Orange County NC Website
She said that this is a draft of the strategic plan and a work in progress. They are <br />working toward developing and including some of the comments and feedback given in the <br />meetings of this committee. The summaries of the committee's work are included in the inside <br />cover of the manual. She said that there is also a potential action item associated with this <br />report, which is consideration of the Parks Conservation Technician that was pending since the <br />last budget deliberations. Once the strategic plan for facilities and personnel is adopted, <br />hopefully sometime later this spring, it could be a reference tool for planning and scheduling <br />park development projects. Their objective is to provide safe and clean parks in keeping with <br />the mission statement. Throughout the draft plan, needs have been identified for the entire <br />department and not just for parks maintenance workers. The strategic plan will also be helpful <br />in development of a natural parks element, an update to the 1988 plan, as part of the natural <br />and cultural systems portion of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan. The strategic plan <br />looks at projected operations through the year 2020, which was the charge provided by the <br />Board during the last budget cycle. The committee found it increasingly difficult to project this <br />far. <br />She made reference to the Little River Regional Park and said that they have learned <br />from their recent experience. The public has been hungry for new parks. Visitors that have <br />been interviewed indicated that they are delighted with the park. Most of the visitors come from <br />Durham and Chapel Hill and many are from the immediate community. There is no other <br />comparable legal area for mountain biking in the two counties. There is a seven-mile field <br />network of mountain bike trails. There is also no comparable facility for horseback riding. She <br />said that they ordered 1,000 maps of the park to be ready for the December 5th opening, <br />thinking that this would be enough for a while. They ran out of them before January 1St. They <br />are ordering another 5,000 maps. There are two full-time staff members assigned to the park, <br />some temporary help, and they look forward to getting the assistance of a caretaker resident in <br />the future. They are struggling to keep up with managing the visitors and getting things done. <br />They are incurring overtime and the staff has been working on holidays. All visitors to the park <br />are very satisfied with it, and the staff will keep working through the challenges. <br />Not far in the horizon is the development of Twin Creeks Park. This district park is not <br />as large in acreage as Little River, but it is much more complex in operational and maintenance <br />needs. The projected needs are outlined on page 15 of the plan. The key in the timing for Twin <br />Creeks is whether or not they can consider using the Cate's house as a visitor's center and an <br />office and whether or not they could use the barn to house same equipment and run programs. <br />Otherwise, facilities might need to be added in the master plan to serve these needs. She <br />asked for some direction from the Board on this. The staff does not envision this property as a <br />suitable location for a caretaker resident, due to the level of activity anticipated. Thus, they <br />propose to use the Cate's house as a public facility. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if the staff was envisioning someone living somewhere else <br />on the property. Lori Taft said that she was not envisioning a caretaker resident on Twin <br />Creeks Park. <br />Lori Taft said that sections of the plan that have not been developed include areas for <br />parks that were identified in the 1988 plan or that have not yet been acquired. There may be <br />reason to revisit the census data and whether proposed parks need to be shifted or eliminated. <br />The Recreation and Parks Department will continue to work with Environment and Resource <br />Conservation and Planning Departments on the parks component of the natural and cultural <br />systems element of the comprehensive plan. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she would be interested in knowing the timeline for <br />accepting comments because she did not have time to read the report in detail. <br />Chair Carey said that they are only receiving this tonight as information. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that this report needs to be studied carefully and that it is a <br />work in progress. He remembers when he was elected in 1986 that citizens were complaining <br />