Carrboro considers widening bolin creek buffer zone

At a Carrboro Board of Aldermen public comment session Tuesday, environmental planners and nature lovers looked at how best to preserve one of the area's treasured natural resources.

Town environmental planner Noah Ranells, members of The Friends of Bolin Creek and concerned citizens used a draft of the conservation map to consider the future of Bolin Creek.

The creek flows into Jordan Lake, Orange County's main water source. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority requires a 50-foot buffer around the creek to protect the watershed.

The town is examining all of its options for providing a larger buffer zone.

"One thing that I've learned in all these years is that there are problems you can fix and there are problems that you can't fix," said Alderman Jacquelyn Gist.

"If we let this creek degenerate it becomes a problem that we can't fix."

Bolin Creek runs from northern Carrboro to Jordan Lake, winding through open spaces - such as the Adams tract south of Chapel Hill - and construction sites - Winmore - and eventually the west end of the Horace Williams tract.

Preserving the clarity and quality of the creek can become hazy itself when responsibility for the creek's maintenance falls to multiple competing interests.

Different sections of Bolin Creek come under different government jurisdictions: the county, the University and the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

"We have an opportunity in Carrboro, right now, to preserve this whole corridor," said resident Sharon Cook.

"I'd like to propose that it be clearly identified and make this area a natural park."

The Friends of Bolin Creek would like to see a clearly defined park and would like to preserve area around the widest part of the creek.

"If there was ever a time that this could happen in Carrboro, it's now," said David Otto, the group's co-president.

Part of the group's proposed park area falls within the borders of the Horace Williams tract, on which the University has started laying plans for Carolina North, a satellite campus.

"Our proposal is for preserving the entire boundary with Carolina North," Otto said.

In January, the aldermen asked that about 70 percent of the Carolina North land situated within Carrboro's planning jurisdiction be preserved for open space.

"I think we need to post haste and talk to the University - find out where will roads be and how they plan to protect the creek," Gist said.

Cook also raised concerns about where the University would place entrances to Carolina North.

If the University were to build housing near the Bolin Creek corridor, nearby roads would have to be widened, she said.

But Mayor Mike Nelson said that while he would support a hybrid version of the town and The Friends of Bolin Creek's maps, he is hesitant to re-enter talks on creek preservation with the University.

"I feel as if we've already negotiated Horace Williams tract with the University," he said. "We talked them up to more conservation. ... I want us to be in strong position to negotiate."

 

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