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<br />- WILL A NEARBY HIKING TRAIL MAKE A SECLUDED
<br />ORANGE COUN1"Y NEIGHBORHOOD MORE DANGER01 S"?
<br />A brief tornado watch followed by a
<br />thunderstorm Thursday night likely
<br />depressed attendance inside Chapel Hill's
<br />Town Hall. But several dozen residents of
<br />affluent, secluded homes near Cane Creek
<br />reservoir, owned by Orange Water and Sewer
<br />Authority, made it to the OWASA board
<br />meeting anyway, to passionately oppose the
<br />Mountains -to -Sea Trail coming through
<br />OWASA land near their properties.
<br />"Our homes, our lifestyles, we feel like
<br />we've been hijacked," said Ann Charles, her
<br />voice quivering. "It doesn't feel good."
<br />The neighbors cite a variety of rea-
<br />sons for their opposition: invasion _
<br />of privacy, potential safety hazards,
<br />a spoiling of the natural habitat for
<br />rare creatures such as the bald eagle.
<br />Some expressed concerns about
<br />water quality suffering due to con-
<br />tact with careless hikers or their
<br />dogs. One said she was told by her
<br />insurance agent that her rate would
<br />go up, due to increased risks associated with
<br />a nearby recreational trail.
<br />Many objections, however, seem rooted in
<br />what those homeowners valued most when
<br />they bought their properties. "My wife and I
<br />moved in there when I was sixty," says Cane
<br />Creek neighbor Jim O'Connor. "We moved
<br />there for the seclusion!
<br />The county's parks staff will plot the
<br />trail's route through Cane Creek, though the
<br />OWASA board of directors has to approve it.
<br />Since extending an invitation for the trail to
<br />be built on OWASA land, the board has been
<br />creating a list of conditions that need to be
<br />met before the actual construction.
<br />The first public discussions about the
<br />MST started some forty years ago. Former
<br />state senator Howard Lee, who was elected
<br />as Chapel Hill's mayor in 1969, took some
<br />credit. "The idea for the trail, obviously, was
<br />planted as a seed when I was mayor," he said
<br />at the OWASA meeting. "I made this propos-
<br />al in 1977 that we have a trail stretching for
<br />the mountains to the sea. I couldn't believe
<br />that it would develop to where it is today."
<br />Since then, the nonprofit group Fends
<br />of the Mountains -to -Sea Trail, in collabora-
<br />tion with the state parks system, local gov-
<br />ernments, and other agencies, has worked
<br />toward building a continuous trail from the
<br />Great Smoky Mountains to Jockey's Ridge
<br />State Park on the Outer Banks. Built mostly
<br />by volunteers, the MST currently consists
<br />of 680 in of trails and 470 miles of roads
<br />connecting them.
<br />Between 2005 and 2007, the state parks
<br />wur homes, our
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<br />division and other stakeholders met publicly
<br />to plan a trail through Alamance, Durham,
<br />and Orange counties. In 2009, OWASAs
<br />then - chairman, Randy Kabrick, sent a let-
<br />ter to Orange County Board of Commission-
<br />ers chairwoman (now state senator) Valerie
<br />Foushee, in support of allowing a portion of
<br />the trail to be built on OWASA property.
<br />Soon, residents living near Cane Creek
<br />started pushing back.
<br />John Silva, a Cane Creek resident,
<br />describes himself as an avid hiker who gen-
<br />erally supports the MST. He's owned proper-
<br />ty in the area since the early 1980s and lived
<br />there since 1995. "This particular segment of
<br />the trail is flawed in many ways," Silva said at
<br />Thursday's meeting.
<br />Silva and others argue that people often
<br />set little fires on trails, which means a gust
<br />of wind in the wrong direction could spark
<br />disaster. Silva told board members that
<br />'the residential area near OWASA land is a
<br />potential "tinderbox" that would be near-
<br />impossible for firefighters to protect.
<br />(Reached by the INDY Friday, Orange
<br />Grove Volunteer Fire Company chief Steve
<br />McCauley Sr. said he doesn't see the proxim-
<br />ity of a trail as a worrisome hazard. A light-
<br />ning strike, he points out, would do much the
<br />same thing.)
<br />Opponents also warn that the trail could
<br />present new opportunities for criminals.
<br />"Unfortunately, trails have become soft
<br />spots for crime" Silva told the OSAWA
<br />board. "They're considered `blueberry patch-
<br />es' now —easy places to go to commit crime
<br />and get away with it" (The Wake
<br />County Sheriff's Office reports zero
<br />incidents in the trails surrounding
<br />Falls Lake since January 2015.)
<br />Not all residents feel the same way.
<br />In fact, at Thursdays meeting, sup-
<br />porters were about equally represent-
<br />ed. Many are volunteers who've helped
<br />build sections of the MST. Supporters
<br />say the trail would be an economic
<br />driver for Orange County and a gift to future
<br />generations.
<br />"I'm strongly in favor of having the MST
<br />trail go through OWASA property," said Carl
<br />Shy, a thirty- four -year resident of Bingham
<br />Township, which borders OWASAs land.
<br />"This area has extraordinary scenic beauty,
<br />being heavily forested, with undulating ter-
<br />rain bordering the waters of the reservoir.
<br />It would be highly appropriate to make this
<br />beautiful tract of land available to the public."
<br />The board didn't take any action last week.
<br />Members talked about looking at alternative
<br />routes for the trail. They didn't rule out the
<br />possibility of not allowing the trail on OWASA
<br />property after all and said that any site agree -
<br />ment will likely take a couple ofyears.
<br />"[Board members] really want to be
<br />respectful of adjacent neighbors," says Kate
<br />Dixon of Fends of the Mountains -to -Sea
<br />Trail. "We really want that, too. We're really
<br />not trying to invade people's privacy at all."
<br />dhooley@indyweek.com
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