HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda 12-14-21; 12-2 - Memorandum - Meeting with OWASA Management and Staff on MST 1
ORANGE COUNTY
Department of Environment,
Agriculture, Parks &Recreation
MEMORANDUM
To: Bonnie Hammersley, County Manager
From: David Stancil, DEAPR Director
Re: Meeting with OWASA Management and Staff on MST
Date: December 3, 2021
1 am writing to provide a brief summary of our meeting on November 30 with
OWASA Executive Director Todd Taylor and OWASA staff on the plans for the
Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) in and near OWASA-owned lands at Cane Creek
Reservoir.
At the meeting (Zoom), we provided an update to OWASA management and staff
on activities to secure trail easements and trail routing from NC 54 to Buckhorn
Road, around the north side of Cane Creek Reservoir. We shared with OWASA
our recent trail easements, including the Board's approval of the Shy easement
and the upcoming Johnson easement, and the opportunity this now presents to
finalize, map and construct a segment of the MST from Bradshaw Quarry Road
at Apple Mill Road to Buckhorn Road through OWASA land.
We discussed the next steps in our planning effort, including "ground-truthing"
and locating with GPS technology the actual trail route in this area, emergency
access and public safety plans, publicizing the segment planning to the
surrounding neighbors, other needed approvals, and expectations that OWASA
might have toward its own approval processes.
OWASA indicated that they would be ready to entertain this trail segment, which
would need OWASA Board approval, including the following items:
• A map showing the actual location (high-accuracy GPS) of the trail onto and
through the OWASA property that lies between the Shy easement to the west
and the Johnson easement to the northeast.
Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks &Recreation
PO Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278
Phone: (919) 245-2510
Fax: (919) 644-3351
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• The public safety and emergency access plans, and any other information
called for the in the adopted OWASA conditions of 2016. This includes efforts
to mitigate any water quality issues related to stream crossings, and
• A draft interlocal agreement between OWASA and Orange County about the
trail construction and operation/maintenance, including the potential for trail
closures in some areas during forest management activities. This will require
legal review by both the County and OWASA.
The meeting was fruitful and positive, and both staffs are already making plans to
do the trail ground-truthing and GPS trail location (along with our trail building
colleague from the Friends of the MST organization) in the upcoming months,
with a goal of moving toward the potential for plan and agreement approvals in
the spring and summer of 2022, with construction targeted for the fall.
We look forward to working with our colleagues at OWASA and the Friends of
MST as we make progress. Please let me know if I may provide any additional
information.
Copies: Travis Myren, Deputy Manager
Chris Hirni, Land Conservation Manager
Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks &Recreation
PO Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278
Phone: (919) 245-2510
Fax: (919) 644-3351