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<br /> <br />IV. <br /> <br />New Business <br /> a. Annual update from Rich Shaw, Land Conservation Manager. Bench prefaced the report <br />by saying that the Chapel Hill Planning Board thought very highly of Rich related to work <br />on the rural buffer. Shaw spoke of land banked areas that we are looking at getting up <br />and running. These two areas are: Hollow Rock and Seven Mile Creek Nature Preserve. <br />He made the following points: <br /> SW of Hillsborough off Dimmocks Mill Road, adjacent to the historic Moorefield’s <br />property is the Seven Mile Creek Nature Preserve. <br /> We have a little over 300 acreas of land that the county acquired in the 70s with <br />the intent to build a reservoir, but then decided to create a Preserve. <br /> The land was originally part of the 1200 acres that had originally been part of the <br />Moorefield’s estate. <br /> Moorfields is an historic site built in 1785 by Alfred Moore. He was a NC Supreme <br />Court Justice. Barry Jacobs happens to be the caretaker of this property. <br /> Friends of Moorefields own the property. <br /> We are building a trail with the trailhead being off the road that leads to <br />Moorefields. <br /> In the last six months we have built and enhanced an existing trail, a 1.37 mile <br />loop trail. It goes through some nice habitats, by the creek and includes some <br />nice views. <br /> We have had boyscouts build three kiosks and some benches near the beginning <br />of the trail. We have a long relationship with the boyscouts who have been <br />allowed to camp there over the years. Camping would be group camping and <br />would accommodate the MTS trail hikers who pass through it. <br /> We hope to establish a parking area by the end of 2014. <br /> We are hoping to open this area by the end of 2014. <br /> Green asked that we provide spickets, porta-johns and a picnic table at all our <br />camping areas. <br /> SE of Orange County, along the Durham County Line, off Erwin and Pickett Roads <br />is the Hollow Rock Access Area. <br /> New Hope Creek runs through it and Duke Forest is close by. Southeast is Jordan <br />Lake. <br /> Acquiring and developing this area has been a cooperative effort between <br />Durham County, City of Durham, City of Chapel Hill and Orange County. <br /> The area involves about 75 acreas. <br /> To get it started, we received a $200,000 grant from the NC Trails Program in late <br />2013. Durham and Orange Counties each matched this with $25,000. <br /> Phase one of this project will open in the very near future. There will be an <br />entrance off Erwin Road. There are four pedestrian bridges that cross streams. <br />The entities are working on a construction, development and management <br />agreement for this area so that it can open by 2016. <br /> The area has lots of history and will have many interpretive signs. It has pre- and <br />post-European settlements. The Patterson Mill was near this crossroads. There <br />have been archeological surveys done to determine the Native American <br />presence here.