Press Releases and Newsletters
Wilmington City Council approves Inland Greens purchase (WWAY)
Wilmington City Council voted unanimously to move forward with the purchase of the Inland Greens golf course, which will be used as a public park.
It voted to accept $75,000 from affected homeowners associations. The city will purchase the property for $500,000. Council members approved stormwater improvements at Inland Greens, as well.
Council also voted to apply for a $75,000 grant from the North Carolina 2011 Recreational Trails Program. The money would help build the Cross City Trail. When completed the trail will cross the city from Wade Park in south Wilmington to the drawbridge at Wrightsville Beach.
Finally, the council voted 6-1 in favor of a resolution opposing proposed bills in the state legislature that would allow digital billboards to be erected every 1,500 feet on each side of any interstate or highway.
Submitted by Cacky Catlett on Tue, 03/22/2011 – 11:39pm.
N.C. deal sets train on fast track (News & Observer)
Fast track money
Now that new governors in three states have rejected their shares of $8 billion in stimulus grants, North Carolina has moved up to fourth place among states that will spend federal money for faster passenger train service.
Out of 20 states that have received $4.9 billion so far, here are the five with the most:
California: $2.89 billion
Illinois: $1.14 billion
Washington: $590 million
North Carolina: $59 million received so far, $461 million expected soon under terms of a railroad agreement signed Monday. Separate negotiations are planned for the remaining $25 million.
Vermont: $50 million
Rejected by Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida: $3.6 billion (including $2.4 billion recently offered for competitive bids from other states)
Sources: N.C. DOT, Federal Railroad Administration
After months of wrangling with a reluctant freight railroad, the N.C. Department of Transportation says it has won the agreement it needed to secure $461 million in federal grants that will put faster, more frequent and more reliable passenger trains on the tracks between Charlotte and Raleigh.
Gene Conti, the state transportation secretary, said DOT will start seeking bids over the next two weeks for contracts to lay tracks, build bridges and buy trains.
The construction is expected to create 4,800 jobs over the next two years and cut the train time from Raleigh to Charlotte below three hours, including seven stops on the way.
“This will significantly improve our passenger service and also, I believe, have benefits for the movement of freight through that corridor” between the state’s largest cities, Conti said Monday evening.
The Obama administration promised $545 million in January 2010 as North Carolina’s share of $8 billion in stimulus funds to start building a national network of high-speed trains. But the Federal Railroad Administration withheld most of the money until it extracted guarantees that taxpayers would get better train service for their investment – and that DOT would not let slow freight trains get in the way.
That meant coming to terms with Norfolk Southern Railway, whose dispatchers control movements of passenger as well as freight trains on the tracks it leases from the state-owned N.C. Railroad. Conti signed the 23-page agreement late Monday with Norfolk Southern, N.C. Railroad and Amtrak.
DOT will spend the money to add 28 miles of double track between Greensboro and Charlotte, plus five miles of passing sidings between Raleigh and Greensboro.
Curves will be straightened so trains can run faster. A dozen new highway bridges will replace crossings where trains sometimes crash into cars; 21 private-road crossings will be closed.
Much of the money will be spent in and near Charlotte. An $88 million railroad bridge there will replace a downtown crossing where Norfolk Southern and CSX trains now must stop for each other, and it will make room for future local transit trains.
“It connects the two largest cities in the state right across the Piedmont crescent, with faster travel times that have become increasingly competitive with the automobile,” said Joe Milazzo II, executive director of the Regional Transportation Alliance, a Triangle business group.
“We’re anxious to see these improvements, and certainly to see them shorten the travel time between Raleigh and Charlotte,” said Natalie English, a Charlotte Chamber of Commerce senior vice president.
Two Triangle projects worth $30 million will erect bridges to lift trains over dangerous crossings at Hopson Road in Research Triangle Park and Morrisville Parkway in Morrisville.
DOT will buy more locomotives and passenger cars, and expand its rail yard off Capital Boulevard in Raleigh to make room for them.
Goal: 90 mph at peak
The improvements will cut a projected 13 minutes from travel times between Raleigh and Charlotte because trains will be able to run faster in places where they now are required to slow down. The run time now is three hours 12 minutes.
But it is unclear when the maximum train speeds between Raleigh and Charlotte will be increased to 90 mph, as called for in the state’s rail plan. That upgrade could cut another 12 to 15 minutes from travel times.
The legal top speed will stay at 79 mph until the nation’s railroads install safety technology called “positive train control,” intended to reduce chances of train accidents.
That change is supposed to happen by 2015. But in a stopgap spending bill adopted last week to keep the government running for another three weeks, Congress eliminated at least temporarily a federal appropriation to help railroads pay for the safety technology.
Norfolk Southern’s part
Travelers who ride the Amtrak Carolinian from New York to Charlotte now are familiar with frequent delays – especially on clogged CSX freight tracks in Virginia – that can make the train arrive minutes or hours late. The new agreement will hold Norfolk Southern responsible for avoiding similar delays in North Carolina that could keep new and existing trains from arriving on schedule.
Norfolk Southern balked at accepting terms it said might curtail its freight business today or cramp its opportunity to expand over decades to come. The first agreement DOT signed with the railroad in December was rejected as toothless by the Federal Railroad Administration.
The new agreement sets standards Norfolk Southern must meet, measured in minutes of travel delay, to keep the passenger trains on time. It sets guidelines for determining which problems are the freight railroad’s responsibility, and steps for getting them fixed. In return, Norfolk Southern gets a voice in future decisions to add trains to the schedule and set their timetables.
Norfolk Southern has a history of hard bargaining.
Bypassing Five Points
When Triangle Transit was developing plans in the 1990s for local rail transit service in the region, Norfolk Southern forced the agency to pledge $2.6 million for a new side track in Durham County, as a replacement for rusted rails that had not served a freight customer for 20 years.
And last year, when DOT was mapping a proposed high-speed route from Richmond, Va., to downtown Raleigh, Norfolk Southern protested that a path mapped through its yard near Five Points would cause several hundred million dollars in damages.
“When we start having passengers on a freight rail line, that makes us nervous,” John V. Edwards, Norfolk Southern’s passenger policy director, said in December at a rail conference in Richmond. He declined to comment on recent negotiations with DOT.
DOT is expected this spring to announce a new route, based on recommendations by several Raleigh residents, that would bypass Five Points by lifting the trains on new tracks over Capital Boulevard.
Illinois and Washington also went through tough negotiations with freight railroads before they secured the bulk of their fast-train money, and Virginia is still haggling over terms with CSX. Smaller grants in other states are still up in the air, but North Carolina’s was the last big-dollar deal to be resolved.
Conti said the state will apply in coming weeks for more federal funds to advance plans for the track to Richmond, to help pay for a new Amtrak-and-transit depot in downtown Raleigh, and finish the improvements between Raleigh and Charlotte.
BY BRUCE SICELOFF – Staff Writer
Published in: Traffic
March 22, 2011
More digital billboards could pop up in North Carolina (WECT)
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – A proposed bill was introduced recently in the NC General Assembly that would allow more digital billboards across the state.
If the bill is passed, thousands of existing billboards could be switched to digital signs, despite their locations. It would also expand the area where trees can be cleared in the public right of way in front of private billboards.
The bill says the digital billboards cannot be placed with 1,500 of another electronic sign and it must have a default design that will freeze if something stops working.
The bill is expected to be heard this week.
According to the billboard company, the digital network can be used for security messages, hurricane evacuation measures and other emergency messages. They will also enable businesses to change their advertising messages throughout the day.
Posted: Mar 21, 2011 1:53 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 21, 2011 1:53 PM EDT
Opponents lining up against billboard bill (WRAL)
Cities and environmental advocates across North Carolina are banding together to oppose legislation that would loosen restrictions on billboards statewide.
Senate Bill 183 would allow digital billboards, which change every few seconds to advertise different products and services, every 1,500 feet on either side of a highway or major thoroughfare. Under the proposal, the distance between standard billboards would be 300 to 500 feet outside municipal limits and 100 feet inside.
The legislation also would allow billboard owners to ignore local bans on such outdoor advertising, as well as local regulations that prevent clear-cutting of trees and grass along roadsides.
“It’s a property rights issue,” said Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “If you owned property on the side of the road and you put up a sign and weren’t allowed to clear your grass away, you’ve taken away a source of income that you or your family depend on.”
Neighborhood groups in Durham, Wilmington and Winston-Salem have already come out against the bill, and the Raleigh City Council is expected to sign a resolution formally opposing it on Tuesday.
Raleigh resident Bob Fesmire has launched a Facebook campaign to stop the bill, saying digital billboards distract drivers.
“I don’t really see how this benefits anybody except a very few businesspeople,” Fesmire said. “Our purpose is to nip this in the bud and do what everybody wants to do – keep the scenic roads the way they are.”
Rucho said the legislation will help businesses located off highways increase their advertising and retain jobs. He also said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to roadside scenery.
“The reality is, if (a billboard area) is kept up and kept clean, I look at it as being part of the scenic (view),” he said. “Would I like to see 2- to 3-foot grass? I don’t think that’s scenic unless I’m in the prairie.”
Posted: 3:44 p.m. March 22, 2011
Updated: 6:39 p.m. March 22, 2011
Reporter: Stacy Davis
Photographers: Richard Adkins, Edward Wilson
Web Editor: Matthew Burns
City council worried about proposed gas tax cap (Star News)
Local officials fear an initiative to cap the state’s gas tax will mean fewer dollars for paving and building roads.
The DOT is opposing state legislation that would cap the motor fuel excise tax rate where it is now at 32.5 cents a gallon.
The DOT’s analysis also says the cap would save the average driver $7.50 a year.
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said drivers might save money but without the tax revenue, “unfortunately they may not be able to drive on the roads.”
He then apologized for being facetious at the council’s agenda meeting. But members said it was a good point. If the state funds don’t come in, the city could be on the hook for $9 facetious million in road resurfacing.
But co-sponsor of the legislative proposal, state Rep. Mike Hagar, said the cap would not take away any money that already flows into the state’s transportation funds. He said the projected loss is based on what the state would bring in if gas prices rise and the tax goes up.
“It’s not like it’s money that was coming to them that we’re holding back,” he said.
Hagar, a Republican whose district covers Cleveland and Rutherford counties, said no savings from the tax cap is too small.
“Even if it saves a dollar, that’s a dollar that goes into the pocket of the consumer,” he said.
The bill that would still allow the tax to decrease if gas prices go down has been filed in the House.
“We want our folks to put their money back into the economy not give more money to the state,” Hagar said.
The DOT argues the small savings from gas tax cap to drivers is not worthwhile when compared with the benefit of new construction, Assistant to the City Manager for Legislative Affairs Lawless Bean said.
The city council found out about the gas tax cap during a legislative update after the regular agenda briefing Monday.
Council is also concerned about various annexation bills that could put an end to forced annexation.
Councilwoman Laura Padgett said the city should better inform the citizens of the benefits of annexation.
“Annexation means lower, stable city taxes,” she said.
Padgett suggested putting that information on rolling billboards in the city.
Councilwoman Kristi Campos said she didn’t agree with using the city’s public information outlets that way. An opponent of forced annexation, Campos also argued against Padgett’s comment that citizens are don’t know what annexation means for Wilmington.
“I think a lot of them understand it. They were annexed,” Tomey said.
The council will also consider a resolution during its regular meeting Tuesday to oppose state legislation that Padgett says would take away the city’s control of billboard regulations.
By Shelby Sebens
Shelby.Sebens@StarNewsOnline.com
Published: Monday, March 21, 2011 at 2:59 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, March 21, 2011 at 2:59 p.m.
Weatherly elected to the coalition (Apex Herald)
Although Apex only ranks as the 22nd largest municipality in North Carolina, its voice will be heard by decision-makers in all of the state’s biggest cities.
Mayor Keith Weatherly was recently elected to the executive committee of the NC Metropolitan Mayors Coalition at their 2011 winter meeting in Greensboro.
The coalition focuses on state and national issues and how they affect local governments.
“It’s good to have a seat at the table because they lobby on behalf of our interests,” said Weatherly. “I’m very pleased to be part of the policy-making committee.”
Membership in the coalition requires a municipality to have a population of at least 25,000 residents. There are 27 cities in the state that have reached that number.
With the struggling economy putting a burden on all levels of government, 2011 is an important year for the coalition’s members.
“ Right now, with the recession, there is a lot of stress being put on the state budget,” said Weatherly. “We need to make sure (the state) doesn’t usurp any of our revenue streams.”
NC Department of Transportation was mulling over the idea of shifting maintenance responsibility on many state roads to municipal governments.
Although that idea is currently dormant, the coalition wants to make sure it’s never revived.
“We need to remain vigilant,” said Weatherly. “That type of (change in policy) could cost the town millions of dollars.
“A lot of people don’t realize how many roads in Apex are actually state roads. If they became our responsibility it would create a very bad situation for our taxpayers.”
While some of the bigger cities might have different concerns than Apex, the coalition provides the mayors a format to discuss various issues.
“I might have a different opinion from a big city mayor,” said Weatherly. “But now I have the opportunity to express my opinion and work things out. I believe that is a good thing for Apex and for western Wake County.”
Other mayors serving on the executive committee with Weatherly are Bill Bell, Durham; Susan Klutz, Salisbury; Bill Knight, Greensboro; Allen Joines, Winston-Salem; Scott Padgett, Concord; Anthony Foxx, Charlotte; Bill Saffo, Wilmington; and Becky Smother, High Point.
Joining the mayors at their winter meeting were Governor Beverly Perdue, U.S. Senator Kay Hagen, NC Speaker Thom Tillis, and NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.
by Shawn Daley
March 20, 2011
Digital Billboards (THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER)
The billboard industry is pushing legislation that would erase city and county regulations that prevent billboard owners from converting traditional signs into those that resemble giant flat-screen TVs. The change would apply only to billboards adjacent to major routes, such as interstates and primary highway system roads. A billboard industry lobbyist said sign owners should be allowed to move ahead with new technology. “There’s a big demand for digital billboards,” said Tony Adams, who represents the N.C. Outdoor Advertising Association. Digital billboards are popular with the industry because they can be changed quickly and cheaply. They increase profits by serving several advertisers simultaneously, Adams said. The bill would also let billboard owners clear view-obstructing trees from a larger swath of roadside. The new limit would be 400 feet within public rights of way, up from the current limit of 250 feet. The measure require cities and counties to abide by the statewide billboard tree-clearing policy.
The proposal has drawn opposition from local governments and environmental groups. “We should have some say in how our community works and the safety here,” said Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne. In Fayetteville, billboard owners are allowed to convert an existing sign to digital if it complies with all other local regulations, said city planning manager Karen Hilton. The bill would trump that restriction for billboards on the interstate and primary roads. Chavonne doesn’t want lawmakers in Raleigh to restrict Fayetteville’s ability to control its appearance. “We would hate to see that trumped by a level of government that’s not where we live,” Chavonne said.(Paul Woolverton, THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER, 3/20/11).
Asheville exceeds NC’s average population growth (Citizens Times)
Region’s mild climate, quality of life attracts newcomers
ASHEVILLE — Western North Carolina’s largest city grew faster over the past decade than the state average, according to 2010 U.S. census data released Wednesday.
Asheville’s population has increased 21 percent since 2000, rising to 83,393 people. Buncombe County increased 15.5 percent to 238,318 people.
As the South’s second-fasting-growing state, after Texas, North Carolina’s population increased 18 percent to 9.5 million people.
The growth, state Data Center coordinator Bob Coats said, is part of a trend of people leaving the Northeast for better climates and jobs in the South.
Asheville business leaders attributed the city’s growth to the region offering a quality of life that baby boomers seek in retirement or near-retirement.
Many homebuyers are coming from the Northeast, said Billie Greene, broker in charge at the Asheville office of Prudential Lifestyle Realty.
“And Florida is still around,” she said. “It’s a quality of life and the climate that we have. We don’t have severe summers and winters.”
Proximity to national parks and cities like Charlotte and Atlanta also are attractive to newcomers, Greene said.
Charlotte continued its reign as North Carolina’s largest city with a 35.2 percent gain to 731,424. Raleigh grew 46.3 percent to 403,892 people.
The state’s Hispanic population increased 111 percent, going from fewer than 400,000 to 800,120, moving North Carolina to 11th in the nation in total Latino residents.
The number of non-Hispanic white residents grew 13 percent, and the non-Hispanic black population grew 18 percent to 2 million. North Carolina has the sixth-highest black population in the nation.
“Classic North Carolina is a spread-out, decentralized state of small cities, small towns, small factories and small farms,” said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Policy at the University of North Carolina. “We are not that anymore and haven’t been that in a while. We have become a more muscular metro state.”
Guillory pointed to growth not only in the major cities but also in counties near them as evidence that the Tar Heel State is becoming more metropolitan.
Gas Tax Cap, State Budget, Billboards, Census Update March 17
Gas Tax Cap
Reps. McElraft, Killian, Hager, Stone, Ingle, Jordan, LaRoque, and H. Warren have introduced H399 to cap the gas tax at the current rate of 32.5 cents per gallon. The gas tax is the major funding source for NC’s transportation system including resurfacing, construction, and Powell Bill revenues.
Capping the gas tax would only save the average driver about 20 cents per week while costing the state $250 million over the next two years. That lost funding would result in almost 7,000 lost jobs.
Capping the gas tax over the proposed two-year period would:
- Result in an estimated $250 million loss for the state highway fund
- Result in 6,979 lost jobs (direct and indirect)
- Only save the average driver about 20 cents per week
- Result in 18,335 miles of pavement statewide that could not be resurfaced
Click here for a table by NCDOT of one scenario of what they will have to eliminate from your county currently in the 10 Year Work Plan if this bill passes.
One idea being discussed at the General Assembly is to cap the gax tax, but at 34 or 35 cents, which allows the 10 Year Work Plan to continue as planned. This compromise offers a good middle ground where the General Assembly can cap the tax and continue the important transportation investments our State needs.
Please call your legislators and discourage them from support this bill in its current form. Let them know the impact on your local community and ask them to find a compromise that will allow the 10 Year Work Plan to continue.
Transportation Budget Update
The House and Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee continues to meet to explore potential cuts to the State budget. The Committee has asked each section in NCDOT to present 5, 10, and 15 percent cuts to their programs. Items under consideration for cuts or changes include the Mobility Fund, Powell Bill allocations, public transportation grants, and airport grants, among many others. If you have a Representative or Senator on the Committee please continue to ask them not to shift State responsibilities onto local government.
VIPER
The State’s Highway Patrol is funded out of the State’s Transportation Budget. This week they were asked to present 5, 10 and 15 percent cuts to their budget for the House and Senate Transportation Appropriation Committee’s consideration. They were also asked to offer specific suggestions for how the Patrol could charge local government for usage or access State’s VIPER system (Interoperable communications system infrastructure for all public safety agencies in NC). The Patrol refused to offer any such plan. When the General Assembly Fiscal Staff offered such a suggestion Senators Harrington and Rabon expressed their disapproval saying that those who need the system most are the least able to pay for it. After the meeting, as I thanked the Senators for their support, Sen. Harrington explained that the State got itself into a budget hole and would have to dig itself out without passing costs onto local government.
S183/H309 Selective Vegetation Removal/State Highways would override community regulations regarding the location and appearance of digital billboards, and dramatically expand the area where public trees can be cleared along roadways. The bill follows a rash of bills introduced to alter the decisions of local government. The Charlotte Observer wrote an editorial this week entitled, “Lawmakers have dim view of local control, Billboard bill another sign of disdain for municipal decisions.” The Metro Mayors Coalition passed a resolution against the bills recently.
Spice/Synthetic Marijuana
S7 Add Controlled Substances is headed to the Governor for her signature. The bill outlaws synthetic stimulants and drugs gaining popularity among young people .
Film Incentives
The Metro Mayors Coalition adopted a statement of support for the State’s film incentives recently and mailed a letter of support to relevant members of the General Assembly.
Census Reactions
Discussions over the last two weeks on the new Census data focused on the state’s notable population growth, 19% since 2000, and its impact on changes in state congressional districts. The immense growth the state’s largest metropolitan areas witnessed will potentially shift political power to those areas, and away from more rural areas, that saw a decline in population.
Specifically, the regions that stand the most to gain from North Carolina’s surge in population-Charlotte-Mecklenburg metro area and the Triangle-are decidedly urban and suburban. Specifically, Wake County grew 44% and Mecklenburg County grew 32%. The City of Raleigh grew 46% and the City of Charlotte grew 35% (link). And finally, Union County, a bedroom community for Charlotte, had the state’s largest percentage increase of 63%.
State political leaders have taken notice of this phenomenon; especially after the historical shift in majority control of the NC General Assembly. As momentum shifts from initial analysis of the data, to determining what the political ramifications will be, political leaders from both parties have started to articulate and formulate strategies for an equitable and efficient redistricting process (link).
The NC Civitas Institute released maps which help visually explain where the districts are that are likely to expand and where they are likely to shrink.
Discussion has also focused on long-term ramifications of North Carolina’s population growth. While local leaders acknowledge recent population growth can strain local government resources-especially under current economic conditions-they also view the state’s growth as a springboard to future economic prosperity and development.
Several North Carolina communities are developing strategies to appeal the census findings. For example, Statesville officials are investigating whether they will dispute the census data, because of the 10% disparity between the state’s growth projections and the indicated by the census. Additionally, officials in Oak Island and Southport are contemplating challenging the census data, because they fear losing crucial state funding. Finally, the Mayor of Black Mountain is also considering disputing the census findings after Black Mountain’s growth rate slowed from 38% between 1990 and 2000, to 4.5% between 2000 and 2010.
Click here to see our recently released 2011 Winter Newsletter.
As always, call if you have any questions.
Julie
Stage set for fireworks in Raleigh (Citizen Times)
Congressional redistricting is triggered every 10 years based upon the completion of the Census. So that’s where we need to start. Over the past decade the population of the United States increased by 27 million to a total of 309 million people. This is an increase of 9.7 percent, which is one of the lowest in our history. Only the decade of 1930-40 had a lower percentage growth rate. Over one-half of the national growth during the last decade was attributable to immigrants and their children.
The population of North Carolina increased by 18.5 percent to 9.5 million persons. After Texas, North Carolina is the fastest growing state in the South. The growth rate was 13 percent for whites, 18 percent for African-Americans, and 100 percent for Latinos. The number of Latinos increased from 400,000 to 800,000 and they now constitute 8 percent of the state’s population.
Most of our population growth was concentrated in five major metropolitan areas. The increase in Charlotte was 35.2 percent, in Raleigh 46.3 percent, in Greensboro 20.4 percent, in Winston-Salem 23.6 percent, and in Durham 22.1 percent.
These census data will drive the redistricting process that is about to begin. It is mandatory that all 435 congressional districts in the United States have essentially the same number of people. That number will be about 710,000 people for each district.
North Carolina currently has 13 congressional districts and the new census data will make no change in that number. But here’s where the fun and games begin. When you look at the current populations of the 13 existing districts you find a very substantial divergence (both up and down) from the new mandatory number of 710,000.
For example, Sue Myrick’s 9th district has too many residents — 119,000 too many. David Price’s 4th district has 93,000 too many. G.K. Butterfield’s 1st district is under-populated by 99,000 individuals. And Heath Shuler’s 11th district is short by 30,000 persons. In fact, nine of our thirteen congressional districts are either way too large or way too small.
In addition, four of the state’s districts are already classic examples of grotesque gerrymandering —Butterfield’s 1st, Jones’ 3rd, Coble’s 6th, and Watt’s12th.
What the new map will resemble is anybody’s guess. But this much is clear. The national Republican Party has already identified North Carolina as ground zero for its nationwide effort to take advantage of redistricting. The objective will be to wrest control of at least two of the seats the Democrats now control, if not three.
And now the stage is set and the drama is about to begin. Orchestrating this “Passion Play” in the General Assembly will be the two Chairmen of the House and Senate Redistricting Committees — Representative David Lewis (R-Harnett) and Senator Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg).
March 6, 2011LeRoy Goldman worked for the federal government from 1964-2001.
2:52 PM, Mar. 11, 2011
Written by
LeRoy Goldman
