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Fwd: TORC's Position and Statement Re: LCCP an...
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I know many of you have ridden at Lake Crabtree County Park in the past.  Please see the email below about the planned development of the park land.  This would be a real loss to the MTB community up there and impact our ability to enjoy it when we want a change of pace or are driving through.  Please consider providing a comment on the referenced site...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TORC <info@torc-nc.org>
Date: Wed, Jul 27, 2016 at 10:31 PM
Subject: TORC's Position and Statement Re: LCCP and the surrounding ORC green space
To: Ryan Danell <rdanell@gmail.com>


Below, please see TORC's official position and statement regarding LCCP and the surrounding ORC green space.  After the statement, you'll find some things that you can do to help advocate for the preservation of this recreational space: 


Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC) (www.torc-nc.org) is a 501-(c)(3) organization dedicated to ensuring the future of mountain biking in the Triangle area.  At the June 28th Public Workshop #7 the Airport’s land use plan was unveiled.  This plan slates several naturally forested areas for commercial development and this development would result in the destruction of irreplaceable, centrally-located forested recreation areas and trails.  The forested areas marked for development include land directly adjacent to Umstead State Park and much of the land within Lake Crabtree County Park, the most heavily used park in the Wake County Park system.  These lands have approximately 32 miles of existing recreational trails built by local residents and are used by mountain bikers, walkers, and runners…both adults and children…groups and individuals.  Some of the trails in this forested green space offer beginner/kid-friendly mountain biking and thus foster family outdoor recreation.  Also, these trails are connected to the greenway systems of both Raleigh and Cary.  

In addition to the loss of forested recreation space, development of these lands would remove an important green space buffer between the airport facilities and the very popular Umstead State Park and could negatively affect the hundreds of acres within the Crabtree Creek watershed.  

The Airport’s master planning process revealed that none of these lands are required for runways, terminals, parking, or any other facility directly related to passengers or aircraft at the RDU facility.  The planners propose to use these lands for the sole purpose of generating revenue for the airport by leasing these lands out to developers to build office space, hotels, and a quarry.  For all of these revenue-generating items, alternatives are available, so the destruction of forested recreation space and forested green space buffer to Umstead need not occur.  

Triangle Off-Road Cyclists urges the preservation of all the existing forested lands, trails, and green space within the Airport Authority’s project area which is located to the South and East of National Guard Drive and Aviation Parkway.  We further suggest that the Airport work with surrounding municipalities to investigate the creation of an Urban Trails Center within this property.  This Urban Trails Center would create business opportunities for new and existing hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, bars, bike shops, and recreation outfitters.  

The proximity of this forested recreation space to the urban area only increases property values and positively affects the quality of life in the Triangle region.  This benefits not only existing residents, but also helps to attract future businesses and employees.  The Triangle region should look at the work which has taken place in Richmond, VA, and Chattanooga, TN to preserve trails close to population centers.  Triangle Off-Road Cyclists strongly believe that the benefits from an Urban Trail Center to the community far outweigh any benefits to the community which might be realized by creating a few new offices, a hotel, and a quarry.  Triangle Off-Road Cyclists recognize that RDU Airport is important to our area and has funding challenges it must overcome, however, we believe an Urban Trail Center is a far better solution to the community than the land uses proposed by the Airport’s plan.  By working with the surrounding municipalities, Triangle Off-Road Cyclists firmly believe that we can craft a solution that not only brings necessary revenue to the airport, but also enhances the communities which the airport serves.


You can help make our voice heard by these methods:

  • Please submit your objections to the RDU website: https://vision2040.rdu.com/comments/. This is the official channel for feedback on the plan and those that object need to make their voices as loud as possible.  Thus far, it does not seem that enough of the community has participated in this process, so we need to amplify our feedback.
  • Read this recent News and Observer article (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article86180797.html) Make comments here and share this with your neighbors and co-workers who are not mountain bikers but care about terrain and losing greenspace.
  • Go on Nextdoor.com or other community forums and email lists to let others in your neighborhood know about this issue and get them to make comments to the RDU2040 page and write their legislature and RDUAA board. 
  • Do you know someone at Indy Week, N&O, local radio or television stations who can publicize this before September? If so, contact us at info@torc-nc.org to coordinate outreach.
  • Recruit others who value this green space and it's value to our community to do the same. 
  • Encourage others to become members in TORC, or other advocacy groups fighting for the preservation of our greenspace: torc-nc.org/membership.  


We have formed a group of people to work on the above statement and to discuss further actions.  Please stay tuned for more suggestions as we look to work on this campaign.

Thank you in advance for your participation in advocating for our recreation space.

 

David Houskeeper
President
Triangle Off-Road Cyclists

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