. The appendix to the plan, which contains detailed information about plan components, can be found as Attachment C.
FISCAL & STAFF IMPACT: The typical public hearing notice and advertising costs and staff impact will apply.
RECOMMENDATION:r Staff recommend that Council consider a resolution (Attachment A) to set a public hearing on the adoption of the Updated Bicycle Plan for October 27th, 2020 and referring the draft plan to the Transportation Advisory Board and other Town advisory boards.