Wake OKs $20M plan to build 300-acre park. It’s the county’s 1st new park in 12 years.
A 300-acre park is coming to southeast Wake County, the county’s first new park in 12 years.
On Monday, the Wake County Board of Commissioners approved a $20 million contract to build Beech Bluff County Park near Garner and Fuquay-Varina.
The park will be funded by the $120 million Wake County Parks, Greenways, Recreation and Open Space bond that was approved in 2018. Bar Construction Co. in Greensboro is spearheading the creation.
Construction is slated to begin this fall, with a planned opening in the spring of 2024.
“One of the processes that we went through in 2018 was to look at where we needed more parks,” said Sig Hutchinson, the county board chairman. “We’ve built more parks in the eastern part of the county, but southeastern has been an area that we’ve needed to focus on.”
The county built Hilltop Needmore Park on 143 acres in Fuquay-Varina. Beech Bluff County Park will be even farther south, Hutchinson said.
Green Hills County Park on Deponie Road in Raleigh was the last park the county opened in 2010.
“We love our parks here in Wake County, we just can’t get enough of them,” Hutchinson said. “We want to continue to be the best place to live in the country and to do that you need to create more green space and opportunities for recreation for kids of all ages.”
Park Plans
Previously referred to as Southeast County Park, planning began in late 2018 at a community meeting. A year later, the county commissioners approved a master plan.
Beech Bluff County Park will be in Willow Spring on N.C. 42 and will have gardens, playgrounds, picnic shelters, a wildlife viewing platform, classrooms and hiking trails.
“Our purpose tends to be passive recreation, but we really want to preserve the environmental integrity of the site while giving people the opportunity to enjoy it,” Hutchinson said.
Also included in the design is public art, renewable energy sources like solar panels and geothermal energy to help power the lights and heat or cool buildings.
Other features of the new park include a park center, multi-purpose field, native plants landscaping and stormwater infrastructure.
Currently, Wake County has 10 parks including two nature preserves and eight county parks.
“The best thing I can say is there’s more to come,” Hutchinson said. “We understand and recognize the significance of these assets, and we want to create even more of them.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2022 at 11:01 AM.