Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutIPWG April 10 2024 Agenda and Oct 25 2023 Meeting Notes Intergovernmental Parks Work Group Agenda April 10th, 2024 5:30 p.m. Virtual Meeting (via Teams link) 5:30 1. Welcome / Call to Order Amy Fowler/Orange County Commissioner 5:35 2. Introductions / Review of Meeting Notes (Attached) Amy Fowler/Orange County Commissioner 5:40 3. Presentation - Eno-New Hope Landscape Conservation Plan Bo Howes/Triangle Land Conservancy 6:00 4. Brainstorming Session - For facility and recreation collaboration opportunities amongst jurisdictions and partners David Stancil/Orange County 6:20 5. Interactive Parks and Trails Maps Updates Kalani Allen/Orange County 6:25 6. What's on the Horizon? / Park Plans and Local Updates (5 mins max) a. City of Mebane b. Town of Chapel Hill c. Town of Carrboro d. Town of Hillsborough e. Orange County f. Others 7:00 7. Adjournment — Next meeting October 9, 2024 (in person??) Intergovernmental Parks Work Group Meeting Notes of October 25, 2023 1. Welcome / Call to Order/ Introductions Commissioner Amy Fowler-Called the meeting to order. She asked during introductions to include a favorite trail in Orange County or outside of the County. Bo Howes—Director of Land Protection & Stewardship; Brumley Trails managed by Triangle Land Conservancy. Dave Stancil- Director of the Orange County Department of Environment,Agriculture and Parks& Recreation; Little River Regional Park trail. Susan Romaine—Mayor Pro Tempore, Carrboro Town Council; Bolin Creek Greenway where she goes almost daily. Aaron Davis- Recreation and Parks Director, City of Mebane; Lake Michael trails. J.G. Ferguson - Director Carrboro Recreation and Parks; trail in Wilson Park. Charles Harrington—Carrboro Recreation Administrator; trail in Adams Track. Brandi Brinker—Carrboro Recreation and Parks Facilities Administrator; new to Carrboro doesn't have a favorite park yet. Robb English- Hillsborough Board of Commissioners; Hillsborough River Walk and Brumley South. Atuya Cornwell- Director of the Town of Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department. Bolin Creek is his favorite park and likes to take a long walk to Umstead. Renuka Soil—Chapel Hill Parks Greenways and Recreation Commission Representative; Carolina North trail. Adam Searing—Town of Chapel Hill Councilmen; Carolina Outdoor Center trails on UNC campus. Stephanie Trueblood- Public Space and Sustainability Manager for the town of Hillsborough;favorite trail is Confluence. Kim Livingston—Director of Conservation &Stewardship Eno River Association; Confluence and Panther Brand. Kalani Allen-Communications Manager, Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture and Parks& Recreation; Fairview Park walking trail. Abby Mattingly—Administrative Support, Orange County Department of Environment,Agriculture and Parks& Recreation. She is new to the area and likes Blackwood Farm Park Myra Austin—Senior Centers Administrator—Orange County Department on Aging; shared she is a month away from retiring after 35 years of service;favorite trails is Brumley. Nikiya Cherry—Recreation Assistance Director for Parks and Recreation Chapel Hill; Her favorite trail is Bolin Creek. Veronica Beattie Pean joined later. 2. Review of Meeting Notes Commissioner Fowler asked if anyone had any revisions or comments. (None were submitted prior to the meeting). No objections to meeting notes. 3. Great Trails State Day - October 21 st / YOTT Dave Stancil—Orange County—Dave introduced the item. He provided information that the Great State Trails Coalition may make the Great Trails State Day an annual event. Orange County DEAPR held events at Hollow Rock Nature Park and participated in Triangle Land Conservancy event that day with a hike at Brumley North. A guided historical guided hike on November 18'will be held at Blackwood Farm Park. Bo Howes—Triangle Land Conservancy About 200 people attended the Wild Ideas event at Brumley North and South. For the day there were opportunities for hikes, exhibitions, and bird watching with groups like the Feminist Bird Club of Durham. Aaron Davis—City of Mebane Shared that Mebane Trail Rangers, (a mountain biking group) held an event a few months ago. Hiker: climber enthusiast,Jennifer Far Davis attended and spoke at the Mebane Community Park then led a hike along the Mountain—to-Sea Trail. J.G. Ferguson—Town of Carrboro Golden Trail series for active adults in the 50+age group. Held two hikes so far and have two additional hikes in November and December. Town of Carrboro held a clean sweep long the greenway system and bikeways. Atuya O. Cornwell -Town of Chapel Hill Adopt a Trail program. Take a Kid Mountain Bike Day—about 30 participants attended. National Trails Day in June 5k walk at Community Park. Some participants who were cancer survivors shared their experiences about utilizing the trails.This led to a new program called "Walk to Wellness" an 8-week program that kicked off in October. Arbor Day in November—Chape Hill Community Center and Bolin Creek Stephanie Trueblood—Town of Hillsborough Invasive Species Removal along Riverwalk. Pete Shubert from the Invasive Plant Council and the Eno River Association Board led a group along Riverwalk to identify invasive plants and create a strategy for non-chemical removal. Have been leading invasive species removal days. 4. Upcoming Capital Parks/Trail Projects - Planning for April 2024 Review David Stancil-Orange County Discussed Parks, Open Space planning for next meeting. Looking for opportunities to partner and work together. Gave background to past collaborations of towns and county working to create new parks. Discussed the Composite Countywide Plan for Parks and Trails Existing and Proposed in February 2006. Suggested that reviewing any parks and recreation master plans created since 2007 and see any new opportunities that may be presented. Suggested to create a new map and update information of new inventory of parks and recreation spaces. Commissioner Fowler-Asked if there are new areas that need to be updated on the map. She noticed that the MST was not included on the map. She said connectivity would be high on her priority list. Stephanie Trueblood-Town of Hillsborough Suggested that the GIS data from the Interactive Trails Map would be a great start to build upon an updated map. Using a polyline file as a base layer. She asked about funding and asked whether the point of this project is to find ways for the County to participate in planned municipal projects. Bo Howes—TLC would like to be captured in the map and would be glad to share GIS data. Atuya Cornwell-Town of Chapel Hill In the process in updating Comprehensive Master Plan. Plan to have public and community engagements, review established documents. 5. Trail intersections in need of signs/trail markers - how does your agency receive feedback? Myra Austin — Myra discussed one of the goals of the Orange County Master Aging Plan, "Optimized usability of outdoor spaces and buildings for older adults which has an emphasis on trail intersections as it relates to signage and trail markers." She asked the group how information is gathered from the public, older adults, for when trail markers or signs are needed. Stephanie Trueblood -Town of Hillsborough—Trail has a unique address point every one-tenth of a mile.These points are added into the emergency services database. Installed directional signage at each intersection. Hopes to extend this same service to the next greenway in the Town as it has been helpful to emergency services and the public. JIG Ferguson-Town of Carrboro—Has identified that this is a need. Stressed the connectivity of trails with Town of Chapel Hill and collaborating with each other. Bo Howes—Triangle Land Conservancy—Has directional signage at every intersection. Partnered with emergency services to show them the layout of the preserves. He also talked about accessibility and how TLC is updating information about the trails to be more accessible. Bird Ability set up by the Audubon Society is a tool that TLC is using to update an adequate description of the trails. Atuya Cornwell—Town of Chapel Hill. Department has had conversation with inner town department centered around mobility. Ways that they receive feedback are signage with contact numbers and SeeClickFix webtool. A recent project on AD accessibility was recently completed with feedback provided about facilities, parks, greenways, and town facilities. David Stancil—Orange County Most of trails are included within parks.This allows people to communicate with the park manager on site or call county offices to discuss signage issues or concerns. Have coordinated with Sherrif Offices to insure there is coordination when it comes to interlocal county property. Robb English—Hillsborough Board of Commissioners Provided his insight as a park patron in his hometown in Eugene Oregon.They have a system called Park Watch where people can submit suspicious activity and maintenance needs.This signage has QR code in the park where people can utilize it to submit information. 6. Interactive Parks and Trails Maps Updates Kalani Allen presented on the Interactive Parks and Trails Map. Reviewed that some links are broken within the map and will reach out to departments to get updated websites. Future goals for updating the map include, removal of duplicate trails, add additional icons for accessibility, storybook trails. Stancil gave an overview of the background of the map and the groups effort to create it. Stephanie Trueblood—Town of Hillsborough Discussed that people are moving away from searching a website and utilizing apps like AIITrails. She suggested that the trails be accessible in AIITrails and would be happy to help do that task. David Stancil—Orange County He said that he would be interested in seeing what the web usage is on the Interactive Parks and Trails map. 7. What's on the Horizon? / Park Plans and Local Updates Atuya Cornwell-Town of Chapel Hill Updated that in October, Nikiya "Nikki"was promoted into her new role. Prior she served the last five years as the Recreation Division Manager. In her new role she will be leading the recreation division and business operation division. • Comprehensive Master Plan • Received funding for Penny for Parks from Town Council to address capital infrastructure needs. • Inclusive Playground Project at Chapel Hill Community Center-ARPA funded project • Remodeling the Skate Park—ARPA funded project • Morgan Creek Trail project—Planning and preliminary design finished. • Renaming celebration for the Hargraves Park Northside Gym— Nate Davis Sr Gymnasium and Fred Battle Court (two long time town employees.) • Haunted Hill and Trunk or Treat at Community Center Park with a movie in the park b. Town of Carrboro JG Ferguson—Town of Carrboro Welcomed Brandi Brinker again as the new facilities administrator. Thanked Charles Harrington for being interim director of recreation and parks during the transitional time. -Carrboro Town Music Festival - Poetry Festival - November Film Festival - Halloween Festival - Bolin Creek went through a community engagement process. Received over 1700 completed surveys from residents with 700 comments. Creekside Trail was the preferred route. - Has easements that will need to be required - 203 Project Partnership with Orange County Library still underway. Plan to be in the new building in September.This new building will provide office space, programing, and community space. c. Town of Hillsborough Stephanie Trueblood -Town of Hillsborough • Town celebrating Arbor Day next month November 15t".The event will be held at the Dorothy Ann Johnson Community Center in the Fairview Community.Tree Board members and Fairview community watch members will be present. • Recently held an Engaged Hillsborough event with the topic of connectivity.This is a new series for the Town that is designed to let staff and community members meet and build relationships. • Two studies are underway about shared use paths (roadside greenways), South Churton Street Multimodal study to be wrapped up in the next couple of months.This study is about Bike and PED and vehicular movements and safety from 1-40 to downtown Hillsborough. • Partner with Orange County on the HWY 70 corridor multimodal and modernization study. • Planning the Ridgewalk Greenway, Phase 1 has been completed. Plan to do a Phase 2 to look at possible steps to make connections for the future train station property to downtown. • Parks and Recreation Board are working on updating the master plan for Kate's Creek Park. One focus is the multiuse competition size soccer field at the park.The board will discuss some additional uses for the space such as basketball courts since there is a shortage. • Final designs for the skate park have been submitted and construction will be held off to after the holidays.Anticipate the completing to be Summer of 2024. d. Orange County David Stancil—Orange County • Blackwood Farm Park Historic Hike November 18th • Possible MST connectivity announcement at the end of the year. • Countywide trails plan project underway. BikePed plan project is being coordinated by Nish the Orange County Transportation director. • Perry Hills Minipark located on a 2-acre lot in Efland draft master plan has been created and will be shared with the Orange County Board of County Commissioners at a November meeting. • Orange County Parks and Recreation Council currently doing a mid-plan review of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan adopted in 2014. • Halloween event Spooktacular to be held at Central Recreation Center. • Blackwood Farm Park events since the grand opening in May have been held. • Disc Golf Course at Blackwood Farm Park discussion still underway. Meeting with designers and hope to have a contract before the end of the calendar year. • Little River Regional Park bike skills course partially installed with assistance with Triangle off Road. • Additional tennis and pickleball design in the finishing stages for Fairview Parks • Plans in Orange County underway: Strategic Plan, Land use Plan,Trails Plan and Bike Plan • Blaze Orange Mountains to See Trail event October 29t" at Eno River Brewing. Funds from this event will go towards the Mountains to See Trail. e. City of Mebane Aaron Davis-City of Mebane • Lake Michael— • Spillway renovation will likely cause the park to be shut down for a year.Trails expansion, removal of old wooden pier, possible removal of the boathouse. • Lake Michael Connector that will tie into other greenway networks. • Comprehensive Master Plan and Bike PED Plan, contracting firm spoke with advisory boards in the city. • Halloween event was held in downtown Mebane on Saturday. Expanded the event to have a maker's market, farmer's market, and decorated Jeeps. Chili cookoff will also take place. f. Others • None 8. Adjournment - Next meeting April 10th, 2024 (in person??) Meeting was adjourned at 6:56pm