Agenda - 03-06-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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7 1 being made to get high rankings in that area. He said he hopes the Burlington Graham MPO 2 will need to look further east as they fund projects toward Orange County. He agreed with 3 Chair Jacob's opinion that it is better to have impact in a smaller MPO in terms of 4 representative weight. 5 Ed Hooks said the impact of their voting weight should be an advantage with projects 6 like the Mattress Factory Road project. 7 Chris Rollins said the Highway 119 project is supposed to stay on schedule and start 8 construction in 2015. He said this will become the main entrance to the Mebane industrial park. 9 Craig Benedict noted that Orange County and Mebane are both in NCDOT division 7, 10 which is nestled with the Triad division 9. He said this requires them to look west when 11 considering monies. 12 13 4. Parks and Recreation Master Plans 14 Department of Environment, Agriculture and Parks and Recreation Director Dave Stancil 15 said both Orange County and Mebane are doing master plans for parks and recreation. He 16 said the County's plan is designed to look to the year 2030, which coincides with the 17 comprehensive plan adopted in 2008. He referenced page 18 of the abstract, which contains a 18 copy of the hand out given to attendees at the most recent public input session. He handed out 19 copies of a map of the County parks. 20 He said Orange County is nearly done, after 15 months of work to try and produce a 21 vision for the future. He said much of the hand out contains the possible findings of the 22 assessment, such as collaboration between the County and towns, and the idea of school 23 parks. 24 He said staff is finishing up their recommendations and service areas. He said the 25 western part of Orange County is pretty well served. He also noted that the survey showed that 26 people want more trails. 27 Dean Ray, Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Mebane, said the town is 28 developing its very first master plan. He said a phone survey was recently completed, and 29 citizens expressed a desire for open spaces; walking and biking trails; indoor facilities; picnic 30 shelters and playgrounds. He noted that Lake Michael is a regional park in the master plan. 31 He referenced the map handout and noted the red line that goes around Lake Michael Park. 32 He said this goes 3.94 miles around the park, and the plan for phase two was to complete this 33 trail. He would like to talk with Orange County staff about assistance with completing this trail 34 on one side of the lake. 35 Commissioner Rich asked about the layout of the trail on the lower part of the lake. 36 Dean Ray said this side of the lake is on a hillside. 37 Chair Jacobs said that the County survey showed that people want to connect County 38 trails and greenways with town trails and greenways. He asked about the proximity of Orange 39 County trails to Mebane and Lake Michael. 40 Craig Benedict said the McGowan Creek corridor was part of the Efland Cheeks master 41 plan, and there were two parts that included the McGowan Creek Preserve and the Efland 42 Community Park. He said if this could be continued upstream, the headwaters of Lake Michael 43 and McGowan Creek almost touch, so that would be the game plan. He said part of the other 44 Mountains to Sea Trail (MTST) plan would have connected this. 45 Dave Stancil said the Seven Mile Creek Preserve/Occoneechee Mountain/Riverwalk 46 would the next closest network, and this is part of the MTST. 47 Dean Ray said the N.C. State Foundation on the Hawfields side may have several acres 48 coming available for lease to the City of Mebane. He said this is a possibility for an open space 49 park that would be considered a district park in their system.