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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 18, 2014 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 7 -c <br />SUBJECT: Approval of Contract to Purchase Real Property — Triangle Land Conservancy <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, <br />Parks and Recreation <br />(DEAPR) <br />ATTACHMENTS: <br />1) Vicinity Map <br />2) Site Map <br />3) Master Plan Map (Hollow Rock <br />Access Area) <br />4) Offer to Purchase and Contract <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y /N) No <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, 919 - 245 -2510 <br />Rich Shaw, 919 - 245 -2514 <br />1 <br />PURPOSE: To consider approval of a contract to purchase 2.6 acres at 686 Erwin Road from <br />Triangle Land Conservancy for the future Hollow Rock Access Area and New Hope Preserve. <br />BACKGROUND: In 1992, Orange County, Chapel Hill, Durham County and the City of Durham <br />adopted the New Hope Corridor Master Plan, which called for preservation of lands along the <br />New Hope Creek corridor, from central Orange County to Jordan Lake. The master plan <br />envisioned a public trail network with a number of "access areas" at strategic locations, <br />including the Hollow Rock Access Area at the intersection of Erwin Road and Pickett Road. <br />The planned Hollow Rock Access Area is a 75 -acre site comprised of multiple land parcels <br />owned separately by Orange County, Durham County, the Town of Chapel Hill and the Triangle <br />Land Conservancy. The site straddles the Orange- Durham county line and New Hope Creek <br />flows from north to south along the western boundary. <br />The site was acquired in a series of separate land transactions from 2001 through 2008. The <br />Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) purchased the first two acres in 2002, and then advocated <br />for further acquisitions by local government partners. Orange County purchased four parcels <br />from different entities from 2005 through 2007 with the help of state grants made possible by <br />TLC. The purchase of a 43 -acre tract from Duke University by Durham and Orange counties <br />and the Town of Chapel Hill was completed in 2008 with funding assistance from City of <br />Durham, the State of North Carolina, and the Erwin Area Neighborhood Group (EANG). The <br />State grants require that portions of the site be protected with permanent conservation <br />easements. <br />In 2006, the four local governments signed an interlocal agreement for the acquisition, planning <br />and operation of the Hollow Rock Access Area, and also established a Hollow Rock Master <br />