MSTA attended the Wolf River Conservancy meeting on December 8, 2015. The meeting covered the proposed greenway route through the north section of the Lucius Burch Natural Area in Shelby Farms. A representative of Alta Planning gave a presentation about the plan. A question and answer session followed the presentation.

The purpose of this route selection is to avoid the very narrow strip of land between the Wolf River and Interstate 240. That section would not be an attractive route for greenway users because of the very close high speed traffic. It would also be very expensive to construct.

The proposed plan would continue the Greenway northwest from Walnut Grove on the south side of the river. A bicycle and pedestrian bridge would cross the river in the vicinity of the power line field. A raised boardwalk would go through the woods to connect with the Shelby Farms Greenline.
State Natural Area rules do not allow paving in the natural area however, a boardwalk is allowed. The proposed boardwalk would be constructed using a product manufactured by Permatrak. This is a concrete system that will not have the problems associated with a wooden boardwalk.

Below are some concept drawings of how the greenway will look and a map of the various alignments. There is also a link to a survey being conducted by the Wolf River Conservancy which includes a comment area.

Wolf River Greenway Meeting Summary

The Wolf River Greenway survey is closed.
The results are released. So far we only received the graphs of the answers.
Hopefully the comments will be released soon.

Routes considered for Wolf River Greenway

Example of Permatrak boardwalk system

Artist conception of Wolf River Greenway and Shelby Farms Greenline intersection.
Example of a boardwalk setting using the Permatrak system.

Around a dozen people met with Andy Hays from Alta Planning on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016 for the Wolf River Greenway route planning hike. Andy brought several drawings we discussed. Once we studied the drawings it was determined the hike was not necessary. The unanimous recommendations in order of preference are:

Abandon the proposed route between the yellow and blue trails in the north natural area.

1. Establish an option which routes Greenway traffic through Shelby Farms Park using one of the existing bridges. Those are the bike & pedestrian bridge or the Walnut Grove bridge at Humphreys intersection. This will give WR Greenway users an improved awareness of the park's amenities.

2. Build the originally planned route on the west bank of the Wolf River. Use the $1 million planned for a bridge crossing the river to build those facilities. Include a noise wall along the narrowest part near I240 if necessary.

3. Cross the river as planned but continue in the power line field to a point well north of the existing yellow and blue trails and connect to the Greenline where the field meets the Greenline or by a short route through the woods.

Field meeting with Andy Hays from Alta Planning & Design

Wolf River Greenway Meeting Presentation Available

It took a while and prompting from MSTA, but the presentation shown at the December 8, 2015, meeting is now available for public viewing.
The presentation and other information is on this page of the Wolf River Conservancy web site.

Couldn’t come to the Dec. 8, 2015 public meeting?

Didn’t come to the Dec. 8, 2015 meeting but now wish you did?

Saw the information and have a question?

Here is your chance.

Mid-South Trails Association is hosting a meeting with two guest speakers. Wolf River Conservancy Greenway Coordinator Bob Wenner and Shelby Farms Park Conservancy Executive Director Laura Morris will be there to hear your concerns and answer your questions.

The meeting is in the party room at Fox Ridge Pizza, 1769 N Germantown Pkwy, Cordova, at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

Bob Wenner will show the presentation from the original public meeting and then there is a question and answer session. Mid-South Trails Association believes that all trail users should be given every opportunity to receive full information and express their concerns on this proposal.

The information presented at the December 8,2015 meeting is on the WRC web site on this page for your review.

http://www.wolfriver.org/lucius-burch

This meeting is in the past.

Meeting about proposed Wolf River Greenway route through the
Lucius Burch Natural Area in Shelby Farms

Summary of Feb. 17, 2016 open meeting about Wolf River Greenway hosted by MSTA.

Our open meeting with the Wolf River Conservancy was a success. The following officials were there to make the presentation and answer questions.
Keith Cole, Wolf River Conservancy Executive Director
Bob Wenner, Wolf River Conservancy Greenway Coordinator
Laura Morris, Shelby Farms Park Conservancy Executive Director

The biggest new development was that the originally proposed route through the LBNA (dotted red line in map below) is taken out of consideration. The more northerly route (purple line on map below) which goes around all the natural surface trails is now under active exploration.

There are some who are against any option that crosses the river and say the greenway should stay on the south bank. That route was dropped from consideration some time ago. It is doubtful it will be considered again. There are times that the decision has to be made that we got the best deal we are going to get and move on.

The new route will have to be explored and surveyed. Wolf River Conservancy may ask for volunteers from the trail using community to assist in this effort. If that call comes to MSTA we will publicize it.

MSTA obtained the slide show presentation from the August 29, 2018 meeting updating the Wolf River Greenway route going through the north natural area in Shelby Farms Park. The complete presentation is available at this link.
Aug 29 WRC presentation Warning - Very Large File! 
Questions or comments should go to Wolf River Conservancy .
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