OUTBoard minutes 082014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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97:7_\aI OUTBoard Action: Review selected standards and recommend to the BOCC that planning staff review /revise and develop amendments. OUTBoard Action: Receive information and provide input. Rich Shaw: My position is Land Conservation Manager. I work with private land owners and other conservation partners to identify important sites worthy of being set aside for a park or nature preserve. I also work with people to conserve their own private land. DEAPR completed this Parks and Recreations Master Plan in house rather than hiring a contractor. Reviewed PowerPoint presentation. This draft master plan went to the BOCC in June and they asked us to share it with advisory boards, solicit input, and take the plan back to the BOCC this fall. DEAPR was also asked to consider the issue of emergency access to trails in the County parks and nature preserves and has developed some initial goals and objectives to address that issue. Jeff Charles. I was on the American Tobacco Trail and there was a bad bike accident and we had trouble getting EMS to this person in trouble. Alex Castro: It would seem there would be coordination among the various entities. You have facilities and the operations are independent of other. There should be one standard with one protocol. Rich Shaw: There is an Intergovernmental Parks Work Group that meets four times of year to discuss these types of issues. I am not sure this issue has been brought up. It is chaired by Alice Gordon. Alex Castro: I have a copy of the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department Summer Program Guide. Why can't we have one guide? In the back of that was what was going on in road construction. Why can't we have one guide for all of Orange County? We have too many silos so we need to get together and do it jointly. Paul Guthrie: I want to congratulate you for doing what you have done in the short amount of time. The real challenge is managing what you have and building a consistent program from the future which will cost money and will be difficult. It is difficult to create new trails because of land owner concerns so I would encourage you to see if the landowners are interest to see if the public is interested. The other issue is that on some of those trails, they might go near settlement centers so you try to have a rest stop area for picnics or water area that becomes a safety item and that builds confidence in trails. That will be viable especially on the Mountains to Sea Trail. I would caution you on going too far on physical facilities because that is a cash eater if you have to do the high financing on it. I think the report you want to study make a lot of sense. One of the problems in your survey is that people responded to things they had done, not what they wanted to do. I certainly would encourage getting closer to the water. Abigaile Pittman: I would like to provide DEAPR staff and a message to the BOCC as to whether or not the OUTBoard supports the overarching goal and objectives about emergency access to trail systems that DEAPR staff and planning have worked together to develop. Paul Guthrie: Obviously there needs to be a good coordinated emergency plan but I am not convinced that you have to make it motor vehicle friendly to do that. On the other hand, you can have smaller vehicles that can run down trails with the ability to haul a stretcher. There is no reason a rescue squad can't carry a bolt cutter to open a gate for a trail. Rich Shaw: We have a number of trails that have not built yet. Having some objectives that have been drafted at the front end will be helpful. Jeff Charles: With the new trails, you need to think about traffic control because bicyclist want to go 15 to 20 miles an hour which is totally inconsistent with pedestrians so you have to have some thought about posted speed limits. You need to think about safety issues, certainly when you come to intersections and streets. Alex Castro: This is already been done at the American Tobacco Trails. Some states actually post speed limits for the bikes.