Wake County will lease 252 acres of Umstead State Park near Raleigh-Durham International Airport where it hopes to build and maintain mountain bike trails.
The lease will allow the county to expand the network of trails it maintains on an adjacent 151 acres it leases from RDU. The combined 400 acres for forest would create an off-road cycling destination to rival the one Wake recently lost at Lake Crabtree County Park when the airport did not renew a long-term lease there.
The lease for the Umstead property was approved this week by the Council of State, the 10 top statewide-elected officials led by the governor. The county will pay a nominal fee of $1 a year for seven years, with two 10-year renewal options…