Calendar Details:
July and August Calendars Attached
Information Items:
I-277/Caldwell Interchange Project (NHOF Road Improvements)
Staff Resource:
Kruti Desai, 704-353-1795 or kdesai@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Construction continues on the I-277/Caldwell Interchange Project (NASCAR Hall of Fame Road Improvements). Please see the upcoming major traffic shifts below and refer to the attached map for clarity. Uptown businesses and media have been notified of the construction and related traffic impacts.
1. Thursday, July 10, 7:00 p.m.
- The intersection of Stonewall Street and Brevard Street will close until Monday, July 14, 6:00 a.m. The detour for outbound traffic is College Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to McDowell Street. The detour for inbound traffic is McDowell Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to Tryon Street.
- The Brevard Street Connector to south bound I-277 will close permanently.
- South bound Caldwell Street will close at Fourth Street. It will re-open on July 14 at 6:00 a.m. with one lane only for the next two weeks. Detour will be Trade Street to Brevard Street.
- Fourth Street will be reduced to three lanes. The right curbside lane will close from Davidson Street northward.
2. Monday, July 14, 6:00 a.m.
- The new I-277 on-ramp from Caldwell Street (also South Boulevard) will open. This replaces the closed Brevard Street/I-277 Connector.
- Stonewall Street between Caldwell Street and College Street will reopen to one lane in each direction for the next two months.
- Caldwell Street from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to Stonewall Street becomes a two-way street with one outbound lane and two inbound lanes.
- Brevard Street will be reduced to two outbound lanes.
3. Tuesday, July 15, 9:00 a.m.
- The recently constructed north bound I-277 on-ramp and off-ramp at South Boulevard (previously scheduled to re-open 7/1/08) will re-open.
- The existing north bound I-277 off-ramp to South Boulevard will close permanently.
Citizen concerns over stream buffer variance in the Freedom Park Neighborhood
Staff Resource:
Daryl Hammock, 704-336-2167 or dhammock@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Citizens in the Freedom Park neighborhood have contacted several Council members over the last week to express concern over a mitigation plan being prepared by a homebuilder in order to comply with the City's SWIM stream buffer ordinance. The SWIM ordinance is a component of the newly adopted Post Construction Controls Ordinance approved by Council last fall.
Residents have met with staff recently to express concerns over the location of new homes and over the impacts to the stream. Currently, the SWIM ordinance allows disturbance of the buffer to accommodate other uses such as home building, provided the impacts are mitigated through several preapproved mitigation techniques. Techniques include the creation of structural storm water controls, tree establishment, or avoidance and minimization of impacts to the stream buffer.
The ordinance goal is to ensure no net impact to streams or to water quality. Staff is currently waiting to get more information from the developer about this mitigation plan in order to demonstrate that it will not result in stream or water quality impacts. Once the submittal is complete, staff will review the plan and evaluate it for its ability to meet the goal. Both Mecklenburg County and City staff are considering the mitigation plan jointly and will make a decision to approve or deny late this month.
Pedestrian Beacon System
Staff Resource:
Debbie Self, 704-336-3935 or drself@ci.charlotte.nc.us
In the coming weeks, CDOT will activate its first Pedestrian Beacon System on N. Sharon Amity Road near Clearmont Avenue. This new traffic control device is designed to provide pedestrians the opportunity to safely cross the street at mid-block locations with minimal disruption to drivers.
Pedestrian beacons are emerging as a new tool that can be used for pedestrian safety and mobility on higher speed, multi-lane roadways. These devices have been successively used by the City of Tucson, Arizona for many years. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has given CDOT permission to test these devices on city maintained streets.
In the next 12 to 18 months, CDOT plans to install two additional pedestrian beacons: Park Road near Townes Road, and Beatties Ford Road near Hildebrand Street. CDOT will closely monitor these three sites and report to FHWA. This information will be used by FHWA to determine if these devices are appropriate for use by transportation agencies nationwide.
The attached diagram explains how the system works and will be included as part of informational brochures to be sent to area residents.
Results of Regional Environmental Summit
Staff Resource:
Wilson Hooper, 704-336-8774 or whooper@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On May 2, 2008, the City of Charlotte co-hosted with our partners at Mecklenburg County and the Centralina COG a regional environment summit. The purpose of the summit was to convene representatives from municipalities and other relevant public agencies from throughout the region to hear updates on the state of our environment, find out what actions local governments throughout the region are considering, discuss how local governments can act regionally on environmental issues, and determine what local governments can and should do to improve the environment. About 140 attendees from nine counties and 14 municipalities participated in the summit.
During the afternoon session, summit attendees participated in a facilitated discussion on possible future actions in each of four environmental areas: water quality, air quality, land use/open space, and waste. At the conclusion of the discussion period for each area, attendees were asked to rank a series of action options and record why they preferred those options. Attendees were also asked to give their understanding of "green economic development" in the hopes of developing a common understanding of what is meant by this increasingly used expression.
In the weeks since the summit, City, County, and COG staff have analyzed the data and developed a summary of the results, attached below. The highest ranked action options in each of the four areas are:
Water quality:
Implementation of natural buffer zones
Implementation of low impact development requirements
Air quality:
Transportation measures
Tree preservation and planting
Land use/open space:
Development of open space/greenway master plan
Acquisition of land for preservation
Promotion of infill development
Waste:
Recycling of construction & demolition waste
Increased recycling of other targeted materials
Other highlights include an emphasis on public education, and an emerging theme that for green economic development to occur, government needs to incent both the recruitment of green industries and the greening of operations in existing industries.
These proposed actions and emerging themes will be placed on the agendas of COG's newly formed CONNECT Cabinets. CONNECT is our area's major regional initiative. Through "visioning" exercise with elected officials, business leaders, and public servants over the past year, CONNECT has developed a series of regional values that include the environment and sustainable growth. The regional cabinets are the lead entities charged with the collaborative implementation of the action agenda for that value. City staff has been invited and plans to participate in cabinets and complementary work teams.
The Regional Environmental Summit was a strong first step towards a truly regional approach to solving environmental issues. As the regional cabinets work in the months and years to come, City staff will update Council on their efforts.
