Wake County leaders hope for ‘healing’ after Crooked Creek compromise
Wake County leaders have agreed to begin formal discussions to give the former Crooked Creek Golf Course to the town of Fuquay-Varina and the public school system for free.
The Monday vote was the latest in a series of twists and turns for the southern Wake property. County commissioners bought the land last summer for about $4 million only to list it as surplus in January, weeks after newly elected commissioners joined the board.
The 143-acre site is outside Fuquay-Varina’s town limits, and a school is already planned for the property. The town board is set to meet Tuesday night.
Wake County Commissioner Chair Jessica Holmes hailed the 7-0 vote as a compromise and the first step toward healing as a board after months of debate and controversy, including tense emails sent last week.
“The Crooked Creek issue has been divisive since well before the primary,” Holmes said. “The unanimous vote today is not only a signal to the community that we value open space, but we also value relationships with the greater community and each other. At this point, it is time for us to move forward and start healing as a board and working together on an outcome that will benefit all of Wake County’s residents.”
Last week, Holmes sent an email to the entire board and members of the media accusing fellow commissioner Matt Calabria of lying about the proposal and trying to “claim credit” for the compromise.
“You are either intentionally misleading the public or intentionally being inflammatory and disingenuous,” Holmes wrote in an email sent Feb. 14.
Holmes has consistently opposed purchasing the property and was in favor of listing it as surplus, while Calabria has advocated for buying the property and keeping it as open space. Calabria countered in his own email that the board shouldn’t “quibble” about who is working on the project proposal and compromise.
“Emails seeking credit or acknowledgment are inappropriate and counterproductive, and they focus on the wrong thing,” he said. “But it’s especially perverse to act as if acknowledgment is some sort of zero-sum game; just because one person worked on something doesn’t diminish someone else’s efforts. We should rise as a commission and a county. We should not seek to rise by pushing others down.”
Commissioner Sig Hutchinson, who has also consistently advocated for the park, said he supports the decision to begin negotiations, but he wanted assurances that the land would remain a park or open space.
The county shouldn’t tie its hands in the process, said Wake County Attorney Scott Warren.
Several members of the South Wake Park Project, which has advocated for a park at the site, spoke during the meeting to outline the benefits of a park in one of the fastest-growing areas of the county.
But some, including the group’s leader Ron Nawojczyk and attorney Brian Edlin, expressed concern about whether the homeowners who voted to remove their restrictive covenants to sell the property to the county would be made whole.
“We should stay cautiously optimistic and vigilant to see this through to this ultimate goal,” Nawojczyk told supporters on Facebook. “There are lots of details to be hammered out along the way. Please stay engaged.”
At the end of the meeting Holmes gave each of the board members clothing, including a hat and polo-style shirt, with Wake County logos on them. She’d originally meant the gifts to be given out around Christmas, but a manufacturer’s error forced a delay.
She joked it was “God’s timing” in giving the presents out after the Monday meeting and that they represent “healing” and “coming together.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2019 at 3:01 PM.
