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I Am Optimistic About Our Parks!
A perspective from Pam Hemminger
As many in Chapel Hill may know, I began my volunteer and public service career as a member of the Chapel Hill Parks and Greenways board. That was over 30 years ago. Since then, I have continued to be a strong advocate for our parks, greenways, and recreation programs. In addition, while serving on several not-for-profit boards, I’ve used my financial expertise to help local organizations be more sustainable for the long-term.
Over the past few weeks, I have been watching the back-and-forth taking place between members of our community about parks funding. This is an important conversation for us to have. Today, I’d like to share some thoughts and up-to-date information about the situation based on my experience.
We all agree that, in the past, our parks have not received the funding they need. And I understand why people are frustrated. For me, this situation is not due to a lack of “political will” or because “Council isn’t listening” as is being suggested. Instead, it reflects the fact that we are a small community that is continually striving to be resourceful to meet multiple goals and needs – including funding for facilities and services like our Chapel Hill Public Library that other municipalities (big and small) do not pay for.
Over the years, we have done our best to fund projects through creative means, including partnering with local soccer organizations on the new turf fields, investing in designs to have greenways projects “shovel ready” to qualify for federal funding, and leveraging 2/3rds bonds whenever we could. We’ve known for many years that we needed a dedicated funding source and were ready to consider that idea in 2020 when the pandemic slowed us down.
In the past year, we changed all that.
- Town Council jump-started a parks renewal by allocating almost half of our $10.66 million in American Rescue Program Act funding to parks and greenways.
Through an exhaustive process and with a great deal of input from our Parks, Recreation and Greenways commission (PRG) and staff, council allocated significant monies to 11 parks projects – including a new inclusive playground at the Community Center, renovation of our skatepark, and resurfacing of our well-loved turf fields. It also includes design for two new greenway extensions (Bolin Creek and East Morgan Creek), which sets us up to apply for even more federal dollars for engineering and construction costs.
- With our new Penny for Parks Chapel Hill has our first ever substantial dedicated funding stream for capital projects.
As of last spring, for the first time ever, Chapel Hill has a dedicated funding stream for capital projects. The new annual fund, which currently equals $971,000, went into effect last July. It is also included as a recurring funding stream in our five-year budget plan. This new funding provides more predictability for our Parks & Rec staff and the resources they need to build the park system we want.
- Guided by our new Parks Master Plan, the town can better compete for outside grant monies and plan for future bonds.
This fall our staff will begin engaging the public in creating a new Parks Master Plan, which is an important first step for evaluating future bond opportunities and making us competitive for state and federal grant money.
Taken together, these strategies mirror the approach we have been using successfully to jump-start progress, leverage town funds to bring in outside money, and create a more sustainable path forward for other town priorities including climate action, affordable housing, and greenways. To support these efforts across the organization, Council included funding for a full-time grant writer last year.
Without a doubt, many of the projects we are looking at – especially some of our bigger ideas – will take some time. But, based on our recent successes with the $1 million RAISE grant for our Everywhere to Everywhere greenway network, our ability to leverage different types of funding (e.g., climate action monies, Safe Routes to Schools funds), and opportunities for creative partnerships give me reason to believe that we can and will move more quickly on many of these projects.
Optimistic? Yes, I am. And I’m proud, too, of the progress we are making together.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
