NCDOT 10-YEAR Transportation Plan Unveiled

Public Comment Opportunity for NCDOT Division 6 Projects

Post Date:02/20/2019 10:41 AM

(from city memo)
FAYETTEVILLE – Area residents will get a chance to learn more about the N.C. Department of Transportation’s draft
10-Year transportation plan for 2020-2029 at a week-long open house in
Fayetteville next week. The department unveiled its proposed funding
and construction plan
in January with more than 1,600 transportation projects across the state. The list includes 17 new projects and two accelerated ones for Highway
Division 6, which covers Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett and
Robeson counties. Projects were selected based on technical data, as well as input from local officials and the public. A list of the projects in the
draft plan and additional information is available on this
NCDOT website.

The transportation plan is updated every two years. Projects scheduled in the first five years are considered committed, while projects in the final
five years of the draft 10-year plan will be re-evaluated again as part of
the development process for the 2022-2031 plan. That process will start
later this year.

Each of the department’s 14 highway divisions are hosting a week-long
public comment opportunity on the projects in the current draft plan. In Division 6, it will be from Feb. 25-March 1 at the division’s main office at 558 Gillespie St. in Fayetteville during normal business hours. The
contact is Darius Sturdivant, who may be reached at 910-364-0600.

The sessions will serve as opportunities for interested residents to review maps and handouts about the projects, ask questions of local NCDOT
staff, and submit comments.

People who can’t visit the office that week may submit their comments online through April 15.
The Board of Transportation will consider adopting the plan this
summer.

***NCDOT***

NCDOT Public Meeting

Description: Widening of N.C. 59 (South Main Street) from Betsy Ross Drive to Parkton Road in Cumberland County

Project # U-6001

Tuesday, February 26

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Covenant Original Free Will Baptist Church at 813 Orchard Street in Hope Mills

Cumberland County Planning Department Survey

(from County memo)

Cumberland County has contracted with McGill and Associates to conduct a performance audit of the Cumberland County Planning and Inspections Department.  The audit is designed to identify opportunities for improvement in the existing operations, staffing, overall workloads and how best practices can be implemented.  As part of the study, a brief survey is being conducted and we ask that you take the time to complete the survey and forward it to anyone that you think should also complete the survey.  The link is below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Cumberland_County

Thank you for your time and as always, if I you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Joel Strickland

Acting Director

Cumberland County Planning and Inspections

130 Gillespie Street, Fayetteville, NC

910-678-7622

jstrickland@co.cumberland.nc.us

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Hope Mills Commissioners Move Sign Ordinance Forward

Chancer McLaughlin (Development & Planning Administrator) proposed amendments to the Town of Hope Mills Sign Ordinance as a result of recent work session.  The recommended action from staff was approval of the document.

A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell to approve the ordinance.  The motion PASSED with commissioner Edwards voting in opposition.

What’s Next?

The document  will move forward to the Cumberland County Joint Planning Board in March as a public hearing.  If approved, the ordinance will go back to the Hope Mills Commission in March as a public hearing.

To view ordinance, click below.

http://www.townofhopemills.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02182019-528

Public Hearing Set for Proposed Homeowners Insurance Rate Increase

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2019 Contact: Barry Smith at 919-807-6014 Commissioner Causey disagrees with insurance companies’ proposed homeowners’ rate increase: sets hearing date RALEIGH — North Carolina

Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey has set Sept. 4, 2019, as the hearing date for the North Carolina Rate Bureau’s proposed statewide average 17.4 percent homeowners’ insurance rate increase. “There is a pervasive lack of documentation, explanation, and justification of both the data used, as well as the procedures and methodologies utilized in the filing,” Commissioner Causey said in his hearing notice to the NCRB. “The proposed rates appear to be excessive and unfairly discriminatory.”

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in the Second Floor Hearing Room in the Albemarle Building, 325 N. Salisbury St. Raleigh. The hearing will be held unless the N.C. Department of Insurance and NCRB are able to negotiate a settlement before that date. State law gives the Insurance Commissioner 45 days to issue an order once the hearing concludes. Once the order is issued, the NCRB has the right to appeal the decision to the N.C. Court of Appeals. A Court of Appeals order could then be appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court. The Department of Insurance and NCRB can settle the proposed rate increase at any time during litigation.

The NCRB filed the average statewide 17.4 percent increase on Dec. 20, 2018. The filing covers insurance for residential property, tenants, and condominiums at varying rates around the state. Under the NCRB proposal, the biggest increases would be felt along the coast. The NCRB has requested certain areas in western North Carolina receive small rate decreases. These areas include Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, and Macon counties. Rates for tenants and condominium insurance would see proposed decreases in other counties.

The NCRB represents insurance companies that write the state’s homeowners’, auto and workers’ compensation policies. It is a separate entity from the Department of Insurance. The public comment period for the proposed rate hike remains open until Feb. 26, 2019. There are three ways to comment:

A Public Comment forum will be held to listen to public input on the Rate Bureau’s rate increase request at the N.C. Department of Insurance’s Second Floor Hearing Room on Feb. 26, 2019, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Department of Insurance is in the Albemarle Building, 325 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, N.C. Emailed public comments should be sent by Feb. 26, 2019, to 2018Homeowners@ncdoi.gov. Written public comments should be mailed to Tricia Ford, Paralegal Administrator, to be received by Feb. 26, 2019, and addressed to 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1201.

All public comments will be shared with the N.C. Rate Bureau. The last Rate Bureau homeowners’ rate filing was in 2017. That year, the NCRB requested an average 18.9 percent statewide increase in homeowners’ insurance rates, but Insurance Commissioner Causey settled, instead, on an average 4.8 percent increase.

Fayetteville City Council 2019 Strategic Plan

 City Council Chooses Strategic Initiatives for Next Fiscal Year Post  (from city memo)

The Fayetteville City Council, based on the City’s established Strategic Priorities, identified several initiatives for the next 12-18 months at this weekend’s annual Strategic Planning Retreat. Those initiatives include:

Redevelopment and business growth of the Murchison Road corridor

Job creation and retention for the local workforce through an internship program

Developing Smart City capacity, specifically through pursuing the installation of broadband across the City

Collaboration and empowerment by developing a Young Adult Engagement Program

Working to develop a quality stormwater program

Managing the City’s future growth through a comprehensive land use plan

Improving connectivity by assessing the feasibility of railroad crossing safety at at-grade crossings

Elevating the conversation about how to combat poverty across the City

To advance community revitalization efforts, to include residential and commercial properties

The city’s elected officials met on Friday, Feb. 1 and Saturday, Feb. 2 at Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Wesley A. Meredith Horticultural Education Center to learn from their most recent citizen engagement efforts, set strategic priorities for the next 12-18 months, agree on methods and specifics of reporting, accountability, and community, and create talking points for strategic priorities.

The 2-day session was facilitated by Lydia Altman and Dale Smith, from the University of North Carolina’s School of Government. “Council appreciates this annual opportunity to review what we’ve achieved over the past year, and from listening to our citizens, carefully chose our priorities to work toward achieving next year,” said Mayor Mitch Colvin. “This helps keep us grounded and figure out how with a finite amount of money and staff resources, we can best focus on the selected priorities to make our city a better place for citizens.” City Manager Doug Hewett said, “This process is important for our council. It allows them to meet in a different environment than their normally structured meetings and collaborate with each other to plan where they want to direct city staff to focus our efforts next year.

It also helps us to ultimately be better stewards of our citizens’ money.” Strategic planning is a roadmap employed by many local governments to guide the use of money, personnel and resources to realize a shared vision of the future. It outlines what a community hopes to achieve through a long-term and annual goal-setting process and provides steps for reaching those goals. “This is an important part of determining how we as a city move forward,” said Rebecca Jackson, Strategic Performance Analytics Director. “Citizen input from engagements throughout the year has been taken into consideration to ensure council focuses on what’s most important to citizens.”

More information regarding the City’s strategy and performance programs can be found on the City’s website at https://fayettevillenc.gov/government/city-departments/strategic-performance-analytics/strategic-planning.

Citizens can also visit TRACstat for key performance measures, finance and budget data and Targets for Action updates at http://tracstat.fayettevillenc.gov for updates on strategic performance results.