Priority Greenway Corridors the Public and Stakeholder Involvement Efforts for Fined Through Public and Technical Processes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Draft Plan for Public Review—August 2012 Chapter 3: Priority Greenway Corridors The public and stakeholder involvement efforts for fined through public and technical processes. the Buncombe County Greenways and Trails Master Three sets of completed studies and plans provided Plan yielded a myriad of new ideas for greenway cor- the foundation for this analysis: ridors connecting communities across the county and Land of Sky Regional Council’s Regional Trails to adjacent counties. The ideas for placement of new & Open Space Plan (2008), which also yielded trail connections generated by citizens and organiza- the initial 2009 Buncombe County Greenways tions were closely aligned with the key tenets of the and Trails Plan; vision for Connect Buncombe and the Parks, Green- Municipal greenway planning efforts in Ashe- ways, and Recreation Services Department. ville, Black Mountain, Montreat and Woodfin; The challenge for County staff, planning partners and (known as the Active Oversight Committee) and the Three detailed corridor studies: The Wilma consultant team overseeing the Plan was to then Dykeman RiverWay Plan; The US 70 / Swan- organize the ideas for new greenways and trails into nanoa River Greenway (Exhibit 1-1); and the conceptual corridors. The concepts outlined in this French Broad River / Highway 251 Greenway. chapter are intended to prepare Buncombe County for further study along Priority Corridors conceptual- Several new greenway corridor ideas were then ized for implementation over the next 20 years. They posed by the public and stakeholders in 2011 and 2012 via public meetings across Buncombe County; reflect a combination of ideas, field assessments and Destinations, such as Karpen Fields / Park near a September 2011 stakeholder workshop; numer- consideration of known constraints for the areas in Weaverville (above), were part of the process to ous festivals throughout the County and the online which they are proposed. identify Priority Corridors for future greenways. survey. Some ideas confirmed past planning efforts The 102 miles of Priority Corridors identified in this while others established new ideas for greenway Photo Credit: Fred Grogan chapter are not in priority order to allow Buncombe connectivity. County capitalize on any available opportunity to con- struction feasible segments of these corridors. The Maps of the ideas for future corridors were pro- variety of funding sources, current economic condi- duced for analysis and reviewed by the project tions, and land ownership will impact the priority of team, County staff and the Plan’s Active Oversight these corridors. Committee. In general, the corridor ideas generated during the outreach process followed logical routes Evaluating Proposed Greenways along rivers and streams as well as primary and Ideas and concepts for greenways planned through- secondary roadways to connect major destinations out the region were conceived in efforts by Bun- such as town centers, schools, parks, and natural combe County, municipalities, Land of Sky Regional areas. From these corridors emerged a set of prima- Council, state trails plans, the Blue Ridge Parkway ry alignments that were vetted through the Active and the input of numerous agencies and organiza- Oversight Committee to confirm their relative im- tions. From these efforts, a map of past ideas and portance in the proposed greenway system. concepts for greenways was established to be re- Buncombe County Greenways & Trails Master Plan 3 - 1 Draft Plan for Public Review—August 2012 The factors that led to establishment of new Priority Emphasis on already-populated or urbanized Corridors for further analysis were: areas of unincorporated Buncombe County; Locations where new development was likely to Linkages to existing or planned greenways within occur and impact future corridors; municipal boundaries or the already-completed Strong likelihood for maximizing usage of the corridor studies for the French Broad River and greenway based on these factors; Swannanoa River, as well as the Wilma Dykeman Identified areas for cultural and recreational des- RiverWay Plan; Exhibit 3-1: A Map of Possibilities from the US 70 / tinations; and Opportunities to provide the greatest degree of Swannanoa River Greenway Feasibility Study. Realistic prospects for detailed planning, design connectivity to existing communities and destina- Similar studies are recommended for Priority and construction of these corridors within 10 Corridors identified in the Plan tions; 3 - 2 Buncombe County Greenways & Trails Master Plan Draft Plan for Public Review—August 2012 years of adoption of the Plan. Some design drawings may be generated The resulting analysis revealed five new Priority Cor- through this analysis to help guide estimates ridors for study within the plan in addition to the for further design or assist the County in pre- three already-completed studies. Greenways identi- serving the corridor. fied in locations other than these Priority Corridors Alternative analysis and detailed design: This were not evaluated beyond conducting basemap phase is where detailed surveying, location- analyses and a scan of constraints for placement specific analysis and evaluation of design on a countywide map of planned greenways. options are conducted, resulting in design Step-by-Step Planning for Greenways drawings to guide the acquisition of property and construction of the greenway. Alternative The analysis conducted on Priority Corridors in this analyses may be conducted for locations Plan is the first step in defining a future network. where constraints require a deviation from The efforts to fully implement a new greenway trail findings generated in previous phases. require several planning and design steps before Land acquisition: As outlined in Chapter 5: construction can take place. These steps are de- Land Acquisition, there are several methods fined as: employed to secure property for greenway Identification of conceptual greenway corridors construction. Some acquisition is likely to and connections: The primary focus of this Plan occur prior to this phase or detailed design. is to identify which corridors will be the focus of Other land necessary for the greenway will be efforts over the next 10-plus years. Identifica- obtained once detailed design drawings are tion includes high-level evaluation of the corri- established and specific routes are identified. Woodfin’s Riverside Park already in- dor concepts, potential design features, major Acquisition that occurs pre-design will likely cludes a greenway along the French constraints and logical termini. Corridors should dictate where the corridor can be routed and Broad River. Other planning efforts not be viewed as strictly linear as they may en- will impact acquisition on adjacent properties. have identified routes to connect compass a variety of connections, spurs, micro- Construction: The building of the greenway north and south of the park from paths or alternative routes emanating from a occurs once design and acquisition are com- Asheville to the Madison County line. mainline greenway. plete. Where there are constraints or property Corridor Plan, feasibility study or conceptual is unable to acquired for greenway use, inter- Photo Credit: Don Kostelec design: Buncombe County has already complet- mediate route options may be part of con- ed two studies at this level of analysis—the US struction while other processes are undertak- 70 / Swannanoa River Greenway and the en to build the corridor along a preferred French Broad River / Highway 251 Greenway. route. These studies include in-depth field work to Maintenance: Maintenance of the corridor define location-specific constraints, cost esti- begins at ribbon-cutting for the new greenway mates and parameters to guide the generation and cannot be over-looked as a critical com- of design drawings in future analysis phases. ponent in supporting the efforts that pre- Buncombe County Greenways & Trails Master Plan 3 - 3 Draft Plan for Public Review—August 2012 Exhibit 3-2: Buncombe County Greenways & Trails Overview The corridors shown on this map do not represent detailed design of the route nor are they intended to represent actual alignments to the degree that impacts to individual properties or structures can be known. 3 - 4 Buncombe County Greenways & Trails Master Plan Draft Plan for Public Review—August 2012 ceded construction to make the trail a reality. routes identified in this and other plans that are not Exhibit 3-3: Understanding Corridor Profiles Chapter 8 addresses maintenance needs and part of the Priority Corridor analysis are shown in Priority Corridor Map Legend expectations in more detail. solid (existing) or dotted (proposed) GREEN. Areas of Priority Corridors Concentrated Agricultural Resources were those gen- eral areas identified by the public, stakeholders and The following pages illustrate the findings of the property owners as locations where agricultural planning efforts to evaluate five “Priority Corridors”, preservation and agritourism are of interest as well as incorporation of the findings from the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay Plan and the US 70 / Swannanoa River and French Broad River / Highway Greenway Corridor: The Priority Corridor 251 studies. Collectively, these eight corridors rep- that is the subject of that particular resent the highest priority for Buncombe County to profile, identified through this Plan or pursue for detailed planning, design, land acquisi- past studies. tion and construction