The Wilmington City Council will ask the public to consider voting on borrowing nearly $38 million for parks, with a public hearing scheduled for the July 19 meeting to consider putting a special bond referendum on the November ballot.
City staff told the city council that a lack of funding in Wilmington’s capital improvement budget meant that there wasn’t funding for several proposed projects. The entire list of proposed city park projects totals $60 million, staff told the city council during a May 16 briefing, with the parks bond funding approximately two-thirds of the proposals.
“We learned through our citizens survey and the comprehensive plan that parks are a high priority for the public,” said Amy Beatty, Wilmington’s superintendent of recreation and downtown services.
She said 68 percent of survey respondents said they would probably or likely support a parks bond.
Primarily, the bond would fund the $20 million North Waterfront Park proposal, which would include a performance area, lawns, a children’s area and a water feature. It would also devote $10 million to building a new soccer complex.
“We have a shortage of soccer fields or multipurpose fields that can also host lacrosse or ultimate Frisbee in the city,” Beatty said. “These fields would meet the needs of local play and increase tournament play as well. The Hammerheads youth football club hosts the Seaside Classic, which brings in teams and families from all across North Carolina and has a large economic impact.”
The city staff report said several other projects that the bond would fund were laid out, including:
• Improvements to the Gary Shell Cross-City Trail.
• Upgrades to the Bradley Creek/Pecan Park kayak launch facility.
• Improvements to the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.
• Expansion of the Derrick Davis Community Center.
• Demolish building and expand playground at Wade Park.
• Resurface and add trails at Halyburton Park.
• Refurbish a bridge at Greenfield Lake.
The city council voted June 20 to apply for a special bond referendum with the North Carolina Local Government Commission, which will allow the city to put the bond on the ballot if it approves the resolution during the July 19 meeting.
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