Agenda - 09-19-2017 - 7-a - Mountains to Sea Trail – Report on Segment 11 Trail Planning

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34 Additionally, as the County has worked with the Orange Water and Sewer Authority to determine the conditions needed to utilize OWASA's lands around the Cane Creek Reservoir, some residents have expressed worries about the introduction of hikers into backwoods areas of the County. However, at the same time, other residents have indicated excitement at the possibility for having such a trail feature available for their and the community's use. The unusual setting of this part of the MST is important, because the trail planning process of the last 16 months has worked to try and balance the many different perceived opportunities and challenges of siting the trail in such an area. By its very nature, the siting of the MST route has required considerable exploration of maps, roadways and the lands of southwestern Orange County. It is very different, for example, from park master planning. In that case, the boundaries of the park are known, and there are generally a set of desired facilities and amenities that can be developed and located. But siting a trail like the MST provides no fixed location — in fact the determination of possible routes is in itself the major part of the exercise. That lack of fixed guidance and boundaries creates a vacuum of sorts, and at times this made for challenges (for both residents and staff) in finding the right path for the MST. The County began a community meeting oriented process in April of 2016, with limited early success. For the remainder of the project, the introduction of a professional facilitator (Andy Sachs of the Dispute Settlement Center) helped bridge a number of communication gaps and the "vacuum" and lack of clarity this more ambiguous process was forced to start with. Another tool to help with this challenge was the creation of a "Frequently Asked Questions" or"FAQ" document which includes responses from experts in the legal, fire and public safety, and forestry fields among others (please see attached FAQ document). A timeline is provided in the materials that accompany this memo showing the three community meetings and other actions along the way that led to a March 2017 final community meeting and the proposed route that is reflected herein. 2. The Map of Proposed and Alternate Routes As noted above, this type of trail planning exercise was very different from most parks and open space master plans where the site is known and the question is about the location and type of facilities. In this case, it was the "site" itself that was the challenge. Using the statewide master plan and the comments at the community meetings (including the map-drawing station exercise on September 19, 2016), staff gathered this information along with maps and data in the winter and spring of 2017 and attempted to identify a preferred trail route. As may be quickly discerned, there are many possible routes that the MST could take to connect 2