The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted this past Tuesday, at its last meeting before their break, to delay any appointments to the Carrboro Greenways Commission. The BOA wants to hear from staff over the summer as to what tasks the Commission will be charged with in the next 12 to 18 months. The aim, reportedly, is to select representatives to the Commission who will be able to address these tasks. Friends of Bolin Creek had requested new members be appointed to the Commission in this letter.
Friends of Bolin Creek has tracked and attended Commission meetings over the past year and a half. Much more could have been accomplished if the Commission had representatives willing to hear a full range of community opinions. Some Commission members listened, but a minoirty pushing for a single solution of paving along Bolin Creek have dominated the Commission and discouraged thoughtful dialogue and civility. Until March of last year the Commission did not even have a protocol for hearing from the public. Later, when the public brought new information about UNC’s plans for the campus to campus connector and the perils of putting pavement near stream banks, that input was ridiculed and ignored. Even with the Mayor present, alternative viewpoints were devalued, in contrast to Carrboro’s stated rules for public conduct which are posted in the Board room.
Key, in our opinion, is the inclusion of citizens who represent the overwhelming sentiment expressed in this town for conserving the ecology, habitat and water quality of Bolin Creek. Indeed, rare is the 425-acre forest that defines this area. Its conservation, as you know, is the most important project that Friends of Bolin Creek has undertaken and one that the Town has supported in part by the purchase of the Adams Tract in 2004. The area has been cited by a 2004 North Carolina study as a priority for preservation.
Friends of Bolin Creek has embraced the need for connectivity for bicyclists and walkers in our community. We have studied the plans and find that existing plans go a long way toward meeting community connectivity goals. This map illustrates that point powerfully in visual terms.
The bottom line is that the greenways experience should include a genuine natural experience of a walk in the woods. Even more important than transit connections is the priority of saving our natural places for the future.