Draft Trails Plan lays out nine potential corridors; county staff recommend further review and advisory‑board feedback

County planning staff and consulting firm Gensler presented a draft Orange County Trails Plan that maps nine potential trail corridors, summarizes public engagement from 2025 and offers an initial prioritization and phasing framework.

DEAPR Director David Stancil and consultant Mikayla Hernandez said the draft included public workshops, pop‑up events and surveys that informed a set of six guiding principles — including access and equity, safety, and designing for longevity — and identified Trail 9 (Mountains to Sea Trail via Eno River State Park to Durham) as the highest priority in the draft, followed by Trail 2 (Chapel Hill to Hillsborough). The plan lists trail types, key connections, and notes where additional feasibility work and cost estimates are needed.

Stancil emphasized the need to respect previous planning steps and existing priority decisions (the Board adopted an MST route in 2018), and staff proposed sending the draft to advisory boards and the Parks and Recreation Council for formal comment before returning the plan to the Board for further direction. Commissioners asked staff to clarify references to the county land‑use plan and to identify which trail segments follow water corridors, and they discussed the potential use of the Millhouse Road property as a temporary corridor for one linkage.

Chair Jean Hamilton asked staff to make clear to the public that references to the county land‑use plan in the draft are based on the plan’s current draft form and not a final adopted document. Stancil said staff will refine the plan to add those clarifications and will seek advisory‑board input before further Board review. No votes were taken; staff will return with refinements, feasibility work and potential funding strategies.