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.
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5 comments:
Thanks for the yeoman's work in helping the community sort this out.
Incidentally, you should know that the deadline has passed for the petition you cite. If you or an associate are involved with it, kindly see if it can be extended. I know of at least one individual (heh me) who would like to add his name to the mix.
Kind regads,
I have been trying to contact somebody with this access issue blog. But there is no contact info.
If the government types are so concerned over the planning, costs, construction ... I will offer the following.
I am a licensed professional engineer. I can gather a number of other engineers and surveyors to produce the planning maps, design maps, survey maps, traffic studies, environmental permits pretty much at no charge. I can gather up enough bikers in the area who are contractors and I could get this built for free.
The only catch is to get this free work done for the city and the park is that they agree to let us go ahead with a plan and stop all of this talking amongst themselves and lets see some progress.
I have some ideas that could speed this process along but it is pointless when one is dealing with governmental types who will not agree on a compromise solution.
Post a contact email for this blog. I won't post my email address because I do not want to get bombarded.
Carl
Good morning, I read in another thread their contact info is:
access_umstead@yahoo.com
Re: Petition Deadline.
Please see our posting from 7/22/08. Unfortunately, we were unable to extend the deadline but we are still actively working on this. At this time, the most important things supporters can do is:
1.Keep checking the blog for updates
2.Contact elected officials and the individuals on the contact list also posted 7/22/08 to let them know that this is still a issue of great concern that needs a solution
3.Make sure to take advantage of the review and public comment of the upcoming Umstead General Management Plan.
If you have questions, e-mail us at access_umstead@yahoo.com
Carl, Thank you for offering this assistance. We have been fortunate thus far to have so many resources available from our supporters. Just so you'll know the proposals we presented to the PAC and NC Parks were drawn by surveyors and engineers within our group of supporters. While we think that NC Parks will need to utilize their own staff or solicit bids for any work done, these proposals were meant to provide a visual to show what could be done and to address some of their concerns as we firmly believe that there is a viable solution that meets the majority of the public's desires and NC Park's concerns.
If you would like to contact us, please e-mail us at access_umstead@yahoo.com. I will be happy to share you offer of volunteering to build the lot for free. Based on prior experience with damage to Umstead after Hurricane Fran, there are probably parameters on volunteer work due to liability issues but perhaps there is someone out there with legal experience that can comment on whether the park could accept this as a donation???
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