Calendar:
Monday, October 4
5:00 pm - Council Workshop, Room 267
7:30 pm - Citizens' Forum, Room 267
Wednesday, October 6
12:00 pm Economic Development & Planning Committee, room. AGENDA: Plan Amendment Process; Midtown Square
Information Items:
Council Retreat Planning
Staff Resource: Denise Foreman, 704-336-3186
In the FY2005 budget, City Council reduced the amount of funding for the Annual Retreat by $10,000. As staff begins to make initial plans for the Retreat, we will look for a facility in the Charlotte area and will plan on no overnight accommodations.
We have begun to look at dates for both the One-Day Retreat in December and the Annual Retreat in February. City Council will be asked to approve the Retreat dates at the October 11 Council Business Meeting.
October 5 Public Meeting to Inform Citizens Near Andover Road of City Projects
Staff Resources: Doug Bean, 704-391-5070; Bette Frederick, 704-336-4723; Jim Humphrey, 704-336-3882; Tim Richards, 704-336-4555
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities, Engineering & Property Management and Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) will host a public meeting on October 5 about upcoming improvements along Andover, McAlway, and other streets. The meeting will be at Cotswold Elementary School (300 Greenwich Road) from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities will install a 36-inch water pipe to connect the 54-inch water main under Providence Road to the storage tank on Craig Avenue. This project is scheduled to begin in June 2005. Water pipe and sidewalk construction will occur along the road corridor.
In addition to the water pipe work, CDOT and Engineering & Property Management have been preparing to make improvements to portions of Andover Road and McAlway Road. To minimize disruption in the neighborhood from construction, this work has been accelerated to occur in conjunction with the water line project. This work will include extension of sidewalk along parts of Andover Road, and extension of sidewalk and addition of curb & gutter and storm drainage on portions of McAlway Road.
CATS Service Adjustment October 2004
Staff Resource: Keith Parker, 704-336-3855
During the month of October 2004, the Charlotte Area Transit System plans to adjust service on a number of bus routes, Special Transportation Service, and the Charlotte Trolley.
Fixed Route Buses: On October 4, several bus routes will be extended to new areas:
- Route #1 Mt. Holly Road will have more service extended to the Todd Park neighborhood
- #7 Beatties Ford will be extended to Sunset Road on Sundays
- New Sunday service will be added to #13 Nevins Road
- The Arrowood Shuttle will be extended to the Ramblewood neighborhood
- 1 trip on #34 Freedom Drive will be extended to West Meck High School.
- #233 Tryon Hills will be extended to the CPCC Northeast Campus, and the route will end at the Johnston YMCA instead of Grimes and Norris.
The schedules will be adjusted on five bus routes to account for traffic conditions and five additional routes will have minor adjustments to routing:
- Low ridership trips will be discontinued on #66X Sharon Road Express and on #249 UNCC/JW Clay
- Low ridership park 'n' ride lot in Wingate will be discontinued on #74X Union County Express.
- Trips will be added to #62X Rea Road Express
- To gear up for the I-77 HOV lanes, trips will be added to #77X North Meck Express and #83X Mooresville Express.
Special Transportation Service: On October 4, Special Transportation Service (STS) will implement the 2nd phase of service for people with disabilities. STSII will begin operations in the Towns of Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville, using the same operating and fare criteria as service implemented previously in the Town of Mint Hill. STSII vehicles will operate Monday through Friday, except on holidays, between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm.
Charlotte Trolley: Beginning October 18, Charlotte Trolley service will begin earlier and run more frequently. The Trolley will begin weekday operations at 7:00 am to accommodate South End residents who commute to Uptown. Currently, the Trolley runs every hour utilizing two cars. With the addition of a third car, the Trolley will begin running twice an hour.
Test of Pay Stations for On-Street Parking
Staff Resource: Doreen Szymanski, 704-336-7527
The Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) has installed new pay stations for on-street parking on 700 & 800 West Trade Street and 100 North Cedar Street at the Gateway Center. The pay stations will be operational starting October 4th for a period of three months. Pay stations are being provided at no cost during the test period.
The new pay stations take the place of individual parking meters and serve five to eight on-street parking spaces per pay station. A motorist makes note of the parking space number marked on the curb and pavement when they park, then proceeds to the pay station, enters the space number their vehicle is parked in and inserts coin or credit/debit card.
The advantages to pay-station use are:
- Less clutter in the City right-of-way
- Convenience of credit/debit card payment
- Easy for public to see exact time meter expires
- Pre-pay ability before parking enforcement hours begin
- Reduced down time due to meter malfunctions
- Environmentally friendly
The CDOT and Park It! staffs have notified nearby building management of the test. Informational fliers will be provided to tenants of the buildings describing the machines along with detailed instructions. We will post parking agents on-street to assist in motorist education, pass out educational flyers and answer any questions for a period of two weeks. There will be a two-week grace period before citations will be issued for expired/non-payment of on-street spaces.
If the pay stations are popular with motorists, we will consider a formal replacement of individual meters for the pay stations and expand usage in the center city.
Street Design Guidelines
Staff Resource: Norm Steinman, 704-336-393, and Tracy Newsome, 704-353-0778
Staff is preparing the draft version of the Street Design Guidelines for public review. The Guidelines will help us provide new and modified streets of the type that Charlotteans prefer, and will also enable us to accommodate the 350,000 additional residents expected to be living in the Charlotte sphere by 2030.
The specific objectives of the Guidelines include:
1. To support continued economic development and quality of life,
2. To provide more and safer transportation choices, and
3. To better integrate transportation and land use decisions.
The attached power-point presentation, which had been scheduled for your September 27th Dinner Briefing, describes the key content of the Guidelines and includes excerpts from the Guidelines.
A key component of the Guidelines is the definition of a process to ensure that street planning and urban design decisions most effectively create more route choices and more mode choices, i.e., "more streets for more users."
The public involvement process will include a defined stakeholder group (representing a broad variety of perspectives), as well as general public meetings. Staff anticipates that the stakeholder group will meet 4-6 times to discuss a defined set of topics from the Guidelines. There will be at least two public meetings, to be held over the same time period (fall and winter, 2004). We will advise Council of scheduled meetings and provide an update on the results of the public involvement process in January 2005.
