Crozet Trails Crew

Monthly Meeting

Thursday, February 25, 2016

La Joya, Crozet, VA

Present: Steve, Janet, Niki, Terri, David, Clover, Bob, Teri, Phil, Nana, Tony

  1. Building
  2. Connector Trail – thanks to Terri, David, Teri, and Steve for clearing trees downed in recent storms from the trail. CCTwill start at the Claudius Crozet Park and run past Western Ridge all the way to Lickinghole Basin. We are working on incorporating the few pieces of private land that it crosses. The developers of Westlake Hills are planning a road that will cross the creek from Foothill Crossing to Westlake Hills.We are hoping they will build a bridge so our trail can continue to run alongside the creek. Park Ridge Drive is going to connect with Eastern Ave.This issue is beyond Dan’s purview. Phil will try to pursue the issue with the County and/or the developer. Bob will also talk to his Stanley Martin contacts.
  3. Creekside Trail – workday this Saturday 9 am, led by Terri & Teri. We will start at the new end (directions in Clover’s email). Wear something warm.
  1. Planning
  2. Mint Springs new trail – we are trying to find a date that Dan and John Anderson can lead us to scope out a new upper trail. Sunday is the only day John can come, but some members requested that we plan it for Sunday afternoon to avoid church conflicts.County has acquired some new powerful equipment we might be able to use, which was used for the dog park and is stored at Mint Springs.
  3. Beaver Creek / Henley Hornets Trail - boats are needed to do a tour of the reservoir for future trail building. Nan and Clover have canoes, Tony could transport Clover’s, Phil has two kayaks, Leslie has a kayak, Dan has boats. Phil thinks we could might be able to create access to the park with “a lot of gravel and sand.”
  4. Benches –Phil: we can build them inside, assemble in Phil’s garage and transport them to the trail whole or in parts. Phil will make a model. Midweek group will build these in a couple of weeks. Treasury will fund the purchase of needed wood (Teri approved). Future benches might be an Eagle Scout project. There is an example log bench we made at Mint Springs looking down on Greenwood.
  5. Bridges – need one near the dog park, another over riprap off Park Ridge Drive. Dog park posts are in the wrong place. We could add posts and rails on both sides tothe original “Best” bridge to improve it
  1. Other
  2. Banff Film Festival - volunteers (4) needed for Sunday, March 6 at 6 pm to sell raffle tickets (we have since found these—thanks Nana, Tony, Joe, & Colleen). This Festival benefits the Shenandoah National Park Trust.
  3. Nelson Parks & Rec will offer tours of the Blue Ridge Tunnel every 2nd Sat of the month April- July for $10. April & May are already booked. Hoping construction on the tunnel will start at the end of 2016 or early in 2017, and be finished by late 2017 / early 2018.
  4. CTC Retreat - April 1-3, DouthatState Park – one bedroom left. Let Teri K or Jessica know if interested.
  5. We used an anonymous $500 grant to service 2 mowers and 2 trimmers as well as to purchasenew tools, including fire rakes, shovels, clippers, etc. Tools in radio building have been inventoried and some very old ones discarded. The new tools need to be marked with black spray paint as property of CTC. This will be done before use this weekend.
  6. Janet suggested a small ad in the Crozet Gazette every month to raise awareness of CTC work and invite community tojoin us. Ad price is less if it is monthly. A short column or photo with our news is another option. Topic suggestions included trail map, geocaches, etc. Nana will research this with the Gazette.
  7. Terri would like CTC to take a stand that dogs on the trail should be on a leash. County policy is that dogs “must be under owner’s control.” Steve thinks Dan’s sign says on a leash. Terri will ask Dan what county policy is. We could write a letter to the Gazette.
  8. Terri has placed 5 geocaches on the connector trailunder CTC name, andpeople have already found some of them. Yeah!

Next workday: - Saturday, Feb. 27, 9 a.m. Creekside Trail in Old Trail

Next Meeting: 6:30 pm. Thursday, March 30.