The Story of Chapel Hill High’s Cross Country Team and Course

Many knew about Carrboro’s 1B Multi-Use route (from Claremont to Homestead Road and then east to Chapel Hill High School.  What almost no on knew until a few weeks ago was that the route would intersect with the High School’s Cross Country Course three times.  The Carrboro Board of Aldemen will meet again this Tuesday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall to discuss the topic.

The team. Chapel Hill High sports a winning Cross Country team.  The girls’ team won the 3A state championship in 2015 and the boys’ cross-country team got second place in the 3A state championship in 2015 this past fall. The girls’ indoor track team won the 3A state championship in 2016. Now, the girls’ (outdoor) track team just won 3A regionals this past Saturday and are favored to win the 3A state championship this coming Friday; the boys got third in the 3A regionals this past Saturday.

The course. Since the Town announced construction would commence a few weeks ago, hundreds of concerned members of the public, including high school students, have attended three Carrboro Town meetings – most of them asking for a route adjustment.

Despite the conflicts with the cross country course, contracts for receiving the money and hiring contractors have already been completed. Can anything be done at this late date to minimize damage to the cross country course while honoring current agreements?

A quick look back.  The recent controversy erupted because:

• Until several weeks ago, everyone was unaware there was a conflict between cross country facility and new multi-use trail – including the Board of Aldermen, the Greenways Commission and the Transportation Advisory Board, Friends of Bolin Creek, the high school principal, and the cross country team and coaches.
• This project concept was approved in 2010 but subsequent details of the route were not shared with key stakeholders before the contracts were signed. The Greenways Commission determined that the “green route” was preferable at the Homestead Road and Bolin Creek crossing, but that concept plan did not locate a route through school property.
• The Board of Aldermen apparently delegated review of plans to staff and the Greenways Advisory Commission whose members say they don’t recall seeing a final project map showing the routes through school property – they meet only 4 times a year.
• The staff has recently produced a list of outreach efforts, but the bottom line is that the stakeholders, Board of Aldermen, members of the Greenways Advisory Commission were all surprised by the fact that the final plan route conflicts with the High School Cross Country Course.
• A wonderful championship cross country course that has been lovingly tended for years by a championship team is to be significantly damaged by a “paved multi-use” roadway cutting through and along side the trail that will require at least 20 – 30 feet of clearing where ever it is located.

Mayor Lydia Lavelle stated that she did not know about the multi-use conflict with the course, nor did members of the Board of Aldermen. Friends of Bolin Creek representatives toured the school property in 2010, and assumed, wrongly, that additional pavement would not be needed in addition to the existing asphalt paths already present on the school site.

Clearly it was upsetting for the many runners and walkers who use this cross county trails to learn a contractor hired by the Town of Carrboro was to start construction in the next few weeks on a multi-use 12-foot hard surface roadway that would cross the wooded cross-country trail facility three times.

Consider the incredible history of this remarkable cross country championship team. The running times of cross country runners going back to the 1980’s are listed just outside the entrance to the track. The recent recommendation to remove part of the cross course course diminishes the history of this extraordinary athletic program, especially when there are modifications the Cross Country team and the elected leaders could support.

This news story describes the controversy. The most recent story from the Chapel Hill News suggests the current resolution on the table offers a compromise to all parties, which is NOT the case.

Three of the Town meetings held recently:

• Cross-country team members turned out at the Board of Aldermen meeting the previous Tuesday, May 3, to express their objections to the planned route. Members of the public, including students, and concerned citizens and Friends of Bolin Creek, requested an alternate route that would refrain from impacting the cross-country course. The BOA asked the Town Manager and Attorney to respond with some options. Video here.
• A preconstruction meeting was held on Thursday, May 5, for interested parties that included Carrboro Town staff and the engineering firm, Kimley-Horn.
• On Tuesday, May 11^th, the Town attorney returned with a list of financial impacts if the project were abandoned or modified. An option presented by the town staff would require relocating part of the cross country course in order to reduce the crossings from three to one, and would put a portion of the multi- use pavement running for several hundred feet along the woodland trail. Video here.

The question remains:  what can be done at this late date to preserve this wonderful community and school facility without delaying the project?

View map #1 showing the 1B route intersecting with the High School Cross Country course. The most recent proposal would eliminate several of the crossings but would require part of the course to be removed.

The alternate route below was proposed at the May 3rd Board of Aldermen meeting. It would remove fewer trees, mean less disturbance of the forest, and less construction cost. It would be safer and mean less conflict for runners and bikers.

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