The Bolin Creek Greenway has been a project more than 14 years in the making. The town ultimately aims to extend the trail to create a safe and convenient path for pedestrians and bikers.
Located throughout Chapel Hill and Carrboro, officials are considering completion of the project. The Town of Carrboro is looking for how to best gather public input.
“The planning effort for this project was initiated for the purpose of alternative transportation, recreation and environmental protection and restoration through the Bolin and Jones Creek corridors,” said Carrboro Planning Director Trish McGuire.
McGuire noted planning efforts for the Bolin Creek Greenway were initiated in 2008. In 2009, the plan was adopted and a public engagement survey was conducted.
“There are people in the community who are in high school now who weren’t born when this public process started, and others moved away and moved on — passed away as well,” said McGuire. “So there’s certainly a community of people that’s shifted.”
McGuire said the project was initially divided into five phases, with Phase One having two parts.
“Phase One A — we also call this the Wilson Multi-Use Path — that project was completed in 2015,” said McGuire. “Phase One B is also called the Homestead Chapel Hill High School Multi-Use Path, and the ribbon cutting was in 2018.”
Phase Two of the plan, which will be located near Lake Hogan Farms, is not yet underway since funds were reallocated to Phases Three and Four. Those phases will be located along the focused corridor of Bolin Creek — south of Chapel Hill High School and down to Estes Drive, McGuire said.
As these discussions resume, Carrboro Town Council member Randee Haven-O’Donnell said they believe it’s important for the town to recognize how climate issues have changed in the 14 years since the project’s proposal.
“The conceptual plan in 2009 does not reflect any awareness, any concern, for climate issues and it doesn’t reflect an understanding of the need for climate response resilience and action,” Haven-O’Donnell said.
Similarly, town staff said they want to hear from the public about what else should be kept in mind for a potential expansion of Bolin Creek Greenway. McGuire said a potential idea for gauging interest with the project is to conduct a survey for town members.
“Updating the base information in some fashion, checking on the uses that are existing and proposed for utilities and our neighbors, the University and Carolina North [property], and then checking the regulatory and permitting aspects as well as community engagement are important,” said McGuire.
Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils says he wants the town to conduct a process to determine project engagement that would reach a broad sample of the community and provide new input.
“I just want to make sure we’re reaching all the places we need to reach,” said Seils. “What do we want to ask people? What do we want to know from them? And are we expecting to learn something new by doing that, that we don’t know already in the years of engagement around this issue.”
Seils said he believes effective strategies for an inclusive engagement plan could be community events, neighborhood events, school events and web-based input.
“In the end, we want multiple strategies to reach multiple audiences and provide as many opportunities for input in what I hope will be a relatively short period.”
For more information about the Bolin Creek Greenway, visit the Town of Carrboro’s website.
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