Scenic Byway Valley
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01_Section.qxp 6/4/08 4:52 PM Page a CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PLAN May 2008 valley redscenic byway clay 01_Section.qxp 6/4/08 4:52 PM Page b 01_Section.qxp 6/4/08 4:52 PM Page 1 CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PLAN May 2008 valley redscenic byway clay Submitted to: • Delaware Department of Transportation Division of Planning Submitted by: • Delaware Nature Society Prepared by: • Gaadt Perspectives, LLC John M. Gaadt, AICP—Project Manager Suzanne D. Gaadt—Designer • Delaware Nature Society Jennifer Gochenaur • New Castle County Dept. of Land Use Mapping Assistance Special thanks to the members of the Byway Steering Committee for their dedication to the conservation and preservation of the Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway. This plan was partially funded through a Community Planning Assistance Grant from New Castle County. ©2008 Delaware Nature Society. All rights reserved. Cover photos courtesy of Rick Lewandowski; most chapter opener photos ©Rick Darke; photolog photos ©Carlos Alejandro; other photos courtesy of Maria Andaya; Eileen Butler; John Gaadt; Jennifer Gochenaur, Rick Lewandowski, Elizabeth Pertzoff, Burt Samuelson. 01_Section.qxp 1/4/08 4:15 PM Page 2 valley redscenic byway clay TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION . 4 A. Project Overview B. The Planning Process and Public Involvement C. Delaware Byway Program Requirements D. Plan Format Chapter 2 MISSION, VISION, GOALS and OBJECTIVES. 9 A. Vision B. Mission C. Corridor Management Plan Goals D. Corridor Management Plan Objectives Chapter 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE RED CLAY VALLEY SCENIC BYWAY . 14 A. Roadway Description and Definition (route description) B. Byway Character and Experience (experience of the corridor) 01_Section.qxp 5/20/08 7:24 AM Page 3 CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PLAN May 2008 Chapter 4 Chapter 7 INTRINSIC QUALITIES and RESOURCES . 19 PLAN IMPLEMENTATION. 63 A. Introduction and Inventory A. Corridor Management: DNS (intrinsic quality resource inventory) as Coordinating Agency B. Primary Intrinsic Quality: Scenic B. Byway Partners and the C. Secondary Intrinsic Quality: Natural Byway Management Committee D. Supporting Intrinsic Quality: Historic C. Potential Funding Sources E. Recreational Qualities D. Implementation Phasing F. Cultural Qualities E. Implementation of Preservation and G. Archeological Qualities Management Strategies (First two years plus First year budget; long-term) Chapter 5 Implementation Matrices TRANSPORTATION, TOURISM and MARKETING Part 1 – Project Goals and Management ISSUES . 27 Strategies A. Transportation and Safety Part 2 – Implementation Phasing Schedule, Livable Delaware Initiative Ongoing Activities and Years 1-5 Transportation Projects (current and future) Traffic Issues, Bicyclists, and Pedestrians Management Issues - Traffic Counts, Appendices Road Widths 1. Resource Inventory Maps (Intrinsic Quality Coordination with DelDOT – MOU Mapping and Land Use) Context Sensitive Design 2. Inventory of the Scenic and Historic Byways of the Red Clay Valley B. Tourism and Marketing 3. Visual Accents and Vista Points Conservation and Preservation Issues (including photos) Education and Outreach 4. Historic Resource Inventory Signage 5. Context Sensitive Design for the Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway 6. DelDot Plan Approval, Public Involvement and Chapter 6 Support (including Steering Committee STEWARDSHIP OF INTRINSIC QUALITIES: members and meetings, public workshops, RESOURCE PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT letters of support, and news articles) STRATEGIES . 35 7. Photolog of Byway A. Conservation and Preservation 8. Traffic Counts and Road Widths B. Restoration and Enhancement 9. Draft Memorandum of Understanding C. Transportation and Safety (MOU) with DelDOT (including DNS cover D. Interpretation and Education letter and interim DelDOT response) E. Coordination and Management 10. References F. Roadway Status Report: Management Strategies for Individual Road Segments 01_Section.qxp 6/4/08 4:52 PM Page 4 Chapter 1 second order “streams” (road corridors) linking at points of confluence (intersections). As with a Introduction stream system, all ordered roads play an integral part in the linked network. While each road has A. PROJECT OVERVIEW unto itself a corridor boundary, the watershed boundary of the Red Clay Valley has intrinsic The Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway is com- value that is an integral component of each road’s prised of 28 secondary roads within the Red Clay character. Thus, while each road has a separate Creek Watershed, located in New Castle County, identified corridor boundary, the overall study Delaware. When the Delaware Nature Society boundary is the Red Clay Creek Watershed. Just (DNS) and its sponsoring partners nominated the as healthy streams evolved and meandered to Byway in July of 2004, the concept of nominating shape and define their watersheds, so too did the multiple roads within a single watershed was quite road network that evolved in the Red Clay Valley. remarkable. Certainly such an approach had never Together, the intrinsic qualities of the Byway told been taken in Delaware and the sponsors quickly a unique story of scenic beauty, diverse natural realized that such an approach was unique, if not resources, and a historically significant develop- original, to the nation. ment pattern that contributed to the Valley’s Why were the sponsors willing to nominate an growth and preservation. unheard of 28 roads all at once? The reason was Although the approach outlined above was that the roads of the Red Clay Valley form an unique, the Delaware Department of interconnected and interdependent network close- Transportation (DelDOT) clearly saw merit in the ly linked to the Red Clay Creek and its watershed approach and the Secretary of the Department area. This “watershed-based planning effort” was designated the Byway a Delaware Scenic and pursued because it was determined that the roads Historic Highway on April 5, 2005. in the watershed mimic an interconnected stream The roads of the Red Clay Valley date from system as defined by the stream order concept early European settlements in the beginning of the (see the Stream Order Concept Figure in Chapter eighteenth century. Three hundred years of human 3, page 3-2). Under this thinking, Route 82 (Creek influence on the land has created a network of Road) serves as the “main stem” with first and roads, mill dams and bridges, homes and barns, 4 red clay valley scenic byway 01_Section.qxp 1/4/08 4:15 PM Page 5 rolling meadows, and fence rows. Remarkably, rying statewide the remaining areas worthy of however, such influences often “spared” the natu- preservation, resulting in the publication of ral resources that contribute immensely to the Delaware’s Outstanding Natural Areas and Their character of the Valley. All provide a pastoral tran- Preservation in 1978 (2). Five Natural Areas in quility. Not urban, nor suburban, the Red Clay the Red Clay Watershed were identified in the Valley provides a unique natural beauty that is book and include the Coverdale Farm Woods, unsurpassed in Delaware. Today, the roads of the Burrows Run Valley, Chestnut Ridge, Red Clay Valley are exceptionally scenic and help tell the Ravine, and Red Clay Reservation. These areas history of the Valley in the context of human were later grouped together and are known as the interaction with nature. In this context the use of Red Clay Creek Valley Natural Area. the land, both historically and in the present, A report on the Natural History and Heritage speaks to the stewardship that has formed the of the Red Clay Creek was prepared by the thinking of those that live and work in the Valley. Delaware Nature Education Society in 1987 for Several chapters contained herein describe in the Division of Water Resources, within the detail the intrinsic qualities of the Byway and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and attempt to give the reader an “experience of the Environmental Control (3). The report was pre- corridor.” While numbers tell only part of the pared as a lead into a major study of toxic com- story, the Byway contains 94 identified visual pounds that was prepared by Weston Associates. accents, 11 vista points, 117 historic resources, The information was used as background material and innumerable natural resources and stream for discussions between Pennsylvania and tributaries that together form “a place of uncom- Delaware regarding water pollution concerns in mon beauty and very special significance (1).” the Red Clay Creek watershed. This Corridor Management Plan has been Completed as a component of the overall undertaken through the leadership of the Delaware comprehensive planning process for New Castle Nature Society (DNS) and the Plan sponsors and County, the Red Clay Creek Scenic River and partners who make up the Red Clay Valley Scenic Highway Study highlights the characteristics of Byway Steering Committee. The goal of this proj- the Red Clay Valley, inventories its natural, scenic ect is to complete the requirements of the state’s and historic resources, investigates management Scenic and Historic Highway planning process by issues and priorities, and provides a means for preparing and adopting a Corridor Management achieving resource protection objectives (4). The Plan for the Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway. New Castle County Department of Planning, in conjunction with the Environmental Management B. THE PLANNING PROCESS Center of the Brandywine Conservancy, prepared AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT the study and the Wilmington Metropolitan Area Planning Council, among others, provided sup- 1. Previous Planning