BC 2009 10 05 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 5, 2009 (Work Session) Page 1644 chose the following primary destinations in Cabarrus County: Lowe's Motor Speedway, Research Campus, Reed Goldmine, Concord Mills Mall, Dale Earnhardt Tribute and the Great Philadelphia Wagon Route. Mr. Morehead reported the following information about the plan: uses 72°s of existing planning documents incorporating the Community Livable Blueprint, Central Area Plan, and bike plans which include 105 miles of greenway planned for Cabarrus County; the Carolina Thread Trail will be connected to all six towns within Cabarrus County and cross-connected with Rowan and Stanly counties; the plan utilizes a river corridor (Rocky River); plan measurements include impacted citizens that are to be served: 35 percent children, 33 percent seniors and 34 percent total residents are within a half mile of the service area; the suggested priority segments are as follows: Harrisburg, Mallard Creek corridor, Irish Buffalo Creek greenway, and Concord downtown connector; the County can augment existing planning documents to guide development of the trails; the County will qualify to receive Carolina Thread Trail funding and is not required to implement the plan on any timeline. Vice Chairman Mynatt queried Mr. Morehead once the trail location is identified, how will the property owners along the trail routes be notified of the impending trail project. Mr. Morehead responded as follows: the public is included as much as possible in the development of the plan; the organization held three public open houses, provided advertisements, and ran spots on the County's local cable access channel; each municipality is responsible for approaching their citizens; the organization is available to assist the County with tools related to trails and greenway planning; it is the responsibility of County staff to identify and plan corridors and to approach property owners when the County is ready to build a trail; the organization does not have or seek eminent domain authority, that authority rests with elected officials. Vice Chairman Mynatt commented on the shock property owners may feel when they are not informed of projects planned on their property. She stated the great public participation regarding the Carolina Thread Trail project does not indicate the awareness of the affected property owners. She noted the government has a responsibility to identify and alert property owners of impending projects. Chairman White concurred and made the following statements: municipalities need to notify landowners of their intent to impede on landowners' property; a response is needed from affected landowners for their approval or disapproval; and the project will need to be done in the least intrusive manner possible. He noted the process which will take many years to be completed should be spearheaded by the County along with collaborative efforts of the municipalities. Mr. Morehead responded to questions from the Board regarding the percentage of properties that will be directly affected by the trail as follows: 78 percent of the trails will fall in the riparian corridor; in the eastern section of the planning area, the trails follow bike routes in an existing right-of-way; there are only a few sections that actually go over land out of a creek; the implementation timeline for the project is 20 to 30 years; the County is in possession of the adopted planning document and will have to overlay the Carolina Thread Trail designation on the adopted document. Commissioner Carruth commented he was pleased to see the historic, nationally-recognized Philadelphia Wagon Road as one of the primary destinations and questioned whether there were any similar situations as the Philadelphia Wagon Road planned in the region as a route to be preserved. Mr. Morehead responded in the negative, that he is not aware of any planning efforts of this sort in North Carolina. Chairman White inquired about Scout participation, for example, to help build a section of the trail. Mr. Morehead responded the organization is very optimistic about Scout participation and has received great support from the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts across the region. He further stated each municipality that adopts the plan becomes eligible for grant funding from the organization. He announced the organization has raised $16 million dollars and has allocated $1 million dollars per the 15 counties and has awarded planning and implementation grants in the amount of $820,000.00 to build and design trails. He reiterated upon adoption of the plan, the County would be eligible for grant funding from the organization and the cap is currently at $300,000.00. Ms. Strong stated Kannapolis and Concord are currently working on extensive plans and have approached a lot of landowners about the property.