Monday, March 3
4:00 pm - Governmental Affairs Committee, Room 280. AGENDA: Review Lobbying Schedule, Content Materials, and Attendees for NLC Trip to Washington, DC on March 9-12, 2008
5:00 pm - Council Dinner and Workshop, Room 267.
7:30 pm - Citizens' Forum, Room 267
Wednesday, March 5
3:00 pm - Budget Retreat, Room 267. The agenda materials are in your packet today.
Information Items:
The first six months of construction for the Briar Creek Relief Sewer Project is complete. Attached is the newsletter mailed to update more than 3,600 customers.
The construction route of Phase I is beside Briar Creek from the Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tyvola Road to Randolph Road.
The LYNX Blue Line Extension was approved by the Federal Transit Administration to begin Preliminary Engineering in November 2007. The extension will lengthen the current Blue Line by 11 miles, from Seventh Street to just south of I-485 in Northeast Charlotte.
INFORMATION (continued):
The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) has scheduled a public meeting so residents can learn more about what is involved in the engineering process, as well as the benefits and complexities of this project. CATS will host two sessions of this informational public meeting, on March 3 at Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church at 101 West Sugar Creek Road, and on March 4 at University Place Hilton at 8629 JM Keynes Drive. Both meetings will be from 6:00pm-8:00pm.
Attached is a schedule of other upcoming activities on the project.
Staff presented the TAP 2007 Annual Report to City Council's Transportation Committee in January. The Annual Report identifies how the City is progressing towards achieving the five TAP goals. The report identifies the achievements, current activities and issues and challenges affecting each of the five goals. Some of the achievements identified in the 2007 TAP Annual Report include:
- During 2007, the City designed and implemented a number of key transportation projects as detailed on page 4 of the report.
- In 2007, City Council adopted the Urban Street Design Guidelines, which are an important tool for implementing the TAP.
- The 9.6 mile Lynx Blue Line began operation of revenue service on November 26, 2007.
- The City's Capital Investment Plan was revamped to be consistent with the TAP.
Some of the issues and challenges identified in the report include:
- The lack of a regional transportation planning agency for the entire air quality non-attainment area continues to require ad hoc arrangements to accomplish basic regional transportation planning and air quality functions.
- The City needs to continuously communicate the importance of implementing Charlotte's transportation and land use vision to accommodate the growth for the city and region, while preserving our quality of life.
- The City is working to modify existing codes and ordinances in order to implement the Urban Street Design Guidelines.
- Without a dedicated transportation funding source, at levels consistent with the TAP, Charlotte will struggle to keep pace with continued growth and increased travel demand.
The Transportation Action Plan - 2007 Annual Report is attached for your review.
As a supplement to the Annual Report, CDOT presented to the Committee on February 25 new information about the cost estimates for the programs and projects in the TAP.
- In 2005, the expenditures recommended in the TAP totaled $3.57B.
- With updates to the mileage and cost per mile of the Farm-to-Market Roads Program and increased expenditures for the Area Plan and Corridors Programs, the expenditures recommended in the TAP would total $5.0B (in current dollars).
- If a 3% per year escalation rate is applied over the 25 years of the Plan, the escalated cost estimate for the TAP's programs and projects would be $7.26B.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities received a Region of Excellence Award in Environmental Planning and Conservation from the Centralina Council of Governments (CCOG) during the group's Annual Board of Delegates meeting on February 13.
The award recognizes several recent Utilities projects and initiatives that demonstrate our commitment to the environment and sustainable business practices. These efforts include:
- Incorporating LEED certification and 'green' elements into design and construction of the new Utilities Environmental Services Facility. This will be the City's first building with LEED certification, which is based on standard environmental specifications and building materials.
- Water reuse program elements and construction of rain gardens that were included in the recent expansion of the McDowell Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
- Our biosolids recycling program, where solids from the water and wastewater treatment processes are safely land-applied rather than landfilled.
- Programs to protect land for water quality and wildlife preservation.
- Adopting, earning certification and operating under IS0 14001 Environmental Management standards at the Mallard Creek Water Reclamation Facility; and
- Our award-winning environmental education programs, which include the Blue Planet Water Environmental Center and our WaterSmart conservation and community recognition programs.
At its meeting on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 the MTC had no action items on the agenda, but received information briefings on the following:
Review of the Proposed FY2009 Transit Operating Program: Staff gave the MTC an overview of the Proposed FY2009 Transit Operating Program. The summary is as follows:
FY2008 Budget
- Operating Income: $126,429,304
- Operating expense: $103,674,289
- Operating balance: $22,755,01
FY2008 Mid-Year Estimate:
- Operating Income: $127,989,284
- Operating expense: $101,978,310
- Operating balance: $26,010,235
FY 2009 Budget
- Operating income: $132,904,803
- Operating expense: $110,665,567
- Operating balance: $22,239,235
FY2009 Proposed Budget
- Operating income: $133,832,649
- Operating expense: $112,314,077
- Operating balance: $21,518,572
The FY2008 mid-year estimate reflects a $1,559,980 increase in Operating Income due to higher revenue from passenger fares and income earned on fund balances. Operating Expenses are projected to be $1,695,979 below budget due to position vacancies and savings on railroad liability costs. All of this has resulted in a $3,255,959 increase in the Operating Balance that can be transferred to the Capital Program.
In FY2009, higher fare revenue accounts for the estimated increase of $927,848 in the Operating Income. An additional 3 percent increase in bus revenue hours will cause the Operating Expense to increase by $1,648,510, resulting in a $720,663 reduction in the Operating Balance. Also in FY2009, the Operating Program will fund 377 regular positions and 21 part-time positions.
Staff discussed rising fuel cost and other line items that are adding to CATS' operating expenses. To deal with the rising cost, staff noted that a fare increase may be considered for fall 2008.
Annual Route Performance Report: Staff presented the sixth Annual Route Performance Report, which evaluates service to improve performance of individual routes in CATS' network. The Route Performance Monitoring System provides a statistical method to compare and analyze individual route performance over time against comparable services. A performance index score is computed for each bus route after averaging passengers per revenue hour and subsidy per passenger statistics against comparable services and system-wide averages. The scores are then indexed so that a score of 1.0 represents average performance within a given service category (scores above 1.0 are better than average and scores below 1.0 represent below average performance).
From this year's report, staff learned that the top five performing routes are:
1. 54X University Research Park Express
2. 86 Gold Rush Red Line
3. 9 Central Avenue
4. 11 North Tryon
5. 6 Kings Drive
The top five lowest performing routes are:
1. 50 Gold Rush UNCC
2. 60 Tyvola Road
3. 36 Midtown
4. 59 Scaleybark/Marsh
5. 102 Arrrowood Shuttle
Staff will take the information from the report to make adjustments to better serve customers and to ensure that the long-term transit service plans can be achieved. It should also be noted that some routes on the low performing list were added in November when the LYNX Blue Line opened and will need additional time to develop.
North Corridor Report: Staff gave the MTC an update on the North Corridor Commuter Rail Project, which would implement commuter rail service from the proposed Charlotte Gateway Station to Mooresville using existing Norfolk Southern railroad right-of-way. On February 25, City Council gave CATS the authority to enter into contracts to advance engineering work. Total cost for engineering, based on the current conceptual cost estimates, is projected to total $8.5 million through final engineering and procurement. CATS' FY2008 budget includes $5 million for engineering in the North Corridor and the additional $3.5 million will come from the FY2009 Capital Budget.
CEO's Report:
1. Mid-year Management Report: Under the Mid-year Management Report it was noted that the total system ridership through the first six months of FY2008 was up 7.9 percent over the same period last year. Concerning the FY2008 Transit Program, the Operating Income is projected at $233.9 million, with expenditures/encumbrances projected at $196.3 million, which includes the possible redemption of $20 million of short-term borrowing for the South Corridor. The Transit Budgetary Balance is projected to increase over FY2007 by an estimated $37.6 million resulting in a year-end balance of $196.9 million.
2. LYNX Blue Line Update: Operation of the LYNX Blue Line continues to run smoothly with all of the major systems performing well. The performance of the Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) continues to improve. However, some problems persist. Until those problems are addressed, CATS will not formally accept the machines. It was also noted that the Charlotte Trolley, which will operate on the same track as the Blue Line, may be back in operation as early as mid to late April.
3. Ridership: Ridership for the month of January 2008 increased 18.1 percent across all services.
The next MTC meeting will be held March 26, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. in the CMGC room 267.
