The OWASA Board of Directors reaffirmed its commitment to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail by tentatively approving the use of its land for the trail in a meeting Thursday night.

“We’re here to set some conditions that the county has to consider as they go through the detailed planning for the trail,” said board member David Moreau. “There are a lot of valid concerns that have been expressed by neighbors.”

Before the trail uses OWASA land in Orange County, the board must decide that the trail meets three conditions.

It must protect water quality in the Cane Creek Reservoir, use no OWASA funds for the trail and mitigate risks associated with hikers using OWASA property.

To help the county meet these three broader conditions, the board passed 46 additional conditions that addressed issues such as the use of alcohol on the trail and land management.

“If the county can develop a trail that meets the conditions, it would be brought back to the board to review,” said OWASA planning and development manager Ruth Rouse. “If it meets those conditions the intention is that the board would approve the trail on our land.”

Before approval of the conditions, the board received public comment from residents on both sides of the issue.

Those who wanted to see the trail come to Orange County praised the increased access to nature.

Those who opposed, like John Silva, said the trail could lead to increased crime and potential hazards like forest fires.

“Who will know if a large group is partying off the beautiful vistas in this segment,” he said. “Who will stop individuals from making a campfire? No one. You can set all these conditions, but you can’t enforce them.”

Orange County Parks and Recreation director David Stancil said his department reached out to neighboring counties with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail to learn about their experiences with these issues.

He said while there were fires in these counties, there were very few along trails.

He also discussed the issue of crime.

“When they’ve seen issues it’s break-ins to vehicles that are parked at areas where people access trails,” Stancil said. “That is much more likely to occur than an incident along the trails in the experience that they’ve had.”

Once complete, the 1,000-mile trail will stretch from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks, giving North Carolinians an opportunity to hike across the entire state.

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