Coastal Area Permitting: Protecting & Preserving Coastal Zones

Permitting regulations can be difficult terrain to navigate, especially in coastal areas where additional layers of permits are often required. Three Oaks’ permit specialists have extensive experience working with clients on projects in the coastal plain. In this article, we’ll break down the complexities and walk through an overview of coastal permitting, coastal zone consistency, and common events that trigger consistency reviews in North and South Carolina. 

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GoDurham Better Bus Project

Durham, North Carolina The City of Durham Transportation Department seeks to evaluate transit access and service issues along GoDurham bus routes, recommend transit infrastructure improvements, and draft designs and cost estimates for selected transit improvements. The Better Bus Project includes six distinct projects that will bring bus stop access, safety, and reliability improvements to the GoDurham bus system such as sidewalks, crosswalks, bus stop passenger comfort amenities, and operational improvements. Three Oaks contributed to three primary aspects of the project: Transit Planning – Three Oaks provided transit planning support for the Fayetteville Street and Holloway Street Transit Emphasis Corridors. Our team developed bus stop consolidation memos and contributed to bus stop improvement recommendations, Unified Development Ordinance updates, existing condition reports, and Better Bus Program recommendations. Public Engagement – Three Oaks helped draft the equitable public engagement plan, project branding and messaging, and online/printed surveys. Three Oaks also co-facilitated stakeholder and community partner meetings, which helped shape equity-focused outreach strategies, and our in-house translation staff provided in-person and written Spanish translation services. Traffic Analysis and Modeling – Three Oaks developed the 2020 no-build traffic analysis, which included volume development, a Synchro model for over 20 signalized intersections, and a summary of the measures of effectiveness to support the Durham Station Transit Emphasis Zone Study.

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Hooked On Bats Documentary

Documentarian Kim Best reached the semi-finals of the Dumbo Film Festival with her short film "Hooked on Bats", which features Three Oaks' Mary Frazer who shares her love and knowledge of bats. Click to watch video

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Croatan National Forest Bio-Diversity Survey

Our bio-inventory specialists put together this video summary of their recent work in Croatan National Forest with the North Carolina Department of Transportation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Click to watch video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdxOGTTiCPA

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Read more about the article Wake Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): New Bern Avenue BRT Project
Spanish Language assistance at an outreach event

Wake Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): New Bern Avenue BRT Project

Raleigh, North Carolina The City of Raleigh proposes to add 5.1 miles of BRT service along New Bern Avenue to connect the Raleigh Central Business District to WakeMed Hospital Raleigh Campus and New Hope Road. Three Oaks helped prepare the Documented Categorical Exclusion to support the preliminary design. The work included developing technical memoranda and analyses, including the natural resources technical report, preliminary jurisdictional determination, visual impact assessment, and public parkland/Section 4(f)/Section 6(f) assessment; and providing agency coordination support, LEP outreach, and Spanish translation. During final design, Three Oaks will assist with environmental compliance and permitting. Project handout translated into Spanish

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Read more about the article Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS): Silver Line Light Rail Project
Example Report prepared for the project

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS): Silver Line Light Rail Project

Charlotte, North Carolina CATS proposes to add approximately 26 miles of light rail service between the City of Belmont, Uptown Charlotte, and Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) Levine campus in Matthews. Three Oaks is assisting with the planning and environmental analyses necessary to support the NEPA Study, including traffic analyses, natural systems, water resources, visual resources, public parklands, displacements and relocations technical reports, and evaluation of alternatives.

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