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