Minutes 09-19-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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21 an abundance of wonderful hiking trails, and she is in support of the County's first greenway. She said she would like to see the trail run through Carrboro and Chapel Hill all the way to Hillsborough and Saxapahaw. Colin Mellor asked if the Board of County Commissioners would weigh all the options of the MTS. He said the piecemeal approach is not good, and a multi-use trail would be better. He asked that the Board look at this alternative to avoid complicated issues with imminent domain. He said the planning map is wrong, and his land is shown as institutional, which it is not. He said this should be corrected. Kate Dixon said she is the Executive Director of the Friends of the MTS. She said within the plan presented tonight, there is the suggestion for staff to partner with the Friends of the MTS, and she said this group is ready and available to do so. She said this group organizes volunteers across the state that build and maintain the trail. She said there are landowners that are willing to work with them on this project. She said the State has prioritized Orange County's portion of the MTS, and there are bond funds available. She said there has been so much progress on the MTS in this area, especially to the east and the west, and she would like to see all parts connected through Orange County. Jonie Alexander said she has been involved with the MTS for many years, and she also really likes the rail to trail projects. She said the MTS mission is to bring people out to more remote areas, and she hopes the initial plan will remain intact, and that the County can pursue greenways etc. separately. Bill Boyarsky is a long time MTS volunteer, and he said there are many volunteers to assist with this project. Chester Sykes said he owns some property that may be impacted by the MTS, and he has had no prior knowledge of any MTS meetings up to this point. Glen Gravestreet said he appreciated the work staff has done. He said it would be unfortunate not to have a mechanism in place for landowners who are willing to give easements in advance of a trail segment being built. He said if this was done in advance, the trail could be built without repeated interruption. He said he would like to see more guidance on this topic. Commissioner McKee said he assumed that Orange County notified landowners with any land use or zoning changes. David Stancil said staff did notify the initial group, but on going notifications may have ceased if landowners did not participate in any of the OWASA/MTS meetings. He said this is not a zoning procedure or a planning action. Commissioner McKee said but this does affect landowners. He asked if the number of parcels in the swath from the southwestern corner of the County up to Hillsborough is known. David Stancil said there are 23 private landowners along the red line on the map. He said the half-mile wide swath in the MTS master plan involved 230-250 notices initially. Commissioner McKee asked if any of these landowners have expressed any interest of dedicating right of ways. David Stancil said about 15 or 20 out of the 230 and out of the 23 landowners on the red line, perhaps 8 to 10. He said these conversations have yet to begin in earnest. Commissioner Marcoplos said he started having conversations with Rob Crook about a month ago, and said he is planning on coming to a BOCC meeting to share more about his trails to rails vision. Commissioner Marcoplos said he does not see this as a part of the MTS discussion, but as more of a separate project. Commissioner Price asked if staff has sent out notifications to people along all the related trails, or just those in the original swath.