Thursday night, the Chapel Hill Town Council discussed the proposed Obey Creek development’s effect on traffic and transit. The council also discussed plans for walkways and bike paths in and around the development.

Craig Scheffler, transportation engineer for the HNTB Corporation, presented the effects of the increased ridership on each bus line in the area. He pointed out the buses that would be over capacity during peak hours.

During the public comment period, resident Jeanne Brown expressed concerns about the traffic and transit analysis. She said this about the transit report prepared for the meeting:

“It really missed the mark to a conversation that’s very important to this town and to that particular development.”

Brown said the report should look more into bus capacity, weekend and night bus service, and other factors.

Brian Litchfield, director of Chapel Hill Transit, acknowledged that the analysis assumed the full capacity of a bus to include sitting passengers plus standing passengers.

“The baseline that we were using as far as capacity of the vehicles was 60. That’s a fairly full 40 foot bus,” said Lichfield. “There’s 37 to 38 seats on that bus so that’s assuming there are people standing on that bus.”

Changing the definition of capacity to include only sitting passengers would change the projected results.

The council passed a resolution in June of this year authorizing the town to enter negotiations with the developer, subject to receipt and review of traffic impact, fiscal impact, and environmental impact analyses.

Thursday’s conversation will help prepare the town to negotiate with Obey Creek Ventures, LLC.

The Chapel Hill Town Council calendar is full of “special meetings” over the next five months to talk about the proposed development. The council will meet Monday at Town Hall for another session focused on Obey Creek.

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