PRC Agenda 08102022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft Meeting Summary—Parks and Recreation Council June 1,2022 Bonnie B. Davis Environment and Agricultural Center-Hillsborough, Members Present: Mikki Fleming(Vice-Chair),Jessie Birckhead, Chris Colvin(via Zoom), Greg Hughes,Rod Jones, Tim Tippin,Becca Truluck,Xilong Zhao. Members Absent: Gina Reyman(Chair),Natalie Ziemba,Bob Smith Staff: David Stancil,Kalani Allen, Chris Hirni Vice-Chair Mikki Fleming called the meeting to order at 6:31pm. David Stancil asked Fleming that a change in the agenda be made,to allow Christian Hirni present the MST update first under New Business. Fleming allowed the change to the agenda. Review of Meeting Summary/Additions to Agenda: a. No changes or additions to meeting summary. The Council accepted the meeting summary from the May 4 meeting. Report of the Chair: a. Welcome to New Members—Fleming welcomed three new members, Jessie Birckhead,Rebecca Truluck, and Roderick Jones. She asked all members to introduce themselves. Fleming explained that there is currently one vacancy on the council, Chapel Hill Township. b. Update on Recruitment Efforts/Vacancies-Members were given handouts of the Spanish and English translation recruitment flyers. Kalani Allen gave an update on the additional translations in Mandarin and Burmese. Beth Young, communications manager for DEAPR will reach out to another vendor source to get flyer translated. Allen said that once done, it will be emailed to members. New Business: a. Mountains to Sea Trail Update(Chris Hirni,Land Conservation Manager DEAPR) - Christian Hirni,the evening's speaker,was introduced by Stancil.Hirni provided a brief history of the Mountains to Sea Trail(MST), Stancil mentioned Howard Lee as the concept's founder. Hirni supplied a memo handout,which was presented to the BOCC. He described the phases of the MST as follows: Occoneechee Mountain to Seven Mile Creek Natural Area, Cane Creek Reservoir Area,Buckhorn Road to Seven Mile Creek Natural Area, and Eno River State Park to Durham County. During his presentation,he emphasized the need of staff collaborations with Friends of the MST(FMST), OWASA, Eno River Association, and different landowners willing to provide trail easements to expand the MST across Orange County,with a focus on hiking trails. He reviewed easement language that had recently been approved by the BOCC such as the Draper-Savage Foundation conservation and trail easement, and landowner donated trail easements in the Cane Creek Reservoir Area. Xilong Zhao asked Hirni if there were construction standards for the trail such as measurements for width of the trail path. He also asked if there would be any plans to have educational stations along the MST about safety, information on mini gardens etc. Hirni explained the trail plans in the County's rural jurisdiction include a three foot natural path. He said that currently there are no plans to have an educational information to be displayed along the trail unless landowners specifically request or allow for this to be done while acquiring easements. Stancil noted that such educational signage may be present at waystations and trailheads on County-owned land. Greg Hughes inquired if the path was intended to be a day hike. Hirni noted that the intention is similar to the Appalachian Trail for both day hiking and