Wake commissioner wants county to sell future park land it just bought last summer
Wake County leaders could spend their first meeting of the year undoing one of last year’s most controversial votes.
At least one Wake County commissioner wants to sell the former Crooked Creek Golf Course mere months after the board voted to buy the land for a park in the southern part of Wake County.
The purchase of the 143 acres outside Fuquay-Varina prompted months of fiery debate, an attack mailer and website during this year’s contentious Democratic primary and accusations of “pay-to-play” politics.
Commissioner Greg Ford, the board’s vice chairman, has proposed listing the property for the South Wake Park Project as surplus and, ultimately, selling it. He said he’ll have more information about the feasibility of that after a meeting with staff Wednesday.
The proposal could go to the commissioners as early as Jan. 7, the first board meeting of the year. Now was the time, he said, for the newly elected board to weigh in on the issue.
Only two of the original pro-park commissioners — Matt Calabria and Sig Hutchinson — remain on the board.
“With Crooked Creek being a campaign issue, particularly in the primary, I believe the public would like for us to deal with this in this session,” Ford said. “And so I felt the timing was right and, in my personal opinion, I’ve been consistent [on this issue]. I don’t believe this property is consistent with the vision and values of not only the Wake County parks system but also voters of Wake County.”
Calabria and Hutchinson were joined by former Commissioners John Burns and Erv Portman in November 2017 announcing their intent to buy the property. The county bought the property for $4 million from The Conservation Fund this past summer. Commissioners Jessica Holmes, James West and Ford voted against the purchase.
Burns and Portman lost their re-election bids to Vickie Adamson and Susan Evans after a contentious Democratic primary. An election mailer and website accused the four pro-park commissioners of wanting to spend $23 million to “bail out a failing golf course.”
The $23 million number, a county estimate of what it would take to purchase, plan and develop the park, became a sticking point during the primary.
Opponents believe the money could have been better spent on something else like public education or the county’s affordable housing efforts. Proponents claim the southern portion of the county is growing rapidly and needs more parks.
Both Calabria and Hutchinson expressed frustration with Ford’s proposal.
“I not only think it’s incredibly short-sighted, but it’s an assault on the entire Wake County parks system,” Hutchinson said. “This is unprecedented to sell park land. It has never happened in the history of the county where we have sold park land. It’s just unfathomable that something like this could take place.”
The county shouldn’t be “auctioning off” one if its “greatest amenities,” Calabria said.
“Everyone understood the land would be preserved and for the public’s use,” he said. “It’s unprecedented to turn around and reverse a commitment of such magnitude before the ink is dry.”
In an emailed statement, Adamson said she’s received about 100 emails on the subject and that she’s “looking fully into this matter.”
“I plan to spend the next few weeks gathering all the information available so if this matter appears on the agenda, I will be ready to make the best decisions for all the citizens of Wake County,” she said.
As for Evans, she said she still had a lot of research to do before the issue is voted on.
Ron Nawojczyk, an administrator of a pro-park Facebook group, called the proposal “shameful and underhanded” in an alert to the group’s nearly 3,000 members.
“Last year’s board spent over a year diligently analyzing this park project and we jumped through every hoop they set in order to make this happen,” he said in the Facebook post. “We need to stand up against this effort to take away a future regional park from the fastest growing area of the county that still doesn’t have one.”
As part of his proposal, Ford also wants to move up the time line for the development of the Southeast Park Project, which is located about five miles from the South West Park Project. Funding for the Southeast Park Project was included in the voter-backed $120 million bond for parks, open space and greenways, but the South West Park Project was not.
Planning for the Southeast Park Project is already underway.
This story was originally published December 17, 2018 at 5:26 PM.
