Ken, Damien,

Attached is the Campus Connector map that I promised to give Damien at last night's Traffic Commission meeting.  I hope you can read it.  I scanned it from a paper copy.  I will try to get the original electronic file for you.  The map shows property boundaries and a potential Campus Connector route.  Whose property the Campus Connector goes over will depend on a detailed design of the Connector.  A detailed design has not been done.

Concerning right of way, Greg Good says, "I'm pretty sure there is not a right-of-way the whole way through. The city has tried sporadically to list ROW'S and more importantly the official abandonment of ROWs. But I don't think the latter effort is totally up to date or systematically recorded."

Jenny Selin says, "

• Grant Street right-of-way goes (paper street) all the way to the WVU property line, except for a little corner right before the WVU property line.

At the end of the day there is a little corner that the Saab's own that used to be part of the right of way for Grant Street.  At some point this was conveyed to the Saabs.  We would need permission to cross that piece of property, or purchase it, or arrange for a right of way (on the property downhill of Grant Street right-of-way) with the owners of Bent Tree Apartments.

We could potentially follow Grant Street right of way, low on the hill, (remembering to resolve our little corner problem) continuing to the University line and then make switchbacks up the hill (on the university property) to the Water Tower and the WVU Greenhouse. 

• An additional concern is the washed-out part of the hillside at the beginning of the Grant paper street.  It would be difficult but probably not impossible to build trail there.  It would be an excellent first-step for an engineer to examine this section.  The Grant paper street area we are talking about is below the WVU steam line. The steam line is the walking route being used currently.
  

•  Another possibility....We could check out whether the right of way rights for the steam line could be renegotiated to include walkers (we would need to change the routing near the top of the hill because it is so steep).  Perhaps a long shot, but worth considering.
  

• The Saabs own the upper hillside and at some point will want access to their upper acreage.  At that point we may be able to negotiate the right to cross their "triangle" in exchange for rights to an access road for their property  (adjacent to the lower portion of the trail).
  

Right now the Saab's parents have both died within a year (the father very recently) so I am not inclined to ask them in the near future.  However this could be a transition point and so we could ask them first and then ask the Bent Tree Folks.  Or ask both.

• Bent Tree:

The recommendation from their representative is to have money and a plan, or at least a concrete idea, and then contact them.  Jimmy Manilla and a few others have said that they know the Bent Tree Folks and would be glad to approach them once we have a clear idea of what we want."

I hope this helps to investigate and identify property ownership within the general alignment of the Connector so that an earnest discussion with the area property owners and the City could commence.

Frank Gmeindl
Chairman, Morgantown Municipal Bicycle Board