At their meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30, members of Brevard's Ecusta Trail Advisory Board (ETAB) learned about possible design and construction delays due to Hurricane Helene and discussed possible metrics to incorporate in measuring the success of the trail.
Lonnie Watkins, who is overseeing the Ecusta Trail project in Transylvania County for the NCDOT, said the current plan is for Christy Staudt of TPD to assess Helene's damage to the railroad bed, streams and other geographical features that would impact the trail. After the assessment, it will be determined if some areas have to be surveyed again.
Since this work is outside the current scope of work, a supplemental contract will have to be signed with TPD.
Staudt said her final report assessing the damage should be completed in two to three weeks.
"Hopefully, the impact is not too great," she said.
Watkins said they would look at culverts and evaluate the existing pipes, many of which need to be replaced due to age while others may be replaced with larger pipes.
Staudt said that some areas on the trail may need to be raised, but other areas would remain low enough that they could still be submerged during floods.
"That's very common with greenway projects," she said.
Staudt said the trail would be designed to improve drainage, including debris, while not increasing any flooding.
"We are making sure we are not having any flood impact," said Staudt.
Brevard City Manager Wilson Hooper asked if the flooding from Helene would impact the design timeline.
Staudt said that would depend on whether or not they need an additional survey and if any modifications can be implemented into the final design. If the modifications have to be re-incorporated into the first 30 percent design, then that could delay the process.
Watkins said he was "optimistic" the flooding would have "very little impact" on the timeline.
Staudt did say that a positive is that most of the trail is not in the primary riverbed of the French Broad River.
Brevard City Council member and ETAB co-chair Aaron Baker said it looked as if there has been some significant damage to the trail in Henderson County and wondered how that was going to affect their timeline and costs.
Watkins said Henderson County is preparing a supplemental contract for reconstruction and that sections where the pavement buckled would have to be fixed and repaved. On a positive note, he added that there are no places where the entire railroad bed is gone.
"That would be a major deal," he said.
Hooper asked if Henderson County could get FEMA funds for the trail even though the first section was not technically completed.
Watkins said Marcus Jones of Henderson County said they would include the Ecusta Trail in their FEMA claims.
Friends of Ecusta Trail (FOET) President Mark Tooley expressed concern that the opening would be delayed because paving season usually ends now when asphalt plants close.
Watkins noted that asphalt plants usually shut down in mid-October, but due to the damage from Helene, they are remaining open as long as the weather is good.
Staudt estimated the first six miles of the trail could open in March. Before Helene struck, the first section was supposed to open in December.
Brevard City Council member and ETAB co-chair Mac Morrow then shifted the conversation as to how to best measure the success of the trail.
Tooley said FOET has been talking to the employees at NC State about an economic impact study and the importance of getting baseline data before the trail opens.
NC State suggests studying the impacts on construction, property value and tax revenues, tourism activity, health care cost reduction, environmental impact, and local trail user expenditures.
Tooley said Henderson County is attempting to do this internally with its planning staff, which is looking at building permits and the possibility of a zoning overlay along the trail to better steer development along the trail.
Hooper noted that a major distinction is that in Henderson County, the county will benefit from any increase in property taxes along the trail. However, since nearly all of the trail in Transylvania County is outside the city limits of Brevard, increases in property tax revenues would not directly benefit Brevard.
He added that he would like to see a metric that would define growth specifically tied to the trail and not just overall growth.
Baker said the Transylvania Economic Alliance is already receiving requests from businesses about proximity to the trail, and that tracking such business along the trail should be pretty easy.
Morrow said the Alliance and TDA also have data that can be used in analyzing the success of the trail.
"Those agencies have got the data," said Morrow.
Larry Chapman, who represents the Transylvania County Commission on ETAB, said they should ask anyone receiving a building permit if the trail had any impact on their decision to build in the county.
Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof, who is a non-voting member of ETAB, said it would be good to know how many people would use the trail to commute but that information may be difficult to obtain. She also said they should contact the U.S. Forest Service about what metrics it would use to determine success since the Forest Service was instrumental in helping obtain one of the $24 million federal grants for the trail.
Board members also mentioned using customer zip codes and cell phone data to determine the origination of out-of-county trail users.
ETAB member DD Perkins said the local TDA, for example, knows that many of the county's winter visitors are mountain bikers from Canada.
Although the information might be more difficult to obtain, board members also mentioned trying to measure how the trail enhances health and quality of life.
Morrow said there is enough information currently available to provide a solid basis of data to compare going forward.
Board members briefly mentioned contacting economic/business departments at Brevard College, Western Carolina and UNC-Asheville to see if they might have students interested in doing economic impact studies.
On another matter, Baker asked if R-5800, a project to redesign part of the Asheville Highway and therefore impact the Estatoe Trail that already exists within the city limits, would be delayed since so much of NCDOT's current efforts are focused on rebuilding roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Helene.
Vicki Eastland said she had not talked with the project manager, but said it is "highly likely" R-5800 is going to be delayed for a "variety of reasons."
Hooper suggested that since there will be time between the opening of the Ecusta Trail and completion of R-5800, the board should figure out ways to induce trail users to come to downtown Brevard during that interim.
Regarding trail amenities, Tooley said FOET has been talking with Staudt about locations for trail counters along the trail, and that FOET would be willing to pay for the counters and provide volunteers to conduct surveys.
Hooper also added that preliminary maps including amenity locations should be available at the next ETAB meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 3:30 in the Brevard City Council chambers.
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