When the American Legion Post 6 announced it was selling its land on Legion Road for $10-million to a company that wants to build 600 apartment homes geared toward young professionals, some Chapel Hillians urged the town to buy the land—for $10-million—to create a new park instead.
American Legion Post 6 (Photo by Blake Hodge)
From New York’s Central Park to Munich’s Englischer Garten, at the heart of the world’s greatest cities you’ll frequently find a grand public park. Undoubtedly, a public park would greatly improve the east side of Chapel Hill. Currently a collection of disjointed suburban subdivisions, the east side could use a real community gathering space.
Before we talk parks, let’s review the history of this particular potential park site:
- In 2005, Chapel Hill had their eye on the American Legion’s 36-acre home for a potential new school. The Legion, which didn’t want to move from its home since 1961, struck a deal with the town to take their land off the “Future School Site” list in exchange for first dibs if Post 6 ever did sell it.
- In 2014, Post 6 announced it was exploring selling. Nationwide, the American Legion has been struggling financially and is seeking ways to adapt to serve today’s new generation of veterans as wonderfully as it has served past generations. Frankly, they need the money.
- In 2015, Post 6 told the town it was selling its property to Woodfield Acquisitions for $10-million unless the town wanted to match the offer. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ superintendent Tom Forcella told town leaders the school district no longer wanted the land and, “we have over $160 million in currently identified projects that are our priority.” After consulting our checkbook and our other priorities, the council voted unanimously not to buy Post 6.
The buyer, Woodfield Acquisitions, wants to build 600 new apartment homes, office space, and retail on the site. At a community forum hosted by Woodfield in January, Mayor Pam Hemminger urged citizens to not simply say what they don’t want, but instead to say what they do want.
“We want a park,” one resident shouted.
When Mayor Hemminger said the town doesn’t have $10-million dollars, another resident offered 50-bucks. Since then, the town council has received several dozen emails urging the town to find a way—and the $10-million—to buy the land and turn it into a park, an option the town may not legally have.
With that background in mind, there is a fundamental question town leaders need to ask about this particular wave of park advocacy.
Where were all these park lovers before January?
The Legion has been exploring selling their land since 2014. Why weren’t any of these park supporters down at town hall advocating buying the land back then?
The town already owns land on Legion Road worth over $2-million that it’s giving away to DHIC Inc., a Raleigh-based not-for-profit, to build reduced rent apartments for economically challenged residents—a project I wholeheartedly support. If so many people really want a new park, however, why didn’t anyone suggest Chapel Hill use that land for the park before we gave it away?
As council member Donna Bell noted, “People spent so much time coming up with a list of things on [the list of] parks and rec priorities,” and, “this was not listed as one of [those] priorities.”
I can’t help but notice that this interest in a new park sprung up at the moment someone proposed new apartment homes. Maybe I’m just too cynical about some Chapel Hillians’ aversion to new neighbors. Maybe people really have awoken to the great benefit a park could have for our east side community. As someone who lives within walking distance, I know I’d benefit tremendously from a new park close to home.
If we’re truly excited about a new park for our side of town, here’s how we can get one for FREE: Let the developer create the style of homes that will attract young professionals on the Legion Road side of the property across from Europa Center’s five-story office building, in exchange for giving us land for a new park on the other side of the land next to Ephesus Park. Such a park would be a great opportunity to create walking trails that connect to existing neighborhoods so the whole area could share the land. The new park could include a pond where the community could gather around that could also help with storm water in the area. The east side could finally have our community gathering place—and we could get it for FREE instead of $10-million.
Don’t think a developer will go for it? Woodfield has stated that they’re open to this idea. In fact, they already agreed to parts of it in exchange for the town not buying the land. The project will be subject to Chapel Hill’s exhaustively comprehensive and lengthy Special Use Permit (SUP) process, which gives the town tremendous leverage to negotiate public amenities in exchange for approving new homes.
Perhaps I’m Pollyannaish, but just once, couldn’t this town at least try being positive and collaborative before we become negative and combative?
History suggests newly minted park advocates won’t go for the proactive approach. Let’s be real. The $10-million of your tax money isn’t about bringing a new park to Chapel Hill. The $10-million is about keeping 600 new neighbors out of Chapel Hill.
I just wish people had enough respect for the community-building power a public park could have for the east side to stop using it as a political pawn.
— Matt Bailey
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“Where were these park lovers before January?” We were attending the Chapel Hill 2020 meetings years ago to advocate for making the Legion not just a park, but a Veterans Park. We were assured then that the town had every intention of buying the land to MAKE a park, but that the Legion did not want to sell. So we assumed that we did not NEED to be nagging the town to follow through on its intentions. There was no advocating to be done, and believe me, we were prepared to do it.
Little did we know just how little care our town leaders had for what most of us were saying in those meetings. About parks, about trees. About clean water. About livability in a town we love. That park is why the town got the right of first refusal to BEGIN with. Why was it not on our list of near-term priorities? Because the land was not for sale!
Fast forward six or seven years. We hear in a news article that the Legion FINALLY offered the land for sale. And the town council voted, in a closed session, after talking with no one on the Parks staff or any town residents, voted to throw away ANY rights to the land.
So yes, we are angry, and we want the park we were promised. Not a blight of cheap ugly buildings with a bone thrown our way from the developer, but the entire parcel.
The fact that the deeply incompetent Town Manager has not been planning ahead and setting aside funds for lo these many years to buy this land doesn’t mean that we should throw away the idea. Smarter people than the Town Manager (essentially anyone) can come up with collaborative options to make that happen.
And no, no one wants or needs hundreds of new residents in this town, unless they are students or Town employees or people who work in Chapel Hill. Infesting our town with people who don’t care about it, don’t work here, don’t own property here, are just here to sleep at night, would just accelerate the downward slide of cheap ugly development, loss of local business, degraded environment, and general loss of what most of us love about Chapel Hill.
Do a little fact-checking next time.