County to avoid delays on plans

With plans for a Twin Creeks park and schools area nearly finalized, county leaders expressed their desire to avoid further delays and put the plans into action.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners heard a report Thursday on how Twin Creeks should be designed to fit within its surrounding area, north of Carrboro near Eubanks Road.

“I don’t think we should delay the construction of this park, waiting for the world to unite and come to an agreement on Twin Creeks,” said commissioner Stephen Halkiotis.

The report, produced by a workgroup that included commissioners and city school board members, looked into four main issues:

- relocating the yet-to-be-built 10th elementary school closer to neighborhoods so that more children could walk to school

- keeping the four soccer fields together in the park

- adding an action sports facility, which could include a concrete bowl for skateboarding or a BMX bike course

- relocating the athletics stadium away from the middle school to the southern part of the park.

One of the most contentious issues with plans has been the location of the new elementary school.

A group of parents gathered in December and submitted a plan to the commissioners that moved the school closer to the Lake Hogan Farms neighborhood to let more children walk to school and to improve the safety of walkways.

Thursday’s report found that moving the elementary school away from the proposed middle school was not worthwhile.

“While it might increase some walkability, the benefits of keeping the two schools together outweighed the increased walkability,” said David Stancil, environment and resource conservation department director.

Parent Matthew Barton, who led the charge to move the school, said he saw the decision coming.

“The work group was really given no latitude to seriously consider a realistic proposal,” he said. “They were forced to work within very tight constraints, and so this decision was completely expected.”

He said that because the commissioners had made it clear that the elementary school would not be moved, the parents would not continue pushing their point.

Both the work group recommendations that the stadium be kept close to the middle school and that the soccer fields be kept together were met with support.

But its proposal that the action sports facility be less of a priority was not universally accepted.

Commissioner Barry Jacobs said his support for an action sports facility came after local residents convinced him that it was worthwhile.

“I’m glad that we went to the trouble of listening and responding to citizen concerns,” he said.

Halkiotis disagreed with the work group’s proposal to locate an action sports facility near a Piedmont Electric easement to prevent extra construction, but also agreed that the facility was needed.

“I think (action sports enthusiasts) are a viable group of people living in this community, and I would hope we could tweak this thing and find some space for them,” he said.

The commissioners said they were pleased with the work group’s speed and would adopt the plan at their Tuesday meeting, after a few minor changes.

“We’ve done a good deal with this, and it’s time to move forward,” said commissioner Valerie Foushee.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.