Development plan in play for park on Neuse River

RALEIGH -- Tiny gnats and grasshoppers jumped from blade to blade. Butterflies and dragonflies flitted through the air.

For some park activists that's about the only kind of activity they want at Horseshoe Farm Park just off U.S. 401 in North Raleigh.

They say that a recommendation to the City Council to build a 24,000-square-foot community center and outdoor basketball courts will destroy the city's chance to save a unique property where people can explore nature on land bordered on three sides by the Neuse River.

The council will consider development of the park today. It also will hear the broader debate, spurred by this and other park plans across the city: How much natural space should the city provide and how many ball fields and community centers are needed.

"We have plenty of organized sports in Raleigh," said Ellen Kinsinger, chairwoman of the Capital Group Sierra Club, which opposes the center and courts. "Kids need a place where they can go for unstructured play."

There already are thousands of acres of natural space, including 3,000 acres along the city's greenways, in the city's park system, along with state, federal and Wake County lands in the region, city parks officials say. Just because children aren't exploring nature, doesn't mean there aren't opportunities, they say.

"It completely ignores the responsibility of parents, in particular, to take the time or drive the distance," said David Shouse, a park planner.

Horseshoe Farm Park sits in the city's booming northeast planning district, where the population is expected to grow by 60,000 people by 2030.

Officials have plans for as much as 1,400 acres of new parkland to help serve this area.

They include a 586-acre park on Falls Lake and a 157-acre nature preserve where development is prohibited. The city also continues to look for other property.

The closest community parks to the neighborhoods near Horseshoe Farm are Millbrook Exchange and Green Road, which is so busy that the city is working on a $1.2 million expansion.

"What we need is recreation centers for these kids to play sports," said Kathleen Serow, a teacher at nearby Wildwood Forest Elementary School and former member of the committee that crafted the Horseshoe Farms master plan. "That's the kind of thing that makes a difference in a kid's life. Are these kids' parents going to take them to look at birds? I don't think so."

Adding amenities

Visitors must travel down a narrow gravel road bordered by homes, to get to the 146-acre Horseshoe Farm Park.

About 46 acres are former pasture. Most of the rest is forested. State officials have found that the park contains one of the best examples of a Piedmont levee forest, with its distinctive topography, in the area.

This year, a city-appointed committee recommended that the park become a nature and arts center, with a river launch, fishing, trails and an education center.

The parks board endorsed that concept last month, but added a community center and basketball courts. The decision angered those who want less development.

Jan Kirschbaum, parks board chairwoman, said that even though the board didn't hear from many who wanted the center or courts, residents expect them. People will still be able to view wildlife and explore nature, Kirschbaum said.

Nature lovers resist

Others argue that future parks in the area could include community centers and sports facilities to serve the neighborhood.

"If you don't save this beautiful piece of land, where are you going to find another piece like this surrounded on three sides by the Neuse River," Kinsinger said.

Lena Gallitano, a member of Wake Audubon, walked through the park one morning and heard a yellow-bellied cuckoo. A community center and courts would only scare away the wildlife and birds, she said.

"I would rather Horseshoe Farm sit there and nothing happen to it, than do something that is so wrong for it," Gallitano said.

That's not the city's job, said Kirschbaum. "If the city does keep this as open space, they're really doing a disservice to regular people."