The Fuquay-Varina Town Board Meeting on June 1 was controversial due to major conflicting views between the board of commissioners and the town residents. The disagreement is over the Hilltop Needmore Town Park, which the board plans on using for athletic fields and parking with a $10 million budget.
This was something many town residents were openly opposed to prior to the meeting and had vocally spoken out against time and time again during the meeting.
Carolyn Dren, a Fuquay-Varina resident and opponent to the bill, said, “I recognize that the ballfields are possibly needed, but I do recognize that this park is the wrong place and I’m in opposition to that. My concern is not simply about the cost, it is about what we are doing to what we have that makes this area unique for our community. It’s a peaceful, natural environment. When life gets chaotic, it’s nice to go out there and sit and have picnics there since the pandemic started.”
This was not the only case of opposition, however, as the amount of widespread disdain for the bill continued.
“NC-Statute 168-71 empowers each of you as board members to call for special meetings to discuss items further. You can do so tonight with a simple motion and an adoption during this open session. You have that power. The public feedback on Hilltop Needmore has been overwhelmingly clear since 2022: Preserve the natural habitat. But I know you’ve been encouraged to ignore our public voices. A public records request reveals an email from 2024 in which an influential town employee encouraged the board to dismiss the community’s expression of its will as ‘noise that shall pass’,” said Jocelyn Smith Thomas, another Fuquay-Varina resident who shared her insight on the matter.
Despite concerns and public comments, the board of commissioners attempted to assure and pacify the worries of residents.
“After extensive research, my goal is to create a balanced park that combines recreation with environmental stewardship. I do believe there is space for trails, wildlife, habitat and open space and also fulfill the recreation amenities that serve more of our residents included in that space as well. I support cluster amenities in one area rather than spread them throughout the property. This approach has been proven successful in parks across the country because it preserves larger natural areas while still meeting community needs,” said Commissioner Bryan Haynes, who defended public comments on his morals while defending the budget bill.
Haynes made justifications for the safety of Hilltop Park’s main attributes, and furthermore solidified his stance on the matter by speaking on his intention to continue the park’s legacy and the future of the park’s upcoming plans.
Commissioner Larry Smith spoke further on the bill and the public’s concerns.
“To build these athletic fields at another location, we would have to spend an additional approximately $15 million dollars to purchase the land, make road improvements, and infrastructure improvements which already exist at Hilltop Park. To build fields at another location and still repair the dam and still build a veterans memorial, a $10 million dollar project becomes a $25 million dollar project if we have to purchase additional land. One of the main issues was the fate of the Blue Trail. While it may have some changes, the plan is clearly for the Blue Trail to remain. Another issue that has been raised and I’ve heard many times was that the citizens spoke during the bond referendum in 2023 and voted down the building of this park. These are not the facts of a failed bond referendum: A bond referendum by definition is a ballot initiative where the governing body asks the citizens if they desire the governing body to raise funds through the sale of bonds which is a debt. Basically asking the voters for permission to borrow money in their name,” said Smith.
Commissioner Smith then went on to explain that a failure of the bond referendum would cause projects to be postponed or eliminated. However, this money that had already been invested would need to be paid back.
“Some have thought that they were voting yes or no on a specific project. Thinking that does not make it necessarily true. If it did mean that, we would not only be precluded from building any fields at Hilltop Park, we would be precluded from purchasing any more land for athletic facilities, building an indoor sports facility, completing greenways, performing upgrades at Hilltop Needmore Park or making improvements at South Park because all of those items were items we were looking to fund if the bond referendum had passed. So despite what is put out that this was a vote on the project or that this was a constitutional matter or that it would be a violation of some law to precede in the building of fields, is simply not true,” said Smith.
And although the support against the ballfield budget has been immense, the decision became final. As the board discussed their opinions and reasons for this decision, the motion for the bill was passed by the majority of commissioners.
