Brevard/Transylvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  Date: January 31, 2024 Members:  Location: City Hall Council Chambers  Maureen Copelof, Mayor Aaron Baker, Council Member Larry Chapman, County Commissioner Addison Bradley, NC Cooperative Extension Dir (absent) Mark Tooley, Conserving Carolina John Ditillo, Friends of Ecusta Trail Wilson Hooper, City Manager, Ex Officio (absent) Paul Ray, Planning Director, Ex Officio Meredith Carli, At-Large Member (Zoom) Clark Lovelace, Tourism Development Authority  Staff:  Katherine Buzby, City Planner  Guests:  Tad Fogel, Friends of Ecusta Trail Kristen Cozza, Conserving Carolina (Zoom) Matt Revis, Friends of Ecusta Trail Newsletter Jim Koffman, Citizen Chris Burns, Henderson County (Zoom)  A. Welcome & Call to Order B. Certification of Quorum C.A Approval of Agenda carried unanimously.  Committee Chair Maureen Copelof welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 3:31 pm.  Quorum was certified by Chair Maureen Copelof.  Motion by Mr. Lovelace, seconded by Mr. Chapman to approve the agenda as presented. The motion  D. Approval of Minutes from November 29, 2023 Meeting  Motion by Mr. Ditillo, seconded by Mr. Baker to approve the meeting minutes with revisions. The  motion carried unanimously. E.U Updates/Discussions  1. Conserving Carolina- Working to determine where the project property ends on the Brevard  end (abandonment oft the Rail Line ends).    Brevard/Transyvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  2. Planning Department- Working with Lonnie Watkins to determine if an old bridge (that goes from Old Hendersonville Hwy to private property within our ROW) can remain or have to come down. Looking at potential trailheads for Ecusta Trail, including al Pisgah Health property that would be named Freedom Park and have exertise/playground equipment,: a bathroom, and parking for thet trial. Having an engineer review the logistics with the floodplain area on the property and thei idea will be brought to City Council on March 18th to discuss further once research is completed. The parcel needs at topo survey' which will cost between 10K-17K and looking at ways to fund this survey. There is some debate about if the apartments on Hospital Drive own part of the property. There is an' "ineffective area" of floodplain on the property that the engineers are saying that putting fill/al bathroom that will not cause a rise or adverse impact in the flood areas. Also, al box culvert is being 3. Transylvania County- Receiving questions about when will the bulldozers cross the County 4. Tourism Development Authority (TDA)- The previously pledged million dollars from TDA need to be reallocated for different uses. They are working on the steps to move that forward. They need al letter from the City asking to no longer obligate the money from that prior commitment. Then at the next TDA meeting, they will make a new pledge/obligation for the funding. The $250,000 from this budget year will then be determined on what it can be used on based on the City's new request via request letter. They also would like to geta 5. Henderson County- The first 6 miles of the Ecusta Trail in Henderson will be completed  researched to cross the creek instead ofal bridge. line (begin construction on the Transylvania County side).  bulleted update on the Ecusta Trail to bring to the next TDA meeting. before the end of this year. Construction is underway currently.  6. NCDOT- N/A (Not present)  7. City of Brevard- A report was received from NCDOT that construction in Transylvania County is estimated to begin in 2 years but this timeline needs to be discussed with NCDOT (Lonnie) as the City has received different timelines previously. The City's timeline is 30% design completed in. June then fund and go for 100% design by winter. Next would be permitting so the timelines are off from NCDOT for over ay year. The City will discuss with Lonnie ata further time (not present at meeting) along with any decisions on the list of amenities that the grants may cover. The City is working on the quarterly newsletter. Importance discussed how to get people from the end of where the new trail will be to downtown Brevard. 8. Friends of Ecusta Trail- Working hard on their new role going forward and have distributed a draft of these responsibilities. Also working on the Economic Impact Study. 9. Public or Citizen Input- Ar request was received for the Heart of Brevard to become a member of this committee. A discussion revealed that they should start showing up asa public member before being considered fora a seat on the committee.    Brevard/Iransylvana County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  F. Next Steps  The Cityi is to send the requested letters and updates to the TDA.  G. Set Date for Next Meeting  The next meeting of the Brevard/Transylvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board is scheduled for  February 28th at 3:30 pm. (last Wednesday of the month at 3:30 pm). There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm.  H. Adjourn  lalepe Maureen Copelof, Co-Chair ekathm Spe Katherine Buzby, City Planner  Minutes Approved- 224124