Raleigh, schools share space

RALEIGH -- Less than a month old, Brier Creek Community Center already has a regular group of 15 preteens who drop by to play foosball. The out-of-school programs are nearly at capacity. And folks have started registering for the more than 50 classes and programs that start next month.

Brier Creek is among a new breed of community centers for the city. The school system and city share a gym attached to Brier Creek Elementary School.

A new center on Barwell Road in Southeast Raleigh will operate under a similar agreement when it opens this fall. And, this month, the City Council authorized officials to move forward on another deal with the school system for land around Leesville and Strickland roads near Interstate 540.

It is a concept that some opponents of a proposed community center at Horseshoe Farm Park in northeast Raleigh have latched on to.

They say that school-city partnerships would allow the city to keep Horseshoe Farm as a nature preserve, where visitors could explore the meadow, forests and river and watch the deer, wild turkey and other wildlife. But at the same, it helps city parks officials provide adult sports leagues and after-school programs.

Gene Brothers, an associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at N.C. State University, said community centers and ball fields can't be shoehorned onto every piece of property.

"You just have to read what's on the property and enhance that with recreational programming," said Brothers, who has worked for the city and has written letters to support a nature park at Horseshoe Farm. "Basketball and tennis -- there are opportunities to do that at other parks."

Finding the best fit

Horseshoe Farm, a 146-acre tract of land off U.S. 401 in northeast Raleigh and bounded by the Neuse River, is in the center of a battle over its best use.

The City Council is considering a recommendation from its parks, recreation and greenways advisory board to build a 24,000-square-foot center along with outdoor basketball courts on the property.

Some opponents say there are other places to serve the growing community with gymnasium and meeting space. Suggestions include more partnerships with the school systems such as the Brier Creek deal, space in vacant shopping centers or at the North Wake Landfill, which is set to close by early 2008.

"If elementary after-school programming is something the city really wants to get into, then great," Brothers said. "Let's do it at school property that have gyms."

But commercial spaces and schools offer challenges, said Vic Lebsock, a park and greenway planner for the city.

The city has looked at vacant spaces in shopping centers for community centers or gymnasiums, but the numbers have never worked, Lebsock said. The ceilings haven't been high enough for volleyball or the space big enough for a gymnasium, he said.

"In order to use the site, we probably would have to demolish the building to use it," Lebsock said. "So we really don't gain anything by using it."

There are limitations to joint school and park sites, he said. Working with the school means that the general public doesn't have time during the day to use the gym for lunchtime basketball or volleyball leagues, for instance, Lebsock said.

The move to more year-round schools also complicates the issue because schools are in use all the time.

The landfill alternative

Mayor Charles Meeker asked city officials this month to look at what may be the likeliest alternative for Horseshoe Farm -- the North Wake Landfill, which is about five miles from Horseshoe Farm. A master plan for the property proposes a school and park on the property.

The city and county have not set aside money for the development at the landfill site. But one proposal is to use money from the $26 million open space bond, which Wake County voters approved in 2004.

Sig Hutchinson, chairman of the county's open space and parks advisory committee, has suggested that the county could purchase the perimeter of Horseshoe Farm and maintain it as open space.

The city would then use that money from the county's purchase to provide sports and activities at the landfill site -- land that Hutchinson describes as anything but environmentally sensitive.

Meeker said he is interested in alternatives to Horseshoe Farm.

"We're going to look at it," he said. "I'm certainly leaning toward the more natural approach provided we can have adequate facilities in northeast Raleigh elsewhere."