Agenda - 02-11-2014 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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100 Oi'0;,, e Cowl y Compreheirsive Parks a, Pla,a CHAPYER 10-Goals,Objectives,and Recornmenclations Recommendation #6: Build More Trails, and Recommendation #7: Work to Improve Access to Connect Open Spaces Parks and Trails and Incorporate Healthy Lifestyles As noted above, based on the results of the Design Community Needs Assessment surveys, Orange As noted in Chapter 9, there is a strong relationship County residents want to get out into nature and between parks, recreation programs and public walk, hike and bike more. Creating more trails will health. Where residents live in proximity to parks happen through several different methods: and trails, personal health is improved. Transporta- tion and income play a key role in access and thus, in • Building the future parks and future phases of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. For some residents, existing parks, which will add significant trail the ability to drive to a park or trail, or to pay for loops and corridors (an estimated 10 miles of additional trails). access to a program or a swimming pool is a great challenge. In the 2011 Community Health Assess- ment, 75% of respondents identified an apparent Orange County, which will add another lack of access to parks and recreational opportunities approximately 30 miles of trail. as a problem in Orange County. • Create public access areas within the nature preserves described above. This is a challenge easily addressed in urban areas • Look for opportunities to connect existing trails, where public transportation is more readily available, such as connecting the trails in Duke Forest to and where population densities create a market for those in Eno River State Park, connecting town parks within walking and biking distance. Orange greenways to county trails, and working with County's rural areas, however, are projected to private developers as part of new developments. remain rural into the long-term future, with the bulk of future residential development to occur in the These same methods and activities will also provide towns and in "transition areas" with urban for connectivity. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail, for infrastructure near the main east-west roadways. example, will link OWASA Cane Creek lands to the County's Upper Eno Preserve to Eno River State Park There are two things the County could do to improve and the Hillsborough Riverwalk. The Hollow Rock access to parks, nature preserves and trails for all Access Area will connect the New Hope Preserve to residents. The County, working in conjunction with the Duke Forest trail network and to a series of trails other transportation providers, could work to extending south to Jordan Lake. Other efforts on improve public transportation along major roadway short segments may be undertaken to connect the corridors in the rural parts of the county, with stops Town of Chapel Hill and Town of Carrboro greenways at current and future parks. Secondly, the County to Duke Forest and the New Hope trail network. could incorporate (more formally) healthy lifestyle facility design into its park design process. Design of As with joint capital funding for parks, the different parks that include facilities that promote fitness potential partners (local governments and already occurs on an ad hoc basis, but with emerging quasi-public entities, institutions, trail organizations) standards and early design intervention, more- that would benefit from enhanced trails should look productive facility design could be achieved by look- at potential joint funding mechanisms for trails that ing at public health facility design components as a cross jurisdictional boundaries to help "share the regular, intrinsic part of the overall master planning cost." process. 10-10