NC’s Umstead State Park will get larger if these proposed land deals go through
William B. Umstead State Park, the 5,599-acre forest oasis in the heart of the Triangle, will soon get a little bit bigger.
The state plans to buy three pieces of land on the edge of Umstead and incorporate them into the park. The three parcels add up to nearly 25 acres and will help buffer one of the state’s most popular parks from the metropolitan area growing around it.
If approved next week by the Council of State — the 10 top statewide-elected officials led by the governor — the additions to Umstead will be the first since the state acquired 4.7 acres off Ebenezer Church Road in 2007.
Two of the three parcels are being purchased as part of a land swap with the company that owns Fred Anderson Toyota, which borders the park to the north.
The three pieces of land and the purchase prices are:
▪ Six acres at the corner of Brownleigh Drive and Glenwood Avenue. The forested lot, owned by Wake Equity LLC, is at the entrance to a business park adjacent to Umstead’s Glenwood entrance. $1.75 million.
▪ Seven acres off Reedy Creek Road near the Richland Creek Trail and N.C. State University’s Schenck Forest. The mix of woods and an open field is part of land owned by Walton Farm LLC that overlooks Richland Lake. $1 million.
▪ About 11.6 acres off Old Reedy Creek Road next to property owned by Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The Conservation Fund bought the property from the Edwards family last year at the request of the state Division of Parks and Recreation and is selling it to the state for about $1.15 million.
The narrow tract has been in the Edwards family since at least the 1950s and is bordered by RDU land on three sides. The family wanted the property to be preserved, said Bill Holman, state director for The Conservation Fund, and the state’s management plan for Umstead, adopted in 2017, identified it as a desired acquisition.
The property is across Old Reedy Creek Road from RDU’s Odd Fellows tract, 105 acres of mostly forested land that the state’s Umstead plan also identified as a potential addition to the park.
But in March 2019 the airport leased the Odd Fellows land to Wake Stone Corp. for a new open pit quarry. This winter state regulators denied the company’s request for a mining permit, citing the quarry’s proximity to Umstead. Wake Stone has appealed that decision.
Land swap helps Umstead grow
The real estate arm of Fred Anderson Toyota is providing $2 million toward the purchase of the Walton Farm and Wake Equity properties; the remaining $750,000 will come from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
Anderson pledged the money as part of a deal that will eventually allow the state to create a new entrance to Umstead from Glenwood Avenue, which is also U.S. 70. The company will receive 23.09 acres of state land on the north side of Glenwood that was severed from the park decades ago and officially removed from the park system in 1985.
In addition to the $2 million, Anderson will give the state 13.14 acres next to Umstead on the south side of Glenwood. The land will allow the state to reconfigure its entrance using Triangle Drive, which has a traffic light at Glenwood that would make it safer to get into and out of the park.
The current entrance has no traffic signal and can be hazardous, particularly for those making left turns.
Anderson will pay to extend Triangle Drive as part of a new loop road that will border the park and reach the Fred Anderson Toyota dealership. The company will also demolish a warehouse on the property it will give to the state.
For now, though, Anderson plans to use the building through December 2024, according to an addendum to the deal before the Council of State next week.
State parks spokeswoman Katie Hall said it will take about three years for the state to design and secure the money for the new park entrance on that property.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 8:29 AM.
