Calendar:
Monday, September 27
12:00 pm - Agenda Briefing, Room 280
3:00 pm - Transportation Committee Meeting, Room 280. AGENDA: Blue Ribbon Commission on Urban Mobility; Preparing the Transportation Action Plan; Connectivity
5:00 pm - Council Manager Dinner Briefing, Room 267
6:00 pm - Citizen's Forum, Meeting Chamber
Wednesday, September 29
9:15 am - Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College Street
12:00 pm - Mayor's Task Force on Cultural Facilities Committee Meeting, Room CH-14. AGENDA: Review Status of Task Force; Schedule Next Meetings; Review Report to Mayor and Council
Thursday, September 30
5:30 pm - Economic Development Community Meeting (Districts 2 and 3), Sheraton Charlotte Airport Hotel, 3315 South I-85 Service Road
Agenda Notes:
Agenda Item #60N: Addison/Deveron Storm Water Project - Request for Condemnation Approvals
Staff Resource: Amy Bice, 704-432-0965
The Addison/Deveron Storm Water Project involves upgrading storm drainage systems and streams to reduce house and street flooding. Some of the streets affected by the project include Addison Drive, Rama Road, Nottingham Drive, Robinhood Road, Livingston Drive, Renwick Road, Deveron Drive, and King Edward Road. Real estate acquisition started in December 2003 and included acquiring 69 easements. In order to keep the project on schedule and meet our commitments to the public, we are requesting Council to approve condemnations on six (6) parcels on the September 27, 2004 agenda. (One parcel on the condemnation list, parcel #5 for the Masons at 5138 Addison Drive, has been acquired and will be moved to acquisitions.) We will continue to work with these property owners to attempt to reach an agreement.
Information Items:
2005 North Carolina Legislative Agenda
Staff Resource: Boyd Cauble, 704-336-2009
Attached is a schedule for assembling, reviewing and approving a state legislative agenda for the 2005 legislative session. We are also attaching a "preliminary" listing of issues that have come forward for review by the Key Business Units.
Our process will allow us to review, prior to January 2005, staff suggestions and Council requests for legislative action. We are asking Council members to submit issues, which have arisen during Council committee meetings and/or Council discussions, regarding local actions that require legislative approval in Raleigh. Council members wishing to discuss any items that do not appear on the attached preliminary list are asked to contact Boyd Cauble by October 13.
Although the attached list of items under consideration is lengthy, several items will "fall off" our list because of their statewide nature; constitutional or legal restrictions; and/or lack of Council desire to proceed.
As we continue to evaluate the listing of suggested legislative items, a staff committee which includes the Manager's office, Police, Transit, CDOT, Budget, Economic Development and the City Attorney's office, will refine the final proposal so Council can have a detailed discussion in November. After Council's approval of our legislative package, individual members will be asked to assist in contacting members of our delegation and/or the legislature to review the more controversial requests with decision makers. In some cases, we will also request that Mayor and Council coordinate our efforts with the business community or other public partners in order to get private sector support for any legislative items that may need significant private sector endorsement.
Finally, our staff review committee will be contacting the North Carolina League of Municipalities and other professional associations to gauge their interest in sponsoring, endorsing, or simply supporting any of the items that have statewide appeal. There may be significant requests where statewide organizations are better equipped to advocate changes in statewide law. If so, our role will be to support the group effort.
September 22, 2004 Metropolitan Transit Commission Summary
Staff Resource: Ron Tober, 704-336-7245
At its September 22 meeting, the MTC unanimously approved the Federal Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for the South Corridor Light Rail Project. The FFGA is a contract between the Federal government and the City of Charlotte by which the Federal government agrees to fund 50% of the capital costs of building the South Corridor light rail line. The Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) has approved the agreement, which establishes the Federal share of the project's funding at $192.94 million, which, with $6.41 million in Federal Formula Grant funding, equals half of the total estimated cost of $398,701,080. Another 25% of the cost will be funded under an already-approved State of North Carolina FFGA, with the remaining 25% funded locally.
The FFGA will be presented for City Council approval on September 27. On October 8 the FTA will forward the FFGA to Congress for a mandated 60-day comment and review period. Barring any Congressional concerns, the FFGA could be executed in December. Demolition work on the South Corridor line began this month, and the first construction contracts are expected to be presented to the City Council in November under a Federal Letter of No Prejudice. The South Corridor light rail line is on schedule to begin operations on October 31, 2006.
In another action, the MTC unanimously approved a motion directing the Town, City, and County Managers to develop a strategy for implementing certain changes to the Transit Governance Interlocal Agreement following recommendations by the Citizens Transit Advisory Group (CTAG) at the completion of its Governance Review. The Managers group was asked to explore four issues: the possible addition of an NCDOT representative as a voting member of the MTC; timing and criteria for adding to the MTC representatives of jurisdictions outside Mecklenburg County which may be served by the transit system in the future; revisions to certain provisions of the Interlocal Agreement which could serve as possible impediments to continued successful governance of the system; and the future role and composition of the CTAG.
Additionally, the MTC received updates on three operational issues:
1. Planned service changes scheduled for October, including expansion of Historic Trolley service. Trolley ridership has far exceeded anticipated levels, and in response to rider requests, the Trolley will begin weekday operations at 7:00 am to accommodate commuters between SouthEnd and Uptown. Additionally, a third car will be put into service, and frequencies will increase from hourly to half-hourly.
2. The results of a year-long test which has shown that the use of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel and particulate matter filters significantly lower the level of harmful emissions released by CATS buses, without degradation to engines. These emission-lowering measures resulted in better emissions reduction, at lower cost, than Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), although fuel economy is somewhat reduced and per gallon costs are currently higher than regular diesel fuel.
3. Improvements in technology on buses, including digital surveillance capabilities, improved radio and stop announcement systems, new scheduling software, and Automatic Vehicle Locator and Automatic Passenger Counter systems.
Finally, the CATS staff recommended that the purchase of the Home Federal Bank building as an office location for CATS not be pursued due to cost uncertainties, and to give staff time to re-assess CATS' space requirements before pursuing any other location.
There will not be an MTC meeting in October and the MTC's next meeting will not be until November 17.
