Monday, August 6 - Friday, August 10
No Meetings Scheduled
Information Items:
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities continues its water conservation message to customers as our region's drought response protocol officially moves utilities into voluntary water restrictions.
The July 31 update of the Low Inflow Protocol released by Duke Energy indicates that, for the first time this summer, drought response officially has moved from "Stage 0" to "Stage 1." This means participating water utilities in the Catawba River Basin are formally expected to ask customers to voluntarily conserve water and reduce lawn irrigation to no more than two days a week. Most utilities, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, already have been taking those steps for some time because of dry weather and increased water demand. This designation does not require any additional action for our operations, but it does indicate a decline in lake storage and stream flow.
The daily water demand Utilities experienced in July was within normal summer ranges, and we are not experiencing any supply or delivery problems.
Customers will receive a WaterSmart bill insert in August to remind them of our conservation message. Utilities will reinforce the twice weekly watering schedule through the website, a news media reminder and communication with community and neighborhood outlets.
Staff has received several calls from citizens in the Raintree Lane community upset that trees are being marked for removal that staff promised would be preserved.
The trees are not being marked for removal. Bids for the sidewalk project in this area will be received next week and a subcontractor for one of the prospective bidders may be marking trees for preparation of his bid. Engineering & Property Management is currently trying to determine what company is marking the trees.
Engineering & Property Management staff has contacted Council member Don Lochman to inform him of this situation. Staff has also contacted the Homeowners Association president and asked her to communicate this information to the residents of the Raintree community.
The attached letter and chart describes the key state issues and the resolution of local requests which occurred during the '07 session.
The Legislature was predominately absorbed with meeting county demands and gave little attention to Transportation needs and other urban infrastructure responsibilities. The greatest joint city/county need addressed was a significant increase of approximately $38 million for the criminal justice system.
Air Quality-Concern Over State Implementation Plan Pending EPA Review
Staff Resource: Eldewins Haynes, 704-336-7621 - ehaynes@ci.charlotte.nc.us
In April the NC Division of Air Quality (NCDAQ) issued a draft of the State Air Quality Implementation Plan (SIP) for public review in the Charlotte area. The public comment period ended May 15. City Council was briefed on a number of technical issues in Council-Manager Memo #32 - April 27, 2007.
The most important part of the SIP document affecting Charlotte is the allocation of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs). The MVEBs will limit the tons per day of nitrogen oxides (NOx) that should be emitted from all cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles traveling in the Charlotte area. The MVEBs will be used in the transportation conformity process to demonstrate that the total of emissions due to all cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles will not be greater than the MVEBs. This "budget test" must be passed in order to receive federal funding for road and transit projects.
City staff (from the Charlotte Department of Transportation) submitted an in-depth letter to NCDAQ during the public comment period. Staff's comments, intended to get NCDAQ to change the MVEBs, were based on calculations that the MVEBs proposed in the SIP could not be met by all the counties in the Charlotte area, and would result in the suspension of Federal highway and transit funding starting sometime in the fall of 2008 and lasting until early 2010. In spite of City staff's efforts, the draft SIP was not changed, and sent to EPA for Federal review.
The EPA review process includes its own public comment period, which ended August 2. City staff sent a letter on behalf of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO). This letter was based on the same findings as in the NCDAQ comment letter. Our concern remains that the 7 individual county budgets for vehicle emissions included in the plan are expected to result in a transportation conformity lapse if used before 2009, which would stop federal transportation funding for roads and transit, until resolved in 2010. Construction on the South Corridor Light Rail project should be complete, but all other highway and transit projects could lose funding during the lapse. The purpose of this letter is not to get the MVEBs changed, but instead to show EPA why the MVEBs do not meet EPA's criteria for approval.
Attached is the technical letter sent to EPA on August 2, 2007 expressing concerns regarding the SIP document submitted to EPA.
The comment letters to NCDAQ and to EPA have resulted in a series of meetings (beginning September 7) to be held with regional staff, NCDAQ, NCDOT, FHWA and the EPA to discuss what can be done to change the MVEBs so that our region can avoid a transportation conformity lapse between now and 2010. It is difficult to estimate how long the series of meetings will last, or what the final outcome will be. However, the comments to EPA are expected to delay their approval of the MVEBs.
We will keep you apprised of the results of the upcoming discussions.
