TITLE: Title
Public Hearing for the Updated Bicycle Plan
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to provide the Town Council an opportunity to receive public comment on the Updated Bicycle Plan.
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DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Zachary Hallock, 919-918-7329, zhallock@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:zhallock@townofcarrboro.org>; Trish McGuire, 919-918-7327, pmcguire@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:pmcguire@townofcarrboro.org>; Tina Moon, 919-918-7325, cmoon@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:cmoon@townofcarrboro.org>
INFORMATION:
The Updated Bicycle Plan can be found at: <http://townofcarrboro.org/DocumentCenter/View/8148/Carrboro-Updated-Bike-Plan-Final>
The Appendix can be found at: <http://townofcarrboro.org/DocumentCenter/View/8145/Updated-Bike-Plan---Appendix>
The Town adopted its first Bicycle Plan in 2009, which can be found at: <http://townofcarrboro.org/737/Bike-Plan>. One of the recommendations from that plan was to develop an update every 5-10 years. In 2017, the Town applied for a grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation, and was awarded funding to identify a consultant to help prepare this updated plan. After an RFP process, the Town selected Alta Planning and Design in November 2018. A steering committee was appointed in the spring of 2019 consisting of a diverse group of Carrboro community members and partners from other organizations including the Town of Chapel Hill, Orange County, UNC, NCDOT, and TJCOG. Plan was primarily developed between March and September 2019, with public outreach ongoing throughout the process. Broad general public outreach included intercept surveys at local grocery stores, outreach at major town events (Open Streets, Bike Breakfast, Farmer’s Market). More targeted outreach was conducted to underrepresented groups including: working with El Centro Hispano to connect with the Spanish-speaking community, local meeting held at the Rogers Road RENA community center, a specific input session with interpreters available for the Karen and Burmese-speaking community, and targeted mailings to our historically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Staff presented a preliminary draft of this plan on November 19, 2019. More information can be found at: <https://carrboro.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4244346&GUID=60FCC38E-E4DD-46D4-A9DF-BE296C30A536&FullText=1>
Revisions to the plan were made based on feedback received at that presentation and additional staff review. This draft of the updated plan was presented to the Joint Advisory Boards on October 1, 2020. Staff received comments from the Planning Board, Transportation Advisory Board, and Environmental Advisory Board which can be found as Attachment A. Staff responses to these comments can be found as Attachment B. In response to the comments, staff have created a map which overlays the Strategic Priority Projects on the Racial Equity map, which can be found as Attachment C. The public comments received to date can be found as Attachment D.
The purpose of this agenda item is to hold a public hearing to receive public comment on the Updated Bicycle Plan, which has been revised based on comments received from Town Council and the Joint Advisory Boards.
FISCAL & STAFF IMPACT: There is no impact associated with adopting the plan. Future fiscal impacts will be determined as the projects and recommendations identified in the plan progress towards implementation.
RECOMMENDATION:r Staff recommends that the Town Council hold a public hearing to receive comments on the Updated Bicycle Plan. In accordance with Session Law 2020-3, public comment may be submitted to the Town Clerk up to 24 hours after the close of the public hearing. A subsequent agenda item will be scheduled for the Council to finish its deliberations and consider making a decision on the item.