The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutAgenda - 06-05-2001-5bi ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1 ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: June 5, 2001 Action Agend Item No. ~~ SUBJECT: Resolution of Su ort -Stillhouse Creek Stream Restoration Pro'ect DEPARTMENT: ERCD, Soil and Water PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Draft Resolution David Stancil, 245-2590 Memorandum with Easement Aerial Gail Hu hes, 245-2753 Photo TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Map and Photos of Site Hillsborough 732-8181 RiverPark Concept Plan Chapel Hill 968-0.501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider a resolution supporting a stream restoration project with the Orange Soil and Water District and the N.C. Division of Water Quality for Stillhouse Creek an County- owned lands behind the Government Services Center. BACKGROUND: At the Board's March 29"' work session, the potential for stream restoration on Stillhouse Creek was discussed, related to the RiverPark planned for County-owned lands behind the Courthouse and Government Services Center in Hillsborough. Stillhouse Creek flows south into the Eno River, directly behind the Govemment Services Center. Over the last 20 years, significant erosion has occurred along the banks of this stream due to increased runoff. To address this issue concurrent with the RiverPark planning, County Recreation and Parks staff and Town of Hillsborough staff engaged the Soil and Water District's assistance in 1999. The primary restoration work needed along the stream is "bioengineering", or the planting of new vegetation along the~stream corridor and the placement of rock or log weirs in the stream channel to stabilize the area and improve water flow. Soil and Water staff identified this as a potential project for the N.C. Division of Water Quality Wetlands Restoration Program. NCDWQ staff have reviewed the project and determined that they would fund the entire restoration project. However, to obtain State funding for the project, the County must grant a conservation easement along the stream corridor to ensure long-term streamside conservation and water quality protection. The natural character of the creek would. be maintained as much as possible, and staff has met to coordinate with the nearby Occaneechi Village and any future space needs resulting from the County Space Study. To proceed, the County must consider and grant a conservation easement, generally of 30 to 50 feet on either side of the stream, to the State. Easement language must be agreed to in principle before the State will commit any funds. The northwest corner of the Government Services Center is within this corridor, but will be excluded from the easement. The culvert at the stream intersection with Margaret Lane will also likely need additional in-stream structures to provide protection to the Government Services Center building. StafF has identified several issues that should be addressed in conjunction with the project, as shown on the attached memorandum. Primarily, if this work is desired, the County must plan for and identify any future stream crossings. The existing concept plan for the RiverPark (attached) shows projected bridges across Stillhouse Creek, and unless new additional crossings are anticipated, this could be used to denote the stream crossings. The attached resolution supports the project and authorizes staff to work with NCDWQ to develop easement language, so that the project planning might proceed. The final terms of the easement'and the project plan detail would be presented for Board approval in August.. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no cost to the County for the proposed project, with all costs covered by the N.C. Division of Water Quality. There may be indirect costs in long-term stewardship and monitoring of the easement. However, since the lands are already County- owned and maintained, these maintenance costs. are not expected to exceed maintenance costs already incurred bythe County. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the attached resolution authorizing project planning to move forward with the development of a draft conservation easement. The easement terms and a project plan (including resolution of any issues raised by the Board) would be presented to the Board on August 21. ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS RESOLUTION Support of Stillhouse Creek Stream Restoration Project WHEREAS, Stillhouse Creek flows from downtown Hillsborough through County-owned lands to the Eno River; and WHEREAS, erasion along segments of the creek has occurred in recent years necessitating restorative action; and WHEREAS, preliminary plans are underway for a joint County/Town of Hillsborough RiverPark project that contains a segment of Stillhouse Creek; and WHEREAS, the recreated Occaneechi Village and RiverPark will benefit the citizens of the County; and WHEREAS, the Orange Soil and Water District/USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Environment and Resource Conservation Department and Recreation and Parks Department have worked together to identify a collaborative stream restoration project funded by the N.C. Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ); and WHEREAS, in order to secure funding from the NCDWQ, general terms of a conservation easement along the stream corridor must be developed: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County of Orange Board of Commissioners hereby expresses support for the concept of the stream restoration project on Stillhouse Creek, exempting the portions of the existing Government Services Center, as proposed. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Commissioners authorizes County stafF to mave forward with development of a draft conservation easement and project plan with NCDWQ and the Soil and Water District/USDA NRCS. This, the 5th day of June, 2001. Stephen Halkiotis, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners 3 Beverly Blythe, Clerk to the Board of Commissioners COUNTY of ORANGE ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCE CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM To: Board of Commissioners John Link, County Manager From: David Stancil, Environment and Resource Conservation Director Date:. May 15, 2001 Re: Request for Easement Donation -Stillhouse Creek/RiverPark At the Board's March 29th worksession, Sail Conservationist Gail Hughes mentioned stream restoration work related to the RiverPark planned for County- owned lands behind the Courthouse and Government Services Center in Hillsborough. Stillhouse Creek flows south into the Eno River, directly behind the Government Services Center. Over the last 20 years, significant erasion has occurred along the banks of this stream due to increased runoff. To address this issue concurrently with the RiverPark planning, County Recreation and Parks staff and Town of Hillsborough staff engaged the Soil and Water District in 1999. The primary restoration work needed along the stream is "bioengineering", ar the planting of new vegetation.along the stream corridor and the placement of rack or log weirs in the stream channel to stabilize the area and improve water flow. The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and the local Soil and Water District recommend these actions to repair the stream. Soil and Water staff identified this as a potential project for the NC Division of Water Quality's Wetlands Restoration Program. DWQ staff have discussed the project with Soil and Water District staff and determined that they would fund the entire restoration project. To obtain State funding for a wetlands restoration project, the landowner (in this case, the County) must grant a conservation easement along the stream corridor to ensure long-term streamside conservation and water quality protection. The natural character of the creek would be maintained as much as possible, and the project would be coordinated with the nearby Occoneechee Village. Although the existing Government Services Center is within the easement corridor, the building would be excluded from the easement. Environment and Resource Conservation PO Box 8181 / 306-A Revere Raad Hiiisbarough, NC 27278 (919) 245-2597 ;` On April 2nd, I met with Soil and Water staff and staff from the Wetlands Restoration Program. The NCDWQ staff again stated their willingness to fund and manage the stream restoration. USDA-NRCS engineers have already been engaged in engineering and tEChnical design for the project, and the design is scheduled for completion soon. Soil and Water/NRCS staff will work cooperatively with the NCDWQ staff to provide engineering assistance and oversight of the installation of materials. The vegetative materials to be used will be selected from the Wetlands Restoration program's buffer guidelines, with mixed hardwoods and pines and specimen plantings of native vegetation. The State would like to plant in the fall of this year; with all site activity completed by December. In order for the project to proceed, the County must consider and grant a conservation easement of 30 to 50 feet on either side of the stream to the State. The project concept must be agreed to in principle before the State will commit any funds. As previously noted, the northwest corner of the Government Services Center will necessitate altering the easement in this area. The culvert at the stream intersection with Margaret lane will also likely need additional instream structures to provide protection to the Government Services Center building. Granting the easement will provide for stream restoration at the State's expense. The following are issues that need to be addressed before an easement is finalized in August/September (with thoughts from recent discussions in bold): 1. The conservation easement should be evaluated in terms of the Space Needs Study to address any impact on an easement to the plans for the proposed new Government Services Center Annex. Recent discussions by staff have identified the need to denote and reserve a potential future walkway From the existing Government Services Center to a future County building in Phase IV of the study. No other easement impacts were identified. 2. The County will need to identify all stream crossings (current and future) in the easement. The RiverPark Concept Plan shows three stream crossings. If this concept plan is still appropriate, these, plus the existing and proposed crossings at the Government Services Center, are expected to be meet stream crossing needs. 3. The County will also need to identify all terms that it desires to have in the easement (i.e., . specifying native vegetation, etc). The State has agreed to plant the corridor in native vegetation. 4. Long-term maintenance, post-monitoring and stewardship costs -will the County be expected to participate financially? The State may wish to explore discussion of the long- term maintenance costs of the area prior to conclusion of the project. Future maintenance is not expected to exceed that currently-provided. 5. The County may wish to consider the proposal to use cisterns to collect and distribute stormwater at the new building site - to help reduce runoff. This could be incorporated into the Space Study design. Environment and Resource Conservation PO Box 8181 / 306-A Revere Road Hillsborough, NC 27278 (919) 245-2597 6 ~I t~Q4 » YT~~ r}} ~i 1~ ~. fir. .~ . a- L,' u ~ ~:...~. .e . ;r~u~'r :S.k .. _, ti:., ~r f , r,• N <4 ,: ~- ,. - ~a ~~,~ . ~::A ' ±.~'.:.: ~~~ ..~.~~r ~ 1 ~' ` r •. , ~~ ~ - ~ v».~ -)y. Y )n ~ '` f ~3" µ''t y A~ •! rt ~ t ~a~M li" s t T r . ._ ~7Y~c4yJ(•_<.~ h": n.= '.t_ ,!fir .,~SAAJ~-.~hti~~i'xi ...~ 7~ it ~ _ ?r c ~ A 4 -~~~~~~~~~~ 50' Buffer • Occoneechee Village ... _ ro,w..~..,....~ 30' Buffer N ~~~ Stillhouse Creek S 0 100 200 Feet Eno River ~,~... ~.~~. County of Orange Environment 8~ F2esource Conservation Departmen~ April 19,2001 M Jones /'~/ Street ® Parlang d Ri P s Park ® Building ver ro o e `` Soft SurFace Walk "~;,,," Hard Surface Walk ~ x , ,. Stillhouse Creek _ Wooded Area Bridge ~+ 0 V~ ~~~ Feet Coi,nty ~ orange ErnironmentE Resouroe ® Occoneechee Indian Palisade ~ Conservation nepartment ~n0 I~IVef X18,2001 M Jones