- Annual Meeting of Management Team - March 30th, 1999
- February & March Public Meetings - Wake County
- Chatham-Durham Public Meeting - February 24th, 1999
- New Paved Sections of ATT
- Public Meetings on Wake County Portion of American Tobacco Trail
- October, November & December Planning Meetings
- Eagle Spur Trail Activities
- Other Progress on the ATT
- December 1999 Events
- Management Options for American Tobacco Trail (11/98)
Annual Meeting of Management Team
TRTC hosted the Annual Meeting of officials from all of the agencies involved with the American Tobacco Trail on Tuesday, March 30th. The Annual Meeting is important in promoting face-to-face coordination between groups that are critical to building the ATT and in exposing local (elected) officials to a more in-depth look at the ATT. The agenda included reports on progress made in 1998, a discussion of expectations for major projects to be done in 1999, and less structured discussions of issues and goals for future efforts. Tom Mappes kicked off the Annual Meeting with slides on seven (7) areas:
- The Vision
- Tour of ATT
- User Groups
- Work Already Done
- Work Still To Do
- Trail Management
- The Choices
- Durham verbally committed to equestrian trailhead at future Scott King Road Park (near Chatham line).
- Developers committed to building 1 mile of additional trail.
- One developer has built a trailhead parking area. Two others have dedicated 3.75 acres for 2 more trailheads.
- State Parks has awarded a grant for construction of a trailhead (near underpass at Fayetteville Road).
- State Parks, Wake & Durham provided grants to TRTC for 1992 ATT Master Plan and current efforts to prepare GIS maps.
Durham City-County
-- Reported that the bids for construction of Phases A & B have been received and are being evaluated. An award is anticipated during May. (Editor's Note: The Sanford Construction Co. began work in late May. Their first task involves removing existing trestle bridges and replacing them with new ones.) The solicitation for Phase C should be issued by early this Summer with an award by Fall. Under this latest schedule, construction on A & B should begin by June; Phase C work will be started in the Fall; barring any extended delays for weather, work on all of these first 3 Phases should be done and the trail open from the Ballpark to NC 54 by June or July of 2000. The lease for the short section south of NC 54 is being finalized with NC DOT and should be signed by late in 1999.
Wake County
-- At the March 17 meeting, a new structure for ATT planning was set in motion. The membership for a 12 person Steering Committee was selected and will meet monthly for at least the next 6-8 months. Contact information for the
Steering Committee is now available on the Wake County web site.(See article on 3/17 Meeting for more details). Minutes from these meetings will not be sent out to all the attendees of the prior meetings but will be available on the Wake County Parks & Recreation web site. The Steering Committee will meet on the third Wednesday of each month at the Jones Bldg. (on Holleman Street) in Apex from 7 - 9 pm. Fine tuning of the lease arangements with NCDOT is continuing with signing expected by summer.
Chatham County
Chatham has just recently begun formally planning their portion of the ATT. Due to the County's limited staff resources, TRTC will provide staff support to the planning process. Chatham's Commissioners are solidly behind the project but have indicated that any major funding, such as for bridges, will probably have to come from grants or other sources. County staff are working on the lease terms with NCDOT and expect to have it signed in 2-3 months.
A fifth planning meeting was held on Wednesday, February 17th at the Cary C. Jones Building on Holleman St. in downtown Apex. This meeting was a follow-up to issues encountered at the January 20th meeting. The January meeting was well attended and heard spirited discussion of several issues including what categories of users the Wake section is being designed for and how the type of surface for the trail would impact a variety of potential users ranging from those wanting to use the trail with thin tire bicycles to those strongly concerned that the trail be maintained as a soft natural surface suitable for equestrian use. Also discussed at the January meeting were the varied concerns of adjacent landowners.
The planned focus of the February meeting was a return to defining the intended users of the trail. Once again the large number of attendees and their desire to reiterate views expressed in earlier meetings worked against reaching consensus on this issue.
The sixth Planning Committee Meeting was held on March 17th. As had been proposed prior to the Meeting, the planning process was restructured from large, open meetings to a series of monthly meetings by a Steering Committee of 12 persons representing the 4 major stakeholders: adjacent landowners, hikers/walkers, equestrians, and bicycle riders. The goal of the Steering Committee will be to identify all issues relevant to the trail, identify possible solutions, and to formulate recommendations that will be presented to the Wake County Board of Commissioners. In addition to generic landowner issues dealt with by the Steering Committee, the Dept. plans to break up the Wake portion into 8 segments and meet with landowners individually to discuss issues of concern. These meetings with landowners are to be scheduled every two months to allow time for meeting preparation.
Membership of the Steering Committee is as follows:
A public hearing to obtain input from adjacent landowners and other potential users of the American Tobacco Trail was held at the North Chatham Elementary School on February 24th. Approximately 70 people attended and about 15 provided input. This section of the ATT is 6.9 miles in length and begins near Fayetteville Road in Durham County and runs south across Northeast Creek and Panther Creek to Earnest Jones Road in Chatham County. The area is generally rural in character and plans call for this section to be a natural surface trail suitable for walking, mountain biking and equestrian use. In the future, Cary is planning to tie-in two greenway trails to this portion of the trail.
Tom Mappes of TRTC opened the hearing with a slide presentation on the background of rail-trails and on the plans, features and route of the trail. Following this, a panel comprised of local planning and recreation officials, State Parks and Wildife staff, the Corps of Engineers and Barbara Oslund of TRTC responded to the concerns and questions raised by the speakers. While the majority of speakers were generally supportive of the trail, several raised concerns relating to security for trail users and adjacent landowners and the role of trail signs and park rangers to achieve a safe and clean trail. Follow-up meetings to look into specific concerns of particular landowners are anticipated.
Although the formal comment period has closed as of March 1, 1999, your informal views or questions concerning this section of the ATT can be made in writing, by phone or via e-mail as follows:
For the Chatham section of the trail please submit questions, comments to:
Tracy Burnett
Chatham residents interested in a continuing role in dealing with issues and plans for the Chatham portion of the ATT may be interested in attending (or serving on) the Chatham Trails Committee. Meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month at 7 pm in the Conference room at the Agriculture Building in Pittsboro. Please contact Tracy Burnett for info. on the Committee, agendas etc. E-mail responses on Chatham concerns can be sent to billbus@gte.net.
For the Durham section of the trail please submit questions, comments to:
Beth Timson
E-mail reponses on Durham concerns can be sent to btimson@ci.durham.nc.us.
Durham residents having a continuing interest in issues relating to the ATT (and other trails in Durham County) are invited to attend the monthly meetings of the Durham Open Space and Trails Commission (DOST). DOST meets at City Hall on the third Wednesday of each month (7 pm).
The developer of the South Point Kroger Shopping Center on the north side of Hwy. 54 off Fayetteville Rd. in Durham has provided the second paved section of the American Tobacco Trail. The completed section includes about 2000 feet of ten foot wide asphalt-paved trail. The completed construction starts at Dunhill Drive and follows the corridor south for about 1000 feet to a parking access area for the trail at the Fayetteville Road entrance to the complex. There is an unpaved trailhead parking area here which allows easy access to the trail.
This completed trail running from Dunhill Dr. to the Fayetteville Rd. parking area portion offers a good preview of what much of the urban portion of the trail will look like. The other 1000 foot portion runs westward behind the stores crossing through the middle of the development dividing the new shopping center from apartment buildings. Within three years those living in the apartments will have "back door" access to an off road trail which goes all the way to downtown Durham.The Triangle Rails-to-Trails Concervancy and North Carolina Rail-Trails are planning to present a "Golden Spike Award" to the developer in early 1999. Be sure to check out this newly paved portion of the trail when you are in the area.
As scheduled, a public meeting was held July 28th at the Apex Middle School Auditorium to discuss the current status and future plans for the Wake County part of the American Tobacco Trail (ATT). The ATT is very important to Wake County, and is a big part of a one hundred and ten mile loop of off-road trails that are envisioned for Wake, Durham, and Orange counties in the next five to seven years. The recreational trail is located on a twenty-three mile inactive rail corridor that runs through western Wake County, northeast Chatham County, and southern Durham County. The corridor provides the perfect place for a multi-purpose, natural surface, recreational trail for residents of the Triangle. A coalition of organizations is leading the trail effort including NCDOT Rails Division, North Carolina Rail-Trails, Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and the Wake County Planning Commission.
This first public meeting was open to the public, and everyone was encouraged to voice their questions, comments, and concerns. There was a special six-person panel assembled from the sponsoring organizations to answer public commentary. This panel included Alice Webb, Cary Parks and Recreation, Tom Mappes, TRTC, Tom Potter, DEHNR, Al Capehart, NC Rails to Trails, and Beth Timson, Durham County representative. David Carter, Wake County Parks and Recreation Director, was the moderator of the discussion, and Christy Cornell, Wake County Parks and Recreation staff member, gave a Powerpoint presentation on Rail-Trails in general. Also presenting was Tom Mappes, TRTC, who provided general information on the American Tobacco Trail. Wake County Council member Yvonne Brannon came to observe the meeting as did the local television news.
Approximately one hundred and fifty people attended this meeting including Sig Hutchinson, President of the North Raleigh Mountain Biking Association. He voiced support of the American Tobacco Trail and its importance to the proposed "Circle of the Triangle" trail - the ATT would comprise the western half of this proposed trail. Bob Morris, representing NC Fats Mountain Bike Club, also voiced support of the ATT, and thanked David Carter for his support of mountain biking - especially his efforts at Lake Crabtree.
A large group of people interested in equestrian use of the trail attended the meeting and stated their desire to keep large portions of the trail unpaved for equestrian use. (The Master Plan for the ATT calls for this portion of the trail to be natural surface and be 10 feet wide.) This desire was countered by another group that would like to pave as much of the trail as possible. A compromise was discussed which would involve parallel paved and unpaved trails. No final decision was made, and the issue is still under discussion.
A small group of landowners whose property adjoins the trail also attended the meeting. They were concerned about the effects of the trail because it would adjoin or bisect their property. They were not supportive of the trail, but it appears that plans for it will continue despite their objections. Mr. Carter reiterated that landowner concerns will be addressed through additional public participation to be arranged over the next few months.
On October 14th, Wake County conducted the first public planning meeting to discuss concerns raised at the July 28th meeting. Parks & Rec. Director David Carter made it clear in his opening remarks that monthly meetings will be held as long as there are active concerns and issues relating to planning of the Wake section of the trail. The County Commissioners have authorized for the planning/recommendation process to go ahead. They will consider a report from this committee, and then decide if they will authorize trail construction.
The 45 attendees broke into 6 discussion groups which were charged with identifying issues and considerations relating to the trail. This input was categorized and will serve as the starting point for the second and later planning meetings. As the process proceeds, the Parks & Rec. Dept. will be taking these ideas and turning them into a written document. The desired end point is to arrive at a consensus recommendation. The planning process continued with a second meeting on November 18th and a third meeting on December 9th.
Information on these meetings and other aspects of Wake County's efforts on planning their portion of the ATT is available via their web page at http://www.co.wake.nc.us/parksrec/ATT/ATT.HTM. This site includes the ATT Gazette (a newsletter on ATT activities), Minutes from the 10/14 and later meetings, Agendas for upcoming meetings, and Results from the 10/14 Affinity Process (a categorized list of the issues, potential conflicts, questions and broader concerns such as the future management of the trail).
Comments or questions concerning the details of these meetings can be addressed to: ccornell@co.wake.nc.us. Leslie Kennedy of Apex represents Wake County on TRTC and will continue to serve as a key source of information on the ATT. She can be reached at 362-4011.
The Eagle Spur trail is at the northern edge of Jordan Lake. To reach the trailhead take NC Hwy 751 about 2 miles south of NC 54 and turn right on to Stagecoach Road. The trailhead is about 0.25 miles on the north (left) side of Stagecoach (before you get to the bridge).
TRTC volunteers lead several workdays to clear the Eagle Spur Trail of Fran damage during the Spring and Fall of 1998. A planned workday for late November 1999 has been postponed until January 2000. A specific date will be set by mid-December and posted on this web site. Contact Thad Howard at 544-9126 for more information.
The solicitation for a contractor to perform grading and paving of the portion of the ATT within the City of Durham was released during January 1999. A contract was awarded in May 1999. Work has started with the five trestles (removal of at least 1, repair/modification for the others). Construction will be done in four phases. For the first three phases, the surface will be asphalt-paved and 10 feet wide. The solicitation for Phase C will be made during Summer 1999.
The most recent schedule calls for Parks staff to hold a public meeting to provide more information on the trail project on Monday, December 13, 1999. The meeting will be held at Apex Middle School auditorium from 7:00-9:00 p.m. On December 16, the Wake County Parks Staff will present plans for the trail to the Wake County Parks & Recreation Commission. The meeting is scheduled from 3:00-5:00 pm in Room 701 of the Wake County Courthouse. Following review and recommendations by the Commission, the Plan will then be presented to the Wake County Board of Commissioners on January 4, 2000. The time will be announced as the date approaches. After approval by the Wake Commissioners, a management lease will be signed with the NC DOT-Rails Division.
February, March & later Public Meetings on Wake Section of the American Tobacco Trail
Adjacent Landowners: Gerald Harris, Kim Fisher, Joan Ottaway, Robert Wrenn, Kathleen Ryan, Karen Watts. Bikers: Dianne Littlefield, Cathy Driscoll. Equestrians: Leslie Kennedy (Sec'y TRTC), Deborah Elmore. Hikers/Walkers: Bill Bussey (V.P. TRTC), Steve Lund.
Feb. 24th Meeting on Chatham-Durham Section of ATT
Director, Chatham County Recreation Dept.
P.O. Box 87,
Pittsboro, NC 27312 542-8252
Durham Planning Dept.
101 City Hall Plaza
Durham, NC 27701 560-4137 ext. 245
New Paved Sections of the ATT Completed -- November 1998
Public Meeting on Wake County Portion of American Tobacco Trail
(Adapted from article by Bob Morris and Paula Hershman in the 8/98 Newsletter of the NC Fats Mountain Biking Club)
October, November and December Planning Meetings
Eagle Spur Trail Activities
Other Progress on The ATT
December 1999 Events