By Zachary Horner, Chatham News + Record Staff

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners gave approval last week to master plans for a new county park to be located in Moncure, as well as upgrades to an existing park in Chapel Hill.

The 4-1 vote — Commissioner Andy Wilkie opposed the plans without stating why — gave the county’s consent to pursue nearly $18.5 million in improvements for the Parkers Ridge Park in Moncure and more than $7.6 million of upgrades to the Northeast District Park in northeast Chatham.

The master plan for the new Parkers Ridge Park in Moncure as approved by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners. The $18-plus million project will include a splash pad, new sports fields and walking trails and old barns already on the property as part of a “cultural and natural history interpretive area.”

The plans did not commit the county to spending that money right away, nor did it lock in those amounts as budgeted amounts. Instead, the presented proposals suggested phasing in parts of the plans. This is the first time commissioners have approved a major county action on parks and recreation since the category was added to the resolution for this year’s primary election referendum on local option sales tax.

“These are exactly the kinds of projects that the Article 46 sales tax could help with,” said Commissioner Mike Dasher.

Named for local family Atlas and Lola Parker, who owned the land on Pea Ridge Road on which the county will build the park, the Parkers Ridge Park covers 147 acres and is 15 miles from Pittsboro. Rachel Cotter, a landscape architect with Durham-based design and engineering firm McAdams, said the park would maintain some of the old barns on the property as part of a “cultural and natural history interpretive area” and include nine acres for a future school “with some additional expansion if necessary.”

Other amenities included a cricket/multi-use field — “This is an emerging trend,” Cotter said of cricket — a small community center, splashpad, dog park, disc golf course, walking trails, multiple multi-purpose fields, fishing pier, canoe launch area and an open space that could be used for movie nights. The proposed first phase of the project, slated to cost $3,212,330, would include two fields, restrooms, a picnic shelter, the fishing pier and canoe launch as well as park signage, an access driveway and infrastructure and utilities.

The park would not necessarily qualify as a “neighborhood” park, Cotter said, because of its distance from populated areas, but would still serve a community purpose.

“It really is more of a get-in-your-car-and-drive-to-it destination,” she said. “People are looking more at the amenities within the park and having these anchor facilities in the park, something that’s unique to that area so that community feels there is something unique to the area, a special niche in their park.”

The county is planning to seek a $300,000 grant from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) to help cover recreation elements. Commissioners asked county staff to put begin working on the application, including an ordinance that would commit coal ash-related funds to this park in particular.

“We could possibly do a project ordinance that says we’re committing these funds to this project and PARTF could see that commitment of those funds,” said County Manager Dan LaMontagne. “If we get the plans approved today, approving what the community wanted in these plans, we can come back next month with that project ordinance if that’s what you would like with those options.”

Upgrade plans for the Northeast District Park in Chapel Hill include two new dog parks, one for little dogs and one for big ones, as well as new sports fields and a disc golf course.

The plan for the Northeast District Park, located at 5408 Big Woods Road in Chapel Hill, would expand current amenities to include two new dog parks, one for small dogs and one for big dogs, as well as two new basketball courts, a four-foot-wide natural surface walking trail, a disc golf course and an ecological demonstration garden. The first phase of the project — which would include the disc golf course and a new playground — would cost approximately $4.2 million.

Cotter said McAdams and county parks staff “received a lot of feedback from the community” during the design process and intended to incorporate resident preferences.

No particular timetable was set for the improvements.

 


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