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10-8 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 10 - Goals, Objectives, and Recommendations 10 One area of future collaboratfon that seems partfcu- larly well-tfmed is that with the school systems. As the Twin Creeks District Park and Educatfonal Campus comes to fruitfon in the next 10-15 years with multfple schools co-located with a 96-acre park, opportunitfes for “cross-pollinatfon” would appear to be numerous between the schools and the park. Opportunitfes to work more closely with the Orange County Schools – both in the design of future schools that may be able to serve community and educatfon- al needs, and in the constructfon and operatfonal sharing of recreatfonal facilitfes – would greatly enhance both community recreatfon and school purposes. The Intergovernmental Parks Work Group’s Community Use of School Facilitfes issue paper notes the opportunitfes that could be served by such cooperatfon. Co-locatfon of the Eurosport Soccer Center and Gravelly Hill Middle School is one example of such a result, and collaboratfon on future auxiliary gymnasiums, playing fields at schools, and schools in proximity to parks (such as Blackwood Farm) are opportunitfes that should be seized to optfmize the investment of public dollars. There may also be an opportunity for a new school park near Mebane. Notably, both school systems recently up- dated their facility use policies to allow more oppor- tunity for coordinated usage for recreatfon purposes. Finally, there are opportunitfes to work more closely with large public and private instftutfons, such as Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA), N.C. State Parks, UNC and Duke to meet future recreatfon needs. Sponsorships and capital investment partner- ships should also be explored with the private sector, which benefits from safe and healthy outdoor exercise and recreatfonal areas and may be a willing partner. The County should schedule a meetfng with the other local governments within the county to discuss future joint capital funding and possible memoranda of agreement for such purposes. A similar meetfng with the two school systems could identffy ways of incorporatfng recreatfon needs into planning for future school projects and codifying joint facility usage arrangements (some of which already exist). Mutually-beneficial design standards for new school facilitfes may enable greater use by the public of these important recreatfonal assets. Renewal of the Orange County Conservatfon Alliance, an annual meetfng of conservatfon partners including Triangle Land Conservancy, Eno River Associatfon, Duke, UNC, Eno River State Park and OWASA, should enable coordinated future planning and the identfficatfon of joint opportunitfes among these agencies and instftutfons. Finally, regarding collaboratfon with private firms, the County should complete its “partnership template” to identffy mutually-beneficial partner- ship arrangements and use this as a tool to explore working with existfng and future employers to find ways where private investment and sponsorships may help enhance recreatfonal opportunitfes. D. The Vision – Trails, Connectivity and Access One of the stronger messages resultfng from the Community Needs Assessment surveys was the desire among residents for more hiking, walking and biking trails. Natfonally and locally, walking and hiking are popular modes of outdoor exercise and fitness, and biking is another popular recreatfonal outlet as well as for meetfng exercise goals. Whether they are located within a park, or for connectfng parks and open spaces (also strongly supported in the surveys), residents are interested in seeing the County increase the availability and accessibility of trails. Recommendation #5: Develop a Master Plan for the Orange County Segment of the Mountains-to- Sea Trail, and Work Towards Its Completion The NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST for short) is a part of the North Carolina State Parks system that connect Clingman’s Dome at 6,643 feet along the North Carolina-Tennessee border to Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks and Atlantfc Ocean. The trail is a multf-modal route, meaning that it may be a paved greenway as it runs through an urban setting, or simply a five-foot-wide natural surface path in rural areas. 116