AUGUSTUS CHO

The Triangle Community Coalition is a diverse group of business men and women serving the Triangle.  Please see the link below.

TCC

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Triangle Community Coalition Candidate Photograph


The Questionnaire:

TCC Questionnaire – Fall Elections 2009

  1.  If elected to office, what will be your priorities with respect to managing growth in your town or city?

 My priorities:

 UDP:  Uniform Development Plan, minimizing the need for SUPs and the lengthy process

Growth:  sustainable & smart growth; mixed use; maintain green buffers

Density:  spread density from downtown more evenly to the corridors

Transit:  encourage mass transit use to reduce carbon footprint, develop multi-modal transit including regional light rail

Affordable housing:  use a realistic approach with more flexible options for affordable housing

1. How would you help balance the needs of the community, the environment, the economy and development with the rights and interests of property owners? 

Uniform development plan:  adopt and implement a UDP to protect the rights of property owners and use less special use codes/zones.

Process:  streamline the process with template requirements and utilize bar-tracking code for projects

Workforce Housing:  encourage more development of workforce housing for teachers, police, fire and EMS professionals.

Downtown Development:  facilitate downtown development and promote business ownership and investment.

 Please list your top three priorities for improving our local economy:

Small business:  support the backbone of the local economy, make process business-friendly, award contracts to local businesses/vendors whenever possible

Industry:  invite industry to locate here—providing additional jobs.

Downtown Obstacles:  address obstacles for downtown business owners (1) homelessness and panhandlers, (2) criminal element (3) easier access to parking.

1. How can local governments work together to better plan for our region’s growth?

 Regional Transit:  support and continue to develop regional (MPO) transit with partners of Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, TTA, UNC, Duke, Orange County, Chatham County, Alamance County, Durham County, Wake County.

Regional Energy Resources:  collaborate utilization and development with regional energy sources and grids.

Regional Emergency Services:  collaborate with resources and personnel on a regional basis…i.e. hazmat, etc.

Regional Water Resources:  collaborate in planning and utilization of water resources.

 

Having a predictable and reasonable development approval process keeps housing costs down.  We all know how difficult it is for some in our community---mainly teachers, fire fighters and police---to live where they work.  If elected, what will you do to ensure that developments don’t get unnecessarily bogged down in the approval process and to ensure housing costs don’t increase?

Educate:  educate the elected officials as to the cause and effect of prolonging/delaying projects, which increases costs.

UDP:  adopt a Uniform Development Plan that should streamline the process eliminating uncertainties for the applicants and allow for better relations for builders/developers and elected officials

Minimize advisory boards:  too many advisory boards create delays and sometimes conflicting requests that ultimately increase the overall costs of the projects.

Creative options:  allow for creative options in meeting affordable housing goals.  Also, it can be an asset to have emergency personnel living in developments:  police, fire, EMS, etc.  For services, they could get deductions on costs of housing, etc. while providing security, etc.

1. How do you think open space and parks should be funded in your community?

 Combination:  local, state and Federal governments should participate when applicable

Citizen Fees/Donations:  utilize specific fees for lights, league play, shelter rental, etc. to provide self-support for maintenance and staffing.  Citizens can donate land designated for use as parks or natural areas.

1. How can local governments work together to stimulate growth in this challenging economy?

Shared resources:  regional universities, highway systems and technology systems permit and encourage strategic planning, regional transit and utilization of resources on a regional level.  This was not conceivable prior to networking and shared technology.

Shared commerce:  when possible, companies could locate different assembly plants, R& D facilities, and administrative facilities at least within a region.  This would be beneficial to the regional taxpayers and for the companies.

Thank you!