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4 <br />1 <br />Mountains to the Sea Trail Petition <br />2 <br />3 <br />To: Board of County Commissioners <br />4 <br />From: Local Friends of Mountains to the Sea Trail <br />5 <br />Date: December 4, 2017 <br />6 <br />RE: Petition for Mountains to the Sea Trail, Cane Creek area section <br />7 <br />8 <br />Since 2009, the County and residents have been discussing an Orange County route for the <br />9 <br />Mountains to the Sea Trail (MST). On September 16, 2017, the Commissioners received a <br />10 <br />report from staff on the status of the planning process and took public comment. Since then, <br />11 <br />staff has followed up with a report outlining the status on 1) the physical route for the trail, 2) <br />12 <br />public communications about the trail, and 3) the acceptance of previously offered easements, <br />13 <br />14 <br />We are here tonight to urge you to take the following actions: <br />15 <br />16 <br />1.Officially adopt the Orange County MST trail route from the Haw River Trail in <br />17 <br />at <br />Saxapahaw to the Pleasant Green/Eno River in eastern Orange County connector <br />18 <br />your December 12, 2017 meeting <br />. The route will include: <br />19 <br />a.Interim road sections, including the connection from Bradshaw Quarry Road, <br />20 <br />along Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Road to the Haw River Trail until a land route can <br />21 <br />be formalized. The Alamance County Parks staff supports this route as they <br />22 <br />work to complete the land acquisition needed to connect the current Haw River <br />23 <br />Trail section to Morrow Mill Road. <br />24 <br />b.OWASA property <br />25 <br />c.Three currently offered easements on private land, with others currently being <br />26 <br />considered and/or negotiated. <br />27 <br />28 <br />2.Before the end of February 2018, officially accept the three (or more) easements being <br />29 <br />offered within the officially designated route. <br />30 <br />31 <br />3.By the end of March 2018, formally establish a relationship between Orange County and <br />32 <br />the Friends of the MST which will include: <br />33 <br />a.Trail building <br />34 <br />b.Advocacy <br />35 <br />36 <br />37 <br />Chair Dorosin said he would like more information back from staff about this <br />38 <br />petition.He asked David Stancil, Department of the Environment, Agriculture, Parks and <br />39 <br />Recreation (DEAPR) Director,and Bonnie Hammersley to bring this information back. <br />40 <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if this information could be brought back by <br />th <br />41 <br />December12 <br />42 <br />Commissioner Price said asked if staff would engage the property owners who <br />43 <br />are willing to donate easements. <br />44 <br />45 <br />b.Matters on the Printed Agenda <br />46 <br />(These matters will be considered when the Board addresses that item on the agenda <br />47 <br />below.) <br />48 <br />49 <br />3.Announcements, Petitions and Comments by Board Members <br /> <br />