Sunday, August 10, 2008

Please read: Meeting with NC Parks

We recently met with Don Reuter, Assistant Director of Planning and Administration, and Carol Tingley, Chief of Planning and Natural Resources, on Thurs., 8/7/08 to discuss concerns we had about the actions of the Park Advisory Committee (PAC) as well as to present some additional options to restore access at Graylyn Road. To date, Mr. Reuter has been responsive and receptive to all of our communications. He expressed immediate concern that we were informed that NC Parks was not interested in considering alternatives at Graylyn (see last blog posting) as he closed the last meeting with the City of Raleigh with a final statement that all options are still under consideration. He reiterated the complexity of the situation regarding park access given DOT's actions since it involves different government entities as well as the NC Parks needing to balance staffing needs and protecting natural resources. Carol Tingley will be taking the lead role in preparing Umstead State Park’s General Management Plan (GMP).

In order to focus on finding suitable options to restore access to Graylyn, we did not fully discuss concerns we had about the actions of the PAC as noted in the 11/07 PAC Meeting Minutes-- although based on statements made in subsequent PAC meetings we’ve attended, I fear there continues to be certain beliefs with some of the PAC members that may adversely impact finding a solution that ultimately fits the needs of the park and the public. Mr. Reuter stated that the PAC was an advisory committee with a role of providing recommendations used in making decisions. He stated that his interpretation of the ethics law is such that the potential issue with ethics does not apply since none of these individuals has the role of making the final decision. He did state that ideally the individuals on the committee are representing their targeted group and not a self-serving view. We pointed out the contradiction of the current reported obstacles for access to Graylyn when the PAC obviously seriously considered having a parking lot built at Graylyn. We asked that these original plans be put back "on the table." Neither he nor Ms. Tingley were familiar with the plans for parking at Graylyn that were voted out at the 11/07 meeting but they will check with the PAC to see if there were formal plans. If there were formal plans, these will be put back into consideration since they should have considered the stated concerns of NC Parks. We certainly hope that the PAC will be attentive to the opinions in the petition signed by so many of you at
www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/609803273
when considering access at Graylyn for the GMP that will be circulated internally before the public review and comment period.

We provided the options for parking at Graylyn previously that were presented to the PAC as well as a specific plan for parking that had minimal impact on the environment or surrounding neighborhood—and which was easy for the staff to access. Carol stated she had considered another option to extend Graylyn Road to the bike and bridle trailhead. We really liked this idea. In our opinion, this would certainly have the least impact on the environment, budget and staff-and could be done quickly but we back any option that allows access at this point as so many of us have been unable to enjoy the park due to the combined effects of elimination of parking at Reedy Creek and Graylyn Road. NC Parks promised to further consider these options-and perhaps have more than one for the public to consider on the GMP. We pointed out that the planned “improvements” to pave the parking at the Bike and Bridle trailhead and the road leading to it would only encourage increased vehicular speed within the park and further erode safety for many park users that walk, run, bike or ride horses in these areas.

The GMP is expected to be ready in a few weeks. We were assured that Access Umstead will be notified about the review and public comment period for the GMP and that notification would also be available on the press release link on the NC Park’s website at www.ncparks.gov/News/releases/main.php
and posted at Umstead. As we explained before, the public comment procedure is a critical part of restoring access at Graylyn Road. It is time limited and will likely be electronic to enable most of us to easily voice our opinion. We will let you know as soon as we know that the GMP is ready for public review and comment.