
{"id":12616,"date":"2010-09-16T08:14:23","date_gmt":"2010-09-16T16:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=12616"},"modified":"2010-09-16T08:14:23","modified_gmt":"2010-09-16T16:14:23","slug":"saving-bolin-creek-with-a-paved-greenway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/09\/16\/saving-bolin-creek-with-a-paved-greenway\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Bolin Creek with a Paved Greenway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-12619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/OWASA-Bolin-Creek-Easement-Erosion-1-26-10-107-60x80.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><strong>Ken Moore<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nI was initially against the Bolin Creek Greenway plan and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m an enthusiastic supporter. Having studied the plan, walked the corridor more thoughtfully and made more explorations of Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bolin Creek Greenway, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve changed my mind and ask others to consider the following significant benefits of the Greenway Plan.<\/p>\n<p>The Bolin Creek corridor is not a pristine natural area. It is a degraded, maintenance-neglected, but much loved urban natural area. Most of what is now called Bolin Forest was an agricultural field barely 50 years ago, and the older areas of forest bordering the creek ceased being pristine decades ago, with construction of the OWASA sewer line. Subsequent additions of neighborhood creekside playgrounds and foot and mountain-bike trails have resulted in a badly fragmented forest, now extensively infested with invasive plants. <\/p>\n<p>During rains, these trails become erosion channels flowing onto the sewer easement, which, itself, becomes a stream channel, washing sediment directly into the creek. For much of the winter season, the heavily traveled easement is so water logged that walkers and joggers often make pathway diversions along drier edges, creating yet more erosion courses.<\/p>\n<p>A \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was adopted by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen on March 24, 2009. That plan states: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Off-road trails provide a more unique, comfortable experience for all levels of bicyclists and can also serve transportation and recreation purposes\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Two greenway corridors are particularly important for the Town of Carrboro. These include the Bolin Creek Greenway (part of which exists in the Town of Chapel Hill), and the Morgan Creek Greenway\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6The Bolin Creek Greenway would serve as the major paved north\/south spine of the greenway system.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bolin Creek Greenway Plan, submitted in December 2009 and now being considered, is a logical follow-up. <\/p>\n<p>I was impressed with the Greenway Plan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strategies to meet the following goals: protect and improve water quality along Bolin and Jones Creeks; protect, conserve and preserve wildlife habitat; connect surrounding land use in Carrboro by providing infrastructure for non-motorized modes of transportation; provide safe access to Bolin and Jones creeks; and enhance quality of life by providing a recreational facility for all citizens of Carrboro to enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>The easement is already cleared to between 20 and 30 feet and badly degraded; greenway installation will be an improvement from the outset. The potential loss of some trees along short, narrow sections (approximately 2 percent to 5 percent of the entire easement length) is not a terrible loss when appreciating long-term benefits that a greenway will provide. A paved greenway, vegetated on both sides, similar to the Chapel Hill counterpart, is a logical strategy to protect Bolin Creek from increasing runoff and degradation. The plan is an opportunity for Carrboro to improve the existing degraded sewer easement to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153high-quality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d urban natural area, accessible to all for nature observation, recreation and non-motorized transportation use.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the Greenway Plan is a conceptual master plan, not a final design. Evaluation and recommendations need to be completed soon so that, like the Bicycle Transportation and Morgan Creek Greenway Plans before it, the Bolin Creek Greenway Plan can be adopted, enabling the town to respond quickly to funding opportunities for detailed design and implementation. <\/p>\n<p>The Carrboro Greenways Commission meeting on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall will provide a good opportunity to learn why Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bolin Creek Greenway Plan has many supporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was initially against the Bolin Creek Greenway plan and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m an enthusiastic supporter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12616"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12658,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616\/revisions\/12658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}