Friends of Bolin Creek sent this letter to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen expressing our strong concern that the Climate Change Task Force recommended a paved road next to Bolin Creek. The Board decided to remove the controversial wording and also asked the staff to schedule a time to revisit the paving question on a future agenda. Time TBA.
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Memo to: Carrboro Board of Aldermen
Re: Climate Change Report Draft
Date: November 10, 2015
Friends of Bolin Creek compliments the Carrboro Board of Alderman for initiating ways to mitigate climate change as a local community. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this draft report.
We strongly endorse the recommendation for the town to form a utility to improve stormwater management within the city limits. Stormwater management is a major program element of Friends of Bolin Creek. For the past several years we have spearheaded a volunteer rain garden program modeled on Durham’s Rain Catchers and the highly successful Ellerbe Creek rain garden program. If the Town forms a storm water utility, we will be happy to collaborate with the town to build even more rain gardens that infiltrate rainwater into the ground and keep pollutants out of our waterways.
Although we support most of the thoughtful recommendations found in this report, we are surprised and dismayed that the task force included a 6 year old controversial paving proposal in this draft report. To build a 30 foot wide, two mile paved route to DOT specs (as required when accepting federal funds) through a 425 acre contiguous forest would be counterproductive to the goals of this report.
Given the unjustified and controversial nature of this paving proposal, we strongly recommend removing it so that the draft report can be accepted and moved forward.
A bit of history is needed for those not present when the BOA met this controversy head on in December 2009. The Town had hired a consultant who issued a report with a number of greenway routes. The BOA accepted the majority of the consultant- recommended plans and they were subsequently planned or built.
However, given the widespread concern and evidence that construction close to the creek would harm the natural woodland experience, reduce the value of wildlife habitat, destabilize creek banks, harm water quality, and damage woodland ecology, the Board “tabled” phases 3 and 4 of the consultant’s report and subsequently referred consideration of these options to the Carrboro Greenways Commission. The Greenways Commission discussed the pros and cons of this proposal during a year of meetings and finally adopted a resolution recommending no action because several alternate north-south routes were planned. Both the Board and the Greenways Commission have acted wisely to not take any further action toward paving phases 3 and 4.
A contiguous forest is a rare thing, particularly so in our rapidly growing triangle area.
The Morgan and Little Creeks Local Watershed Plan did a base line study of Bolin Creek and its tributaries in 1994 sponsored by the town of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, the state and EPA, and was overseen by a stakeholder group of officials from all jurisdictions. It is that study that has enabled Carrboro to secure 119 grants from EPA for restoration work in the watershed.
Under the patient and persistence of Carrboro and Chapel Hill leaders over several decades, the plan for Carolina North did not sprawl into the Upper Bolin Creek Watershed. Instead the new campus will be clustered in a compact form on the existing airport runways. The UNC Board of Trustees and Council of State agreed to conserve permanently much of the UNC land in Carrboro’s jurisdiction for posterity, and others tracts for 50 years. This is significantly more protection than Battle Park on the UNC campus now receives. The Board should support these successful efforts by many to conserve Bolin Forest.
Finally, in addition to removing this paving project from this draft climate change report, we strongly support the Transportation Advisory Board recommendation to take a step back and make a comprehensive study of all existing and planned bike and pedestrian connections in the area, including Chapel Hill and Orange County, with an eye towards developing an improved plan for an effective transportation network that can maximize reduction of carbon emissions while also meeting high standards of environmental protection.
Signed,
Julie McClintock
Salli Benedict
Mary Faith Mount-Cors
Rob Crook
Marty Mandel
Rob McClure
John Morris
Will Raymond
Diane Robinson
Del Snow
Mary Sonis
Joan Widdifield