RDU Airport meeting may address fate of Lake Crabtree Park trails

Mountain bikers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts concerned with the future of Lake Crabtree County Park and its popular trails will get their first look Tuesday, June 28, at what could happen to the property in the next 25 years as Raleigh-Durham International Airport grows.

The airport will host its seventh public workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 28 to get feedback as it develops conceptual plans to guide its development through 2040. The informal workshop will be in Room 100 of the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority administrative offices at 1000 Trade Drive in Morrisville.

This is part of an 18-month master planning process, called Vision2040, that began last summer and is expected to be completed late this year.

“The airport owns about 5,000 acres,” airport spokesman Andrew Sawyer said. “Many of those acres will never be needed for core aeronautical use, but we have to, per the (Federal Aviation Administration), have a plan for that land.”

A 149-acre tract of the property, home to miles of hiking and biking trails, is expected to draw the most interest from area residents. Wake County leases the property for Lake Crabtree County Park, the most-visited park in the area.

While Sawyer would not say what the current conceptual plan shows at the site, he said, “There are a wide range of possibilities, everything from development to leaving it as natural space.”

Two years ago, an outside consulting group, the Urban Land Institute, told RDU the land could be suited for an office park and luxury hotels.

This put trail fans on alert. A group called Save the Crab formed in response, and since then, they have been pushing the Airport Authority to plan such development elsewhere. The group also gathered more than 1,700 signatures last year on a petition to strengthen their message.

“It is a very good urban escape for outdoor enthusiasts,” said David Houskeeper, a member of Save the Crab and president of Triangle Off-Road Cyclists, an organization dedicated to mountain biking in the Triangle. “We hope they can find other methods to support their long-term need ... without posing a risk to the park.”

Wake County Commissioner Sig Hutchinson, who has been encouraging trail enthusiasts to attend the meeting, said he would like to see that land preserved.

“This area is the highest-used mountain biking area in the entire county, if not the entire region,” he said. “We definitely want to leverage this master planning process to make sure the recreational interest of our citizens are taken into full consideration.”

Crafting the plan

At two public workshops earlier this month, the Airport Authority and its consultant, Ricondo and Associates, presented nine conceptual layouts for the airport that mainly focused on the airport’s core.

These alternatives depicted additional runway and taxiways, terminals, parking and other features that will be needed as airport use increases, such as 23 additional gates airport staff expect to need by 2040.

There are several variations among the nine alternatives, particularly in relation to the potential site of future or relocated runways and taxiways. Most of the concepts show new runways and taxiways on the western side of the property, but three plans show them on the eastern side or both sides of the airport.

These nine plans will be narrowed down to four concepts based on previous public input and will be presented Tuesday.

“Those could be pieces and parts,” Sawyer said. “It could be the runway from Alternative 1 with the terminal from Alternative 8.”

Morrisville resident Lee Langston, who plans to attend the meeting, said he is concerned with those plans that show future runways anywhere other than the western side of the property. He said he expected future runways would be on the western side of the property, based on previous plans.

“This will inevitably direct air traffic over areas that don’t have it now and have had no reason to ever expect additional traffic over their homes, based on the published plans,” he said.

He also said he would like a more structured public comment period to be held before any plans are finalized.

Airport staff hope to present a single concept to the public based on their input in the fall and complete the final master plan by this winter.

“It doesn’t mean everything is going to happen on day one,” Sawyer said. “It’s subject to change based on the needs of the region and the growth, so this is to just kind of give us a road map.”

This story was originally published June 27, 2016 at 10:33 AM with the headline "RDU Airport meeting may address fate of Lake Crabtree Park trails."