Brevard/Transylvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  Date: May29, 2024 Members:  Location: City Hall Council Chambers  Maureen Copelof, Mayor Aaron Baker, Council Member Larry Chapman, County Commissioner 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 Madeline Hanley, At-Large Member (Zoom)  Chris Burns, Chair Henderson County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board Ex Officio  Staff:  Katherine Buzby, City Planner  Guests:  Tad Fogel, Friends of Ecusta Trail Kristen Cozza, Conserving Carolina Lonnie Watkins, Volkert Inc. Various citizens  A. Welcome & Call to Order B. Certification of Quorum C.A Approval of Agenda  Committee Chair Maureen Copelof welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm.  Quorum was certified by Chair Maureen Copelof.  Chris Burns asked to modify the agenda tol have Henderson County present first due to needing to leave early. Motion by Mr. Chapman, seconded by Mr. Baker to approve the modified agenda. The motion  carried unanimously.  D. Approval of Minutes from April 24, 2024 Meeting  Motion by Mr. Ditillo seconded by! Mr. Chapman to approve the meeting minutes. The motion carried  unanimously.    Brevard/Transyvana County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  E. Updates/Discussions  1. Henderson County- They met with the County Engineer today and have been notified that piles for all Henderson County bridges have been installed. 4 out oft the 6a abutments for the bridges arei installed. They are ahead of schedule for planned delivery of those bridges in August. They were notified that the federal funds can be used for some approved amenities, so design oft the amenities is underway. Design and permitting is underway for the "west section", from Horseshoe to the County line. They have an upcoming meeting to discuss branding. The three municipalities are working together on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). They are: still estimating to open the first 6 miles "east section" in December. There is a meeting next week with the planning dept. to work with adjacent property owners about businesses that now face 2. NCDOT- They had a meeting with TP&D and the City concerning the bridges. There are a couple of bridges that the Cityi is interested in rehabbing/salvaging and reusing. TP&D has provided the pros and cons of that option with the costs, which should be provided to the City sometime today. There is at total of seven bridges, 4 of them have to be totally replaced but 3 oft them may be reused. The City will need to review and decide what to do with the remaining 3 bridges. TP&D is starting to do the preliminary design sO they are looking at where amenities may go. They have a "short list" ofamenities that they are pretty sure they know will be approved (bench, bike fixit station) and then they have other amenities that they are waiting on the City to decide on such as al bathroom (needs City decision on location) and Trailhead locations. Al list of the amenities that will bei included in the design will be sent to the City. A decision needs to ber made regarding the western terminus, like ifi it will connect to the Estatoe Trail or tiei into the Cherry Street connector. TP&D presented four different options for the terminus. The Mountain Industrial Street project currently being constructed has a small connection piece on the plans that was decided (by the board) to keep/allow NCDOT1 to construct until the City can make a decision on the terminus. They are on schedule with the 30% design and expect it to be completed at the end of June or sometime in. July. After this isreleases, the City will be holding 3. Conserving Carolina- They are still researching the unowned section of land. 4. Planning Department- The Davidson River bridge is one that the City planned on saving and repurposing, but it does not look like this is possible due to clearance issues and raising the span. Replacing the other bridges instead of reusing old bridges can cost around $1 million dollars, and they have to bei inspected every 2 years where the reused bridges is every four years. 5. Transylvania County- They received an inquiry on how adjacent landowners are to cross the trail 6. Tourism Development Authority (TDA)- The $250,000 grant has been received by the City. 7. City of Brevard- Staff met with an old mentor of Wilson's that has experience with transportation projects like the Trail, and mostly discussed governance oft the trail and how we make decisions going forward. The joint meeting coming up willl be a workshop to determine what committee or council will make decisions and' Wilson will make an agenda about what the City recommends and meet with the chairs of both committees about what they recommend and discuss the options with Council at this joint meeting. Details of the meeting date, time, and location to come. Hopefully the 30% design will be completed and can be presented at thej joint meeting.  the Trail.  publice engagements in August.  with heavy equipment once the trail is built.    Brevard/ransyvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board  Another discussion was what service level the City can provide or not provide, and the City will consult with Henderson County and come up with reasonable service levels that we can expect to afford. The economic development goal oft the trail was discussed, and what steps the City needs tot take to really leverage the presence oft the trail to help impact development. Also, local governments should not! have MOUS with private agencies, it should be contracts. Vice Chair Aaron Baker presented a draft resolution that recommends that the "official" end of the Ecusta Trail would be at the City's Depot so the Estatoe and Ecusta Trail merge; this document will be presented at thej joint meeting coming up. TP&D is investigating the pedestrian crossing at R- 8. Friends of Ecusta Trail- Working on website redesign for the trail. Once that is complete, they hope to schedule a public event to announce the new site, along with branding and merchandise. They are still creating aj job description for ai trail manager, but needs input from the City to know what Friends will be responsible fori in order to create the position. This too will be discussed at  58001 to see how to safely cross Asheville Hwy.  the joint meeting. 9. Public or Citizen Input- N/A  H. Next Steps  Many decisions are needed to be made by the City, such as trailheads, amenity lists, bridges, etc. The City will hold aj joint meeting that will include City Council, Parks & Trails Committee, and the Ecusta Trail Advisory Board to discuss how these decisions willl be made and by whom. It will also discuss the roles of the three going forward regarding the Ecusta Trail. The meetingi is scheduled for June 26th at 1:30pm. The. June 26th meeting is cancelled and a specially called joint meeting will take place on. June 26th at 1:30pm to include City Council and the Parks & Trails Committee. The next regular meeting of the Brevard/Transylvania County Ecusta Trail Advisory Board is scheduled for. July 31, 2024 at 3:30 pm. (last  I.Set Date for Next Meeting  Wednesday of the month at 3:30 pm).  J.Adjourn  There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:50 pm.  X.  Aaron Baker,Chair Leél x_ catin By Katherine Buzby, City Planner  Minutes Approved- 822/2y