Attached is the description of this week's activity in Raleigh. The major accomplishment was that the proposed costly Medicaid reimbursement proposal has been averted. If you have any questions regarding any of these items, please contact Boyd Cauble.
Councilmembers are invited to two Gang Legislation press conferences on July 2 hosted by the Metropolitan Coalition in Greensboro and Salisbury to encourage the North Carolina General Assembly to pass the Street Gang Prevention Act. We are seeing progress for this legislation in the relevant committees in both the House and Senate, but we need to push them to act before they adjourn this session. With South Carolina's gang legislation being signed into law earlier this month; all of our neighboring states have laws that specifically target criminal gang activities.
Greensboro Press Conference at 9:30 a.m.
Location: Melvin Municipal Office Building
Plaza Level Conference Room
300 West Washington Street
Greensboro, NC
On-site Contact - (336) 507-5101
Greensboro Directions - Directions available via City of Greensboro website at
http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/maps/mmob-directions.htm Greensboro Parking- The Greene Street parking deck is located at 211 South Greene Street and is directly across the street from the Melvin Municipal Building. There will be provided so that parking will be free for all attendees.
Salisbury Press Conference at 11:30 a.m.
Location: Salisbury City Hall
217 S. Main Street
Salisbury, NC 28144
On-site Contact- (704) 213-1050
Salisbury Directions- Interactive Map Directions available via City of Salisbury website at
http://www.salisburync.gov/visitor.htmlSalisbury Parking- Parking is available on the Main Street, behind City Hall and in the parking lot at GX Fitness, on the corner of Bank and Main (approx. ½ block south of City Hall).
BizHub Network
Staff Resource: Tom Flynn, 704-432-1396 - tflynn@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The BizHub Network board announced today it will merge its services with CPCC's Institute of Entrepreneurship. The non-profit group will transition all of its support and informational services, including small business counseling, to the college effective July 1, 2007. The Institute will also assume responsibility of the BizHub Network Resource Navigator, a web-based tool which provides custom referrals for anyone needing help with issues such as writing a business plan and financial assistance.
The existing BizHub Network hotline (704-330-OPEN) will be re-directed to the Institute for Entrepreneurship, and the website (
www.bizhub.org ) will remain active during the transition. The regional calendar and free counseling information will be posted on the Institute site (
www.cpcc.edu/e-institute).
The Institute for Entrepreneurship is in the process of developing a new proposal for small business counseling services for the City to consider funding. We will keep Council informed as we review this proposal.
Mayor's Youth Employment Program
Staff Resource: Alicia Jolla, 704-336-2116 - ajolla@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Last week officially marked the beginning of this year's Mayor's Youth Employment Program. Celebrating its 21st anniversary, the youth employment initiative is designed to create meaningful employment opportunities for youth. Restructured last year to focus on careers, the program's overall goal is to expose youth to future possibilities and career paths as well as to gain a greater understanding of career demands, skill sets and qualifications for employment in business, industry and local government.
More than 120 students, ages 16-18, associated with local non profit organizations Right Moves for Youth and Community in Schools, HELP and Steele Creek Youth Network, participated in a three-day training program which included sessions in conflict resolution, team building and how to prepare for an interview. The training culminated with a luncheon where Assistant City Manager Keith Parker and standout CMS West Charlotte High School graduate Isaiah Scott addressed the students on the importance of hard work and leadership.
Students were placed with host employers from the public and private sector beginning this week for a period of eight weeks. A list of this year's host employers is attached.
Building upon our successful kickoff, we continue to seek private sector partners. For future participation, if you have a suggestion for an organization you feel would benefit from the program, please contact Alicia Jolla. We are also working on plans to expand the program in FY08.
Construction on the Briar Creek Relief Sewer project will begin August 2007. The construction route of Phase I will roughly run from the Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tyvola Road to Randolph Road. Oscar Renda Contracting, Inc. was selected to install pipe along Phase IA, which will run from the wastewater treatment plant to Sharon Road. Phase IB will run from Sharon Road to Randolph Road and will be completed by Rockdale Pipeline, Inc.
Community meetings are scheduled to discuss the sequence of construction activities. During these meetings, project team members will review activities including clearing, safety precautions, restorations and construction traffic. The meetings are scheduled as follows:
Phase IA Neighborhood Meeting
July 10, 6:30 p.m.
Mouzon Methodist Church
3100 Selwyn Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28209
Phase IB Neighborhood Meeting
July 11, 6:30 p.m.
Christ Episcopal Church
1412 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28207
Attached is the public meeting invitation mailed to customers.
At its meeting on Wednesday, June 27, 2007, the MTC unanimously voted to approve Resolution No. 2007-04, which adopts the Policies on Rules and Regulations for Rapid Transit Services. The approval of these policies expands on the Charlotte Area Transit System's current Rider Code of Conduct by establishing new MTC policies that will govern behaviors associated with the operation of CATS rapid transit services and are
designed to ensure the safe, efficient and convenient operation of the services for the benefit of the public.
The policies will be presented to the City Council in ordinance amendments for approval on July 23rd and subsequent codification in the City of Charlotte's Code of Ordinances. These actions will expand the City's existing Code provisions related to behavior on public transportation vehicles.
The MTC also received information briefings on the following:
Proposed North Corridor Financing Strategy: Staff presented the MTC with a proposed strategy for financing the North Corridor Commuter Rail Project which the City Manager briefed the Council on this past Monday evening. The strategy recommends funding the Project in part from state and local sources, as well as Federal loans for railroad improvements and local bonds for station area infrastructure improvements. The debt service for these borrowings would be funded with Tax Increment Financing (TIF), or incremental property tax revenue, generated by new development around commuter rail stations. Approximately 30 percent of the Project funding would be provided in this manner and will require a number of interlocal agreements between Charlotte,
Mecklenburg County, Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson regarding the collection and use of incremental taxes for payment of debt service.
Staff will come back to the MTC in July or August for action. If this approach is approved by the MTC, impacted jurisdictions would also need to review and approve the plan before it is acted on.
CEO's Report: Under the CEO's report it was reported that:
1. Ridership across all services increased 5.6 percent for the month of May 2007, with a year-to-date increase of 3.1 percent. Community Circulators, specifically the Neighborhood Shuttles, experienced a double-digit ridership increase. Regular bus service increased 4.9 percent and Regional Express services, Activity Center Circulators and Human Services Transportation also experienced an increase. A few services experienced a ridership decrease, including the Mooresville Express (due to the loss of a park and ride lot), the Union County Express, Eastland Neighborhood Shuttle and the Vanpool service.
2. A fare increase will take place Monday, July 2, in accordance with the Fare Policy adopted by the MTC in 2001, which modestly increases the fare level every two years to ensure that fare revenues keep pace with inflation and reflect a fair-share contribution by riders to the costs of operating the transit system. This is the third fare increase since 2001 and it is expected to generate just under $1 million in FY2008.
3. The Fourth Annual Charlotte Chamber Transit Summit will be held Friday, June 29, starting at 8 a.m. at the Westin Hotel. The event will include panel presentations on transit planning and operations, special guest speaker Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a ride on the LYNX Blue Line and a brief tour of the South Boulevard Light Rail Facility.
Following the regular business agenda, the MTC meeting was expanded to include attendees from City Council, the Board of County Commissioners and commissioners from the Mecklenburg County Towns. City and CATS staff presented information on the implications of the possible repeal of the transit sales tax. The presentation given was based upon the one presented to Council last Monday evening with less detail on specific actions that city council might choose to take but with additional details included on the impacts to the Towns and the County of a repeal of the transit sales tax. The Mayors of all local government units were in attendance along with County Commission Chair Roberts. Six other County Commissioners, three City Council members and four or five town commissioners attended the meeting. Following the presentation, the discussion focused on the nature of the actions the City might take to deal with a possible repeal; community concerns about transit plans; and actions taken to address the problems encountered with
the South Corridor Light Rail Project budget as well as clarifications of the information staff had presented.
The next MTC meeting will be held Wednesday, July 25, at 5:30 p.m.
Due to time constraints on Monday June 25, the City Council was unable to receive a presentation on the cost of implementing three initiatives related to quality development. A summary of the City Policy Cost Analysis for the proposed City policies, including the Post Construction Controls Ordinance (PCCO), the Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG) and the Environmental Chapter of the GDP (GDP-E), was included in the dinner materials. This study was done to understand to the extent possible the costs of implementing the regulations and how those costs might be allocated in the development process. Key conclusions are:
- The infrastructure cost of implementing all the initiatives as initially drafted in single family subdivisions is less than 2% of the price of the homes, depending on the level of protection.
- The costs range from 0% to 2.7 % on multi-family, urban mixed use and commercial development.
- These costs do not automatically increase the selling price of homes and other development. They may depress the value of raw land, allowing the selling price of homes to be affected to a smaller degree as overall market demand, interest rates and local economy all influence and adjust to new costs.
- Developers often cite a multiplier of 5, suggesting that increased development costs result in a house increasing in cost by five times the new infrastructure costs. The real price increases, directly related to increased development costs, are likely to be between zero and 5 times the increased development costs.
Charlotte continues to experience rapid growth. The challenges that accompany this growth threaten our quality of life and continued economic prosperity. These threats jeopardize continued housing and transportation choices and environmental protection for air, water resources, tree canopy and open space. Ensuring sustainability of these areas will help solidify Charlotte as the urban community of choice for living, working, and leisure.
Over the last few decades, we have experienced increased traffic congestion and commute time, more flooding, stream erosion and water quality degradation, as well as an ever-decreasing tree canopy. Existing initiatives that strive to address these trends include:
- Centers and corridors growth strategy (1994)
- Water Supply Watershed Protection (1994)
- Sidewalk Requirements for all streets (1996)
- 2025 Transportation/Land Use Plan (1998)
- SWIM Buffer Ordinance (1999)
- General Development Policies, Phase 1 (2003)
- Transportation Action Plan (2006)
To supplement these long term strategies, and to help protect our economic growth and reduce quality of life threats, the following additional initiatives are proposed:
- Environmental Chapter of General Development Policies
- Urban Street Design Guidelines
- Post Construction Controls Ordinance
Other communities are faced with similar concerns, including threats to environment and water quality. As a result, many governing bodies in Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union, and Cabarrus counties have adopted or propose to adopt protective measures more stringent than Federally- or State-mandated minimum requirements addressing storm water and associated environmental issues.
The costs and benefits of such protection levels require careful consideration. The effects of cost on development, and ways to mitigate costs were the subject of lengthy discussion by stakeholders in the Post Construction Controls Ordinance deliberations. Many flexible options and cost-conscious measures were identified in the process, including applying environmental protection in the areas of the City where it is most needed. These areas, known as watershed districts, reflect the specific local needs related to protecting our lakes, streams and water supplies as well as rare, threatened or endangered species. One proposed ordinance protection measure applies only to redeveloping transit station areas and economically distressed areas. This provision specifically addressed the goal of encouraging redevelopment in these areas, while affording some base level of environmental protection.
The study provided to Council on June 25 reflects a more in-depth analysis than was prepared previously and reflects the cost affects of the PCCO and the USDG. The GDP-E is envisioned to be general policy guidance and therefore does not generate infrastructure cost on a development site.
The report illustrates the costs of ten variations of four actual development sites in Charlotte. They represent varying land uses and the affect of protecting open space and water quality at various levels, including provision for an improved street network. The examples provided in the cost analysis are site specific, and vary significantly between watershed districts and from site to site. The primary effects are a reduction in developable land and increases in cost.
Examples of cost increases to single family homes included a $2,500 per lot infrastructure cost increase to meet the provisions of the USDG. In the most protective watershed district with largest open space provisions, the infrastructure cost for both PCCO and USDG initiatives totaled $4,700 per lot. When these numbers are compared to the total home sale price, the maximum increase is less than 2%. Similarly, in the case of a transit station redevelopment site, costs increased by less than 1% as a result of the PCCO, where USDG had no effect.
The cost of these requirements is a significant issue. In attempting to quantify cost, it is unclear how it will be allocated. Likely it will be reflected in the price of the units sold, the price of land purchased or in the multipliers developers put on their products.
Many of these requirements are reflected over the past 13 years in the current watershed protection areas near Mountain Island Lake and on the more-than-100 rezonings in the last three years. Of these rezoning projects, 91% have successfully addressed water quality requirements while maintaining competitive development costs.
A major cost aspect that was not analyzed in this study that will be discussed in Committee are the costs avoided and the value of benefits received. For the Urban Street Design Guidelines being discussed by the Transportation Committee, this includes:
- More widening of existing intersections and thoroughfares
- Average intersection project, $4 - 5 million
- Average thoroughfare widening, $5 - 15 million/mile
- Average retrofit of sidewalk, $500,000/mile
The Post Construction Controls Ordinance is being discussed by the Environment Committee. Costs avoided and benefits received from adequate post construction controls include:
- A reduction in future capital expenditures
- Reduced future flood control and maintenance infrastructure costs, typically $3-8M each totaling $28 million/year
- Slowed creation of stream erosion requests and land loss, currently 6,000 citizens waiting
- Reduced environmental degradation
- Reduced liability for expensive regulatory watershed retrofit measures
- Typical cost to renovate one existing lake or pond, $500,000
- Cost to purchase land and build each new lake or pond, $2.5 million
- Typical costs to restore watersheds, $2M per stream mile
The financial benefits and subjective value of these initiatives must be carefully weighed alongside the potential costs.
