Valdese may become a stop on the Wilderness Gateway State Trail

Valdese could eventually become a stop along the Wilderness Gateway State Trail under a proposal that would add nine properties along Micol Creek to the town’s growing trail corridor.

Executive Director of the Burke River Trail Association and President of Friends of the Valdese Rec Beth Heile and Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina Trails Program Director Shane Prisby gave a presentation at Monday’s meeting to outline a plan.

The proposal is that, if Foothills Conservancy acquires the properties, it will transfer them to the town if state agency NC Trails awards Foothills a Complete The Trails grant. The transfer would also be subject to legal and due-diligence review.

No vote was taken at Monday’s meeting. Council members will decide at the Nov. 2 meeting.

The council agreed to a similar proposal earlier this year. Foothills Conservancy then transferred 5.63 acres of land along Micol Creek, just north of Children’s Park, in September. Adding the nine properties would be another 6.78 acres at a different point of Micol Creek.

“There are two main questions that come with these kinds of projects,” Prisby said. “One is tax base, and two is who’s going to take care of it in the long run.”

Prisby said homes have not been built on most of the parcels because the flattest places to build are in the floodplain. The properties consist primarily of steep hills, meaning they have “a low developability score.”

The Burke River Trail Association and Friends of the Valdese Rec both volunteered to maintain the properties as trail stewards, Prisby said.

Developing recreation or trail sections would not be immediate, Prisby said. The focus, currently, is “making sure we have all those other pieces of right-of-way together so we’re not building a short section of trail that … doesn’t provide a real destination for users.

“If you’re going to build a trail, you need people to use it.”

If everything goes according to plan, Valdese could become a visitor and/or rest area for people interested in the Wilderness Gateway State Trail, Prisby said.

The Wilderness Gateway State Trail is a state project that has been in the works since around 2019. The original plan estimated the trail at 150 miles long, stretching from Catawba County to Rutherford County, but added that it would likely be longer to accommodate hilly landscapes and other environmental factors.

OTHER ACTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

• After dead limbs fell onto vehicles in the Valdese Community Center’s parking lot over the summer, an arborist determined the trees they fell from are in poor health and advised cutting them down. The council approved a $7,800 budget amendment to remove the trees. Following removal, new trees will be planted.
• The Lenoir-Valdese water interconnection project is in the process of obtaining permits from the appropriate agencies.
• All project permits have been approved for the Berrytown Waterline project and bid documents are being wrapped up. Assistant Town Manager and Chief Financial Officer Bo Weichel said within the next couple of weeks, the project will be advertised for construction bids.