The great green hope: a meadow
Published: Tue, Feb. 06, 2007 12:00AM
Modified Tue, Feb. 06, 2007 06:15AM
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closeThe fight over the future of the Dorothea Dix hospital campus centers on a big field.
It's a developer's dream: 47 acres of flat land minutes from downtown. It would be easy to build high-rise condominiums, single-family homes or office buildings.
That worries park advocates, who want to keep it as open space. The Friends of Dorothea Dix Park and other groups argue the field could be the equivalent of the Sheep Meadow in New York's Central Park -- a grassy gathering spot. They call the Dix spot The Great Lawn.
THE BIG FIELD
SIZE: 47 acres
LOCATION: Southwestern side, between Barbour and Umstead drives.
NOTABLE FOR: Being open space. The field is prime real estate: flat, easily developed with quick access to downtown. It's also one of the last major pieces of grassy open space left in the center of the city.
PROPOSED USES: Park advocates want to keep it undeveloped. Some plans call for festival grounds, an outdoor ampthitheater or a community garden. Others call for high-rise condominiums, homes or commercial offices.
TRIVIA: A team of hospital staffers used to play baseball here.
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A recent state-sponsored panel from the Urban Land Institute proposed swapping part of the big field with N.C. State for land on the northern end of Centennial Campus, a research and business park. But N.C. State has said it's not interested.
Betsy Kane, 32, a city planner who lives in Raleigh, often goes to the field for picnics. She said she didn't have to worry about cars when she took her niece, a toddler, on an outing.
"Her little legs would give out before she got to the edge of that field," she said.
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