CHAPEL HILL -- Orange County elected leaders still have questions about a possible regional light-rail line.
A divided Chapel Hill Town Council voted last week to support a route along George King Road in Durham County, just east of the Chapel Hill town limits. The rail line would connect Chapel Hill and UNC Hospitals to downtown Durham.
Some Orange County commissioners, meanwhile, want to know what's in the plan for the county's rural areas before asking voters to approve a half-cent sales tax to help support it.
This morning, federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff will join North Carolina officials for a bus tour of proposed transit lines that will connect Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. After the bus tour, Rogoff will hold a press conference at N.C. State University.
The Town Council voted 6-3 to support the George King Road option but also to have the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee analyze the environmental impacts of both it and a second option that has generated a great deal of public opposition.
The George King Road route, known as C2, would run mostly through already developed road corridors. The other route, known as C1, would run through the Meadowmont neighborhood and across a wide section of creek bottomland designated a natural-heritage area.
Possible environmental damage has been one source of objection to C1; another is disruption to established neighborhoods. Phil Purcell, a resident at TheCedars, a retirement community in Meadowmont, encouraged the council to support C2. The community's 400 residents oppose a route through Meadowmont because it would cut the community in half and harm wetlands, he said.
Some Orange County commissioners, wary of another sales-tax increase after county voters approved a quarter-cent increase for schools and economic development last year, want more information.
Commissioner Earl McKee wonders whether the tax can cover the entire cost of building, operating and maintaining the proposed rail line.
"The whole problem with some of this plan, it is not usable from a perspective of someone who lives in the more ruralareas of Orange County," McKee said. "Once we build this system we're going to have to live with it. It's a concern for all citizens. All of Orange County citizens will be paying for it."
Commissioners also asked Triangle Transit to revisit the possibility of a light-rail route along U.S. 15-501. A route along that highway would offer more opportunities for economic development, particularly Chapel Hill and Carrboro, County Manager Frank Clifton said.
"It had been dismissed on data done several years ago," Clifton said. "The question from Orange County is, (is) it worth revisiting as you move forward, just to study it and not to rule it out as a potential opportunity?"
Triangle Transit is scheduled to respond to the commissioners Feb. 7. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee is scheduled to vote on the routes Feb. 8.
