Town pines for greener paths

CARRBORO -- This town, known for its bike paths and preserved tracts -- a town named "the greenest city" by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine -- does not yet have preserved public footpaths along its main creeks like its neighboring community of Chapel Hill.

Town officials, advisory board representatives and other community members are invited to meet Saturday morning for a Greenway Summit, a public discussion on how Carrboro plans to protect undeveloped land for biking, walking and other recreational purposes.

WHAT'S A GREENWAY? The term "greenway" refers to a public trail that will be kept undeveloped along a stream corridor, said town Planning Administrator Trish McGuire. In Carrboro, that means mainly along Bolin and Morgan creeks.

One trail along Bolin Creek in the northern part of town is considered a greenway, but part of it runs through private land, and it is labeled only as a bike path on town maps. The town wants more trails on public land.

WHY? The ultimate vision is to connect greenway systems throughout the Triangle. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill all have boards or commissions specifically to plan, establish and manage greenways. Carrboro hopes to create a commission on greenways as well.

The American Tobacco Trail, slated to run from western Wake County through the northeast part of Chatham County and end in Durham County at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, is being built, and Chapel Hill has an established greenway system.

"When you magnify the image of what we could be doing, it's very impressive and very doable," said Alderman Randee Haven-O'Donnell. "If you can just imagine getting on a greenway trail from [Shelley Lake Trail] in Raleigh and biking all the way down to Carolina North, wouldn't that be exciting?"

McGuire said greenways provide routes for forms of transportation other than motor vehicles, create space for recreation and offer access to natural areas.

"They add a use back onto the land that was protected around these streams," she said. "And it sort of helps people understand why it was protected."

At the summit, attendants will discuss what the public wants and how to make it happen. The idea is to start the conversation, Haven-O'Donnell said.

WHY NOW? The idea of and planning for preserving greenways in Carrboro goes back well into the 1990s, said Alderman Jacquie Gist.

"Greenways are a really good idea, but they're not that easy to pull off," she said.

Though the aldermen have actively pushed for preserving green space in town on sites such as the 27-acre Adams Tract the town purchased in 2004, Carrboro is growing fast. The aldermen are trying to control growth, but Carrboro faces considerable development pressure.

"We have to know what we want when things become available," Gist said.