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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: September 18, 2012 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-a <br /> SUBJECT: Update on the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail — Orange County Section <br /> DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> and Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> ATTACHMENTS: INFORMATION CONTACTS: <br /> 1. Statewide MST Corridor Map David Stancil, 245-2510 <br /> 2. Eastern Piedmont MST Corridor Map Rich Shaw, 245-2514 <br /> 3. Orange County MST Corridor Map <br /> 4. Key Questions and Decision Points <br /> (2009) <br /> 5. OWASA Letter of Support (2009) <br /> 6. BOCC Resolution (April 2010) <br /> 7. Questions from 8/13/12 Open House <br /> 8. Frequently Asked Questions <br /> 9. Typical Views of the MST <br /> PURPOSE: To provide an update on the progress of establishing a section of the NC <br /> Mountains-to-Sea State Trail through Orange County, as directed by the Board in June. <br /> BACKGROUND: The NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail is a planned 1 ,000-mile trail that will <br /> traverse the state from the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina to Jockey's <br /> Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks (Attachment 1). About 530 miles of the MST is <br /> completed and open for hiking, including recently opened segments of the trail along the <br /> Haw River in Alamance County and at Falls Lake in Durham and Wake counties. <br /> In 2000 the North Carolina General Assembly authorized the Mountains-to-Sea Trail <br /> (MST) as part of the North Carolina Parks System. From 2005-2007, the NC Division of <br /> Parks and Recreation held stakeholder meetings to identify a suitable trail planning <br /> corridor through Alamance, Orange and Durham counties. Preliminary findings were <br /> reported to the BOCC in February 2006. Those meetings resulted in a map of the <br /> State's preferred trail planning corridor through the "Eastern Piedmont" (Attachment 2). <br /> The MST planning corridor through Orange County (Attachment 3) begins at the Haw <br /> River in the far southwest corner, then parallels Cane Creek northeast through Orange <br /> Water & Sewer Authority's (OWASA) Cane Creek Reservoir lands, and then northeast <br /> through the Seven Mile Creek Preserve and Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. <br /> From Occoneechee Mountain the trail will follow the Eno River along Hillsborough's <br /> Riverwalk and through land owned by Classical American Homes Preservation Trust and <br /> Eno River State Park into Durham County. <br />