A future with fewer car trips? Carrboro picks path for greenway in Bolin Creek Forest.

Carrboro families may one day walk their kids to school before continuing to work, or head east to Chapel Hill for dinner and a movie at University Place mall in Chapel Hill — all without getting in a car.

A paved Bolin Creek Greenway would also make the forest accessible to others, whose age or disabilities now limit where they can explore.

The Carrboro Town Council’s 6-1 vote Tuesday ended 14 years of wrangling and community divisiveness about a three-mile stretch of the Bolin Creek Greenway, which largely follows a sewer easement through the forest. It was the last step before engineering, environmental studies, and a flood analysis to site possible creek crossings.

Council member Barbara Foushee, who is expected to be the town’s next mayor, urged those who oppose the council’s decision to stay engaged in planning.

“It hurts my heart to have heard some of the things I’ve heard over the last few months, seen some of these things I’ve seen. It doesn’t feel good,” Foushee said. “I just really feel like … being harmonious, working on this together, you may not get everything that you want, but you may get some of what you want, and that’s usually how it is. It’s about finding that sweet spot.”

Next steps, different opinions

The council could get a timeline and hear next steps in the spring. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality would determine whether the town can build the preferred route along the creek or if there are better options farther uphill or along local roads.

That work also will determine the cost to build the greenway, and the state and federal dollars that might be available.

Council member Randee Haven-O’Donnell, who has long supported a different path and voted against the plan Tuesday, argued for delaying the vote and digging deeper into other routes. She noted the Seawell School Road sidepath that is pending and neighborhood road connections that didn’t exist in 2009 when the greenway network was first envisioned.

The town also might use the Norfolk Southern railway that cuts through the forest when UNC’s coal-fired plant closes, she said.

“The significance of a forest, its surface waters and ecosystem biodiversity are the heart of the controversy. Their continued preservation, protection and conservation are our primary responsibility in the midst of climate change and its ecological impact,” Haven-O’Donnell said.

Council member Susan Romaine said she also is concerned about the environmental risks and about the cost, among other issues, but her opinion has changed in the past four years.

The preferred trail “has the potential to deliver the most powerful benefits to the community,” Romaine said, because it aligns with the town’s growth plan, wouldn’t remove as many trees as an uphill route, limits where people would walk, is flat and accessible, and has climate and health benefits. It also is a chance to restore the creek bank and add rocks, hardwoods and native plants.

“It could offer community members of every age and physical ability and socioeconomic background safe and affordable spaces to commute, to recreate, socialize, and to really enjoy just the awesome beauty of Bolin Forest. This view, I think, is very consistent with findings from the community survey.”

Protecting the creek, safer routes

Only about two miles of the greenway have been completed since the master plan was adopted in 2009. One section links Wilson Park off North Greensboro Street to Estes Drive Extension. The other runs from Seawell Elementary, Smith Middle and Chapel Hill High schools, under Homestead Road to the Winmore and Claremont neighborhoods.

Additional segments are planned to Lake Hogan Farms and north to the Jones Creek Greenway and Morris Grove Elementary School.

The completed greenway could connect over a dozen neighborhoods, several schools, and three parks, forming a spine that when aligned with Chapel Hill’s Bolin Creek Greenway could run from Eubanks Road to South Estes Drive.

Parts of the route cut through UNC’s Carolina North Forest and across private land, but most is in Orange Water and Sewer Authority easement, which is 30 feet wide and built to accommodate heavy maintenance vehicles.

Stormwater runoff and flooding have eroded some spots, and people avoiding the mud have expanded the current trail into the forest. Pavement won’t stop stormwater runoff or flooding, but proponents argue it could help protect the creek from more damage.

Opponents say the ruts are “vernal pools,” where frogs, salamanders and other species live and reproduce. The forest teems with birds and wildlife that local nature photographer and Friends of Bolin Creek member Mary Sonis has documented.

Sonis and Diane Robertson, another Friends of Bolin Creek member, were among over 40 people who spoke Tuesday. Most supported the creekside alignment, including a few Chapel Hill residents who use the existing greenway to get to Carrboro and other places.

A large number were aligned with the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, NEXT Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Triangle Blog Blog, an online civics and news blog, who worked on the Linear Parks Project, canvassing neighborhoods, sharing petitions and encouraging people to get involved.

Robertson called the public process “anecdotal at best” and noted dozens of letters that support a different route. The group also sent an attorney to advise the town about state and regional rules for building near a creek.

Residents seeking more research are “not a small number of loud individuals, but rather we are being demeaned by a few social media influencers who restate misinformation as if it is based in fact because it fits their narrative and goals,” Robertson said.

“The abuse of resources to support a small group that can only be defined as privileged is not surprising but certainly disappointing in a town that likes to be positioned as progressive,” she said. “The planet would be in better shape today if we wanted to live with the environment, rather than conquer and extract from it.”

Others, including Carrboro resident Nancy Lovas, talked about how they already use the greenway and want a safer way than busy streets to get around.

“I’m personally excited about being able to more safely bike to destinations in Chapel Hill without fearing for my life on Estes (Drive) Extension, between North Greensboro and Umstead Drive,” Lovas said. “I’m also really excited about … returning native plants to the Bolin Creek banks to restore this beautiful place that I love to go and escape from the pressures of daily life.”