Agenda - 01-24-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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6 1 2 STATEMENT TO BOARD OF ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 3 OCTOBER 16, 2012 4 Good evening, my name is John Silva, a resident of Cane Creek in Bingham Township. 5 I would like to thank the Orange County Board of County Commissioners (OC BOCC) 6 for the opportunity to address ongoing concerns regarding the proposed segment of the 7 Mountain to Sea Trail (MST) in the Cane Creek (CC) watershed and the surrounding CC 8 community. 9 I would like to have the written statement I am about to read recorded in tonight's 10 minutes. 11 Cane Creek residents have communicated with the OC BOCC, OWASA, Orange 12 County Land Management, OC Administrators, the NC State Trails Manager, and 13 representatives of the Friends of the Mountain to Sea Trail regarding the fatal flaws in the CC 14 segment of the MST. 15 It is important to reinforce that the CC segment of the MST runs within yards of rural 16 residences, presents unacceptable and unnecessary risks to Cane Creek residents, 17 compromises the security of the Cane Creek Reservoir, and threatens to compromise the water 18 quality of a main water supply for Chapel Hill and Carrboro. 19 The Orange Grove Fire Chief has provided a written memo of concern to OWASA, 20 Orange County, and FMST. He has publically stated that bulldozers would be needed to fight a 21 fire in the CC segment of the proposed trail. What would that do to the water quality of the 22 Cane Creek Reservoir? 23 The Orange County Sheriff has publically stated that special vehicles would be needed 24 to access the trail in an emergency. There will be slow response time to any incident on this 25 remote section of trail with no access points. 26 The CC segment is an unnecessary embellishment of the MST project given that the 27 MST already spans the entire state as noted in public statements by FMST and as noted in 28 Raleigh-Durham TV news coverage this spring (2012) of a woman who ran the entire MST. 29 OWASA has protected the CC watershed since the planning stages of the reservoir. 30 It is concerning that OWASA would consider opening up the Cane Creek reservoir for 31 unrestricted access. Once maps of this trail segment are publicized in the social media 32 unrestricted access will come from vehicles using our rural roads which are only a couple of 33 minutes off the proposed trail. 34 OWASA can save the county taxpayers money and the county commissioner's valuable 35 time by withdrawing the use a small remote segment of their land for the MST. 36 The convenience of a public trail only yards from one's home has to be weighed against 37 greater community concerns related to security, loss of privacy, increased traffic on private rural 38 roads, the concern with fire and the breach of water quality in the reservoir.