By Michael Birenbach
I’m a new resident of Carrboro. I moved here from Cary last year in June. I moved here for the trees and the town’s smaller-neighborhood feel, as well as for the schools within five minutes of our house. So far, I like it a lot. Just the lack of chain restaurants is enough to please me!
I’m writing to express my dislike of the idea of paving the route along the most sensitive parts of Bolin Creek, as recommended to the Carrboro Greenways Commission by Greenways Inc. of Durham. My first reaction on hearing news of this plan was, “If you want that, move to Cary.â€
Most trails in Cary are neat, trimmed and perfectly paved. One may as well walk down the street as walk through the “woods†in Cary. An unfair characterization? Maybe.
Though paving may seem like a good idea at first blush, it is clearly anathema to the spirit of Bolin Creek and its woodlands. The negative consequences of paving include degraded ecology and reduction of truly natural spaces currently available to residents.
A study from the University of California at Davis investigated the effects of roadways, and some of its findings are relevant and can be applied to the smaller scale of the Bolin Forest trail system and the plan to turn the Bolin Creek trail into a 10-foot-wide paved alternative transportation route.
As the UC Davis study notes: “Transportation planning can involve many private and public entities and disciplines. Rarely does it involve natural sciences†(emphasis mine).
On the subject of effects of road construction on a surrounding area, the study states:
• 10-100m from a paved surface: road construction & roadside management, [increased] weeds, local pollution … and noise;
• 100-1,000m from a paved surface: downstream pollution, erosion, stream habitat alteration, noise aversion;
• >1,000m from a paved surface: landscape fragmentation, local & regional extinction, weed invasions, large mammal movement … climate change.
Let me address the last point: climate change. After my move from Cary last year, when my commute went from only within Wake County to an east-west route to and from Wake County, I felt a noticeable temperate drop in traveling west past Southpoint Mall at Fayetteville Road. I noticed this because many times I ride a motorcycle. I did some searching and found average temperatures for the last 30 years (source: weatherbase.com):
Average temp
Cary: 60.3
Carrboro: 57.9
Difference: 2.4
These data show, on average, Carrboro has been more than two degrees cooler! Why? I believe the answer can be found by looking at a satellite view on Google Maps. Compared to east of us, we have significantly more greenery. Pavement, even white concrete, absorbs and holds heat. This creates the well-documented “heat island effect.â€
To what end will the current debate bring us? My hope is better solutions will be found:
• For creek erosion. Members of the Friends of Bolin Creek are working on a restoration and conservation plan. The Town of Carrboro, meanwhile, is involved in restoration efforts. Water-bars on side trails will help immensely, given that these trails create most sedimentation problems.
• For alternative transportation routes. Carrboro, Chapel Hill and UNC all have existing or planned bike lanes surrounding this entire stretch of forest.
• For access for all to this natural beauty. Groups are working to make this a nature preserve, open to everyone. Yet accessibility does not mean a paved transportation route through the most sensitive part of a forest, in the heart of a riparian zone next to the creek. If we pave over the Bolin Creek trail, the creek’s natural beauty will be lost, and no one will have access to what now is so special about this area.
(The UC-Davis study can be found at roadecology.ucdavis.edu/pdflib/TTP_289/W08/Modeling_effect_zone_11508.pdf)
Michael Birenbach is a founding member of Save Bolin Creek.
Great letter!
Regarding average temperature- did you forget to account for elevation difference?
@Samuel: usgs puts Cary at 427 feet and Carrboro at 499 feet. Sure it is cooler at higher elevations, but an average 72 foot difference doesn’t seem like much to me.
My point is illustrated well in a recent CBS news report:
http://savebolincreek.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/cbs-news-reports-on-heat-island-effect/
I have lived in Chapel Hill and Orange County on and off since 1974 and I am not a Johnny-come-lately. I have done my upmost to perserve the environment. I moved here to work on the first local recycling program in this area so I wasn’t doing it for the money. We picked up newspaper on every street in Chapel Hill back in 1974. So I know all about this area. And I am not out for money or for any other interests other than for nature and the community as a whole.
I have reviewed the maps and your backyard butts up near the proposed Greenway trail. My guess is the blind passion behind your website and the reasons why you are so adamantly against this project is because it is a case of “Not in My Backyard”. You do not want to have to pay the price of living here. You want to have your backyard free of any view of anyone else seeing this area. Your property should never have been developed in the first place.
Michael, you should not be so selfish and ignore the disabled, the poor, and all the others who are not as privileged as you and cannot afford to buy property in that area and allow us the ability to access it as well. I proposed that we all compromise. I have been saying “compromise”, but you are so firmly cemented that you cannot be for any alternative to pavement.