Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Department of Environment, <br />Agriculuire, Parks & Recreation <br />To: Orange County Commission for the Environment <br />From: Rich Shaw, DEAPR Land Conservation Manager <br />Date: February 3, 2016 <br />Subject: Hollow Rock Nature Park — Update <br />Construction of the Phase I of the Hollow Rock Nature Park (formerly Hollow Rock <br />Access Area) is well underway and we are an opening to the public in Spring 2016. <br />Hollow Rock Nature Park is a 75-acre site comprised of multiple land parcels owned <br />separately by Orange County, Durham County, and Town of Chapel Hill. The site <br />straddles the Orange-Durham county line and New Hope Creek forms the western <br />boundary. Portions of the site are protected with conservation easements held by the <br />State of North Carolina. <br />Plans for a nature preserve styled park date back to the early 1990s when Orange <br />County, Chapel Hill, Durham County and the City of Durham adopted the New Hope <br />Creek Corridor Open Space Master Plan, which called for preservation of lands along <br />the New Hope Creek corridor, from central Orange County to Jordan Lake. The master <br />plan envisioned a public trail network with a number of "access areas" at strategic <br />locations, including the "Hollow Rock Access Area" at the intersection of Erwin Road and <br />Pickett Road. A master plan for the Hollow Rock site was adopted in 2010. <br />Orange County and Durham County, under an interlocal agreement signed in 2015, will <br />jointly manage and operate the park. Durham County will oversee the area east of <br />Pickett Road; Orange County will manage the portion west of Pickett Road. <br />The initial public amenities (Phase 1 a) include a gravel 15-car parking area, overflow <br />parking, natural surface trails, four pedestrian bridges, information kiosks, a park <br />entrance sign, and a cleared area for the "old" Hollow Rock Store, which is planned to be <br />relocated to this site by a non-profit organization working with the Friends of Hollow <br />Rock Store. Funding for Phase I comes from the two counties and a $200,000 grant <br />from the NC Recreational Trails Program. Additional county funds are budgeted for <br />Phase 1 b, which will include a restroom, educational venues, and interpretive signage. <br />CFE members will be invited to an opening event in late-April or early-May. <br />Attachments <br />Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks & Recreation (DEAPR) <br />PO Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br />Phone: (919) 245-2510; Fax: (919) 644-3351 <br />