A park place

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CORRECTION

New facilities recommended by a city parks advisory board for Horseshoe Farm Park in northeast Raleigh include two outdoor basketball courts. An editorial yesterday incorrectly stated that tennis courts had been endorsed for the park.

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Finding a home for a new community center and tennis courts in north or northeast Raleigh is proving more difficult than the City Council expected.

The city's Parks, Recreation and Greenway Advisory Board endorsed a plan for the new Horseshoe Farm Park off U.S. 401 in the city's northeast that includes a recreation center large enough to house a gym, meeting rooms and exercise facilities, along with two tennis courts and the necessary parking.

That was too much concrete for a park designed to be an environmental education center with river launch sites and other natural amenities. Residents made it abundantly clear, judging from the size and tone of the crowd at a recent public hearing, that they wanted Horseshoe Farm's 146 acres left as natural as possible.

Now the council is looking at Camp Durant as an alternative to Horseshoe. That may prove an equally hard case to make.

Camp Durant began as a Boy Scout camp and the headquarters of the regional Occoneechee Council. By 1979, northward growth of the city had made it clear that the camp's best use was as a city park and not a rugged camping area for scouts. So, with grants from the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the National Park Service, the city bought the park's 237 acres.

Now, state officials say, any plan to substantially alter Camp Durant Nature Park would require their approval. And perhaps the hardest sell of all, given the grumbling already coming from north Raleigh, would be demonstrating that the public supports the change.

The North Wake landfill, meanwhile, is due to close in 2008. Putting that site to good use is an option worth the council's serious consideration.

The landfill does not have a history as a nature park. Converting it so the site could house a community center would demonstrate that the city is serious about improving both the environment and recreational opportunities for residents.