Brevard/Transylvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  Date: April24,2024 Members:  Location: City Hall Council Chambers  Maureen Copelof, Mayor (absent) Aaron Baker, Council Member Larry Chapman, County Commissioner (absent) Addison Bradley, NC Cooperative Extension Dir (Zoom) Mark Tooley, Conserving Carolina John Ditillo, Friends of Ecusta Trail Wilson Hooper, City Manager, Ex Officio Paul Ray, Planning Director, Ex Officio Meredith Carli, At-Large Member (Zoom) Clark Lovelace, Tourism Development Authority (Zoom) Selena Einwechter, Vice Chair Henderson County Ecusta Trail Advisory Madeline Hanley, At-Large Member (Zoom) Katherine Buzby, City Planner  Board Ex Officio  Staff:  Guests:  Tad Fogel, Friends of Ecusta Trail (Zoom) Lonnie Watkins, Volkert Inc, NCDOT. Carol Clay, Heart of Brevard Steve Williams, NCDOT (Zoom) Luis Hemmer, NCDOT EIT (Zoom) Matt Revis, Ecusta Trail Talk Newsletter  A. Welcome & Call to Order B. Certification of Quorum C.Approval of Agenda unanimously.  Committee member Aaron Baker welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 3:31 pm.  Quorum was certified by clerk Katherine Buzby.  Motion by Mr. Tooley, seconded by Mr. Lovelace to approve the agenda. The motion carried  D. Approval of Minutes from March: 27, 2024 Meeting  Motion by Mr. Tooley, seconded by Mr. Ditillo to approve the meeting minutes. The motion carried  unanimously.    Brevard/Transyvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  E.U Updates/Discussions  1. Conserving Carolina- Nothing new to report.  2. Planning Department- Getting ready to start the public engagement per NEPA guidelines sometime in July. It will be advertised in the quarterly newsletter in the. June edition. The public engagement sessions start with the public officials then all the property owners along the trail 4. Tourism Development Authority (TDA)- The TDA did approve a new 1-million-dollar funding grant related to design and development oft the Ecusta Trail and connecting trails. The TDA hasa contract for anytime they approve anything over $25,000, and at the next board meeting will present the contract for approval. After approval, it will need to go though the internal review process which should happen in the next month or sO (including County Commissioner and Attorney review). They anticipate that the additional design costs be a combination of the TDA money ($250,000/year) and the pledged $750,000 from Friends of Ecusta Trail. If the design does not cost the entire 1 million, a refund can be made to the Friends group as TDAI has pledged the 5. Henderson County- Construction phase lis underway (Hendo E) and goal to be open by December of this year. Hendersonville is creating a downtown path to connect to the Ecusta Trail NCDOT- Regarding the potential archeological site, they reached out to TP&D who has advised DOT that they will be doing: a "shovel test" to assess the areal but has kept the location and details confidential. They are not anticipating to find anything that will impact the project. For amenities, they can bei in the DOT ROW where the trail crosses the road but must be approved and have an encroachment agreement with the district DOT office. DOT has noticed along the ROW that there are some illegal structures along the proposed trail. The City will 7. City of Brevard- Looking at creating aj joint meeting of the Parks & Trails Committee, the Ecusta Trail Advisory groups, Friends of Ecusta Trail, and other stakeholders. The meeting date to be determined, probably later in the summer. The agenda and goals of the meeting are under consideration, and the City Manager is reaching out to mentors for guidance through this process to make the meeting as productive as possible. One of the topics will be the fate of this Board, as itiss supposed to expire at the conclusion of construction but decisions are. still going to be made after construction completion. The future oversight or governing board for the Ecusta Trail needs discussed. Also, he is getting advice on how toi integrate the trail better into the City'swork (organization internally to institute goals of the Trail). Also to answer questions like where will the Ecusta Trail begin and end? Who makes these decisions? How willi it connect to the City'strail systems? Many topics will need to be discussed in the upcoming, joint meeting. This morning, the Parks & Trails Committee agreed with the TDA's Destination Infrastructure Committee to have City Staff move forward with thei integration of NCDOT's R-5800 project on Asheville Hwy into the trail better. It was designed before the Ecusta Trail, 50 NCDOTis amendable to changing some plans but needs an official design review on how to do this. The City would hire TP&D, who is already designing the Ecusta Trail, to look at the R-5800 plans and identify improvements that could be made on their plans and negotiate with NCDOT.  will be invited to the meeting. 3. Transylvania County- N/A  entire $250,000 this fiscal year.  trailhead.  formulate a plan to reach out to property owners.    Brevard/Transyvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  8. Friends of Ecusta Trail- They have hired a company (Blue lon) to redo their website and are: still 9. Public or Citizen Input- Question on if the new Friends website (Ecusta Trail Maps) will be mobile  waiting on input about roles from the City. friendly, which was answered yes.  H. Next Steps  The City Manager will get with Council about the future roles of Friends of Ecusta Trail and get that input  back to Friends. He will also coordinate the joint meeting in the summer.  I.S Set Date for Next Meeting  The next meeting of the Brevard/Transylvania County Eçusta Trail Advisory Board is scheduled for May  29, 2024 at 3:30 pm. (last Wednesday of the month at 3:30 pm)  J.A Adjourn  There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:14 pm.  haurew Cep3 Maureen Copelof, Chair XDadtnv bgk Katherine Buzby, City Planner  Minutes Approved- 512a/z024