On Tuesday, the public got its first official opportunity to weigh in on the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority’s plans for 136 acres of parkland along the shore of Lake Crabtree since it announced last month it was going to create a “recreation and wellness destination” on the property.
The consensus?
As they did at the beginning of this year, when airport authority officials announced an upcoming “entertainment destination,” members of the public seem to want to keep the property—home to a hilly, densely wooded, 9-mile network of mountain biking trails which were closed earlier this summer—as natural as possible.
At this week’s public workshop hosted in the ballroom of Cary’s Senior Center from 4 to 7 p.m., dozens of people dropped in for a Q&A session with airport authority staff, developers, and their attorneys about their vision for the land that Wake County has leased from the airport authority since the 1980s at the vastly discounted rate of $1 per year.
Last month, the airport authority announced it was “exploring options” for creating a recreation and wellness destination on the land located near Aviation Parkway and I-40 in partnership with Pacific Elm Properties, the Dallas-based real estate investment and development firm owned by Tom Dundon, who also owns the Carolina Hurricanes and, soon, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. (Pacific Elm is also spearheading development of the upcoming sports and entertainment district surrounding the Lenovo Center, formerly PNC Arena, the longtime home of the Hurricanes.)
The airport authority signed a 20-year lease agreement with Wake County in June to preserve the 70 acres of parkland that run directly along the banks of Lake Crabtree for a market rate of $214,488, which increases 3 percent each year. According to a memorandum of understanding the airport authority released last month, Pacific Elm has an exclusivity period until July of next year to conduct studies and engineering evaluations for any development it proposes.
“Potential features of the recreation and wellness destination include water sports, land sports, family-focused activities, retail, food and beverage establishments, and lodging,” the airport authority’s website states, and indeed, all such features were on glossy posterboard display at the workshop.
Staffed stations displayed conceptual ideas and a rendering of what the recreation destination could ultimately look like.
The destination aims to “celebrate trails and natural resources” and provide “active, recreational entertainment that complements the existing trail system” next to the lake which will remain undisturbed, according to a poster. This could include “family-focused activities,” “outdoor festivals and gathering space,” “camping and lodging,” “educational programs,” bike and kayak rentals, and “mountain bike racing facilities, with emphasis on hospitality for race participants.”
The next station depicted images of several other “representative projects” that served as points of inspiration, including Sierra Nevada Brewing in Asheville; the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte; Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City; Riversport OKC in Oklahoma City; and Trestle Bike Park and Canon Gorge Park in Winter Park and Canon City, Colorado, respectively.
The staffers—airport authority employees and representatives from Pacific Elm and the law firm Parker Poe—spoke with visitors about how the airport authority has been leasing the property for too long below market rate. They discussed how the Federal Aviation Authority is mandating that the airport find ways to monetize the property. The developers are still in the conceptual phase of the planning process and currently working to gather community input, they said.
Community input was delivered with a series of stickers on yet more posterboards where visitors could either place green stickers to denote a “go,” or yellow stickers for a “no.” Images of kayakers, hikers, climbers, and mountain bikers received the most green stickers, while images of dense buildings, offices, retail, and lodgings received the most yellow. Images of food trucks, an outdoor restaurant patio overlooking the lake, and a bike shop also got some green, while “tree canopy” looked to be selected as the most important “development theme.”
At the final station, visitors were invited to write their own ideas for what they want to see on sticky notes and post them. They included dozens of earnest pleas to keep the trails and mountain biking features as they are, or “as green as possible,” to more niche and unique proposals: a “donut shop,” “Turkish ice cream,” “a trampoline park,” a “faux hot springs pool.” Some advised planners to collaborate with the Wake County parks system and address pollution in the lake.
“No tall buildings,” more than one sticky note implored. “Preserve green space.” “Ensure some unpaid/free activities.”
Still, some attendees seemed to support Pacific Elm’s early proposals: one liked the idea of having an amphitheater or live entertainment venue, others suggested a whitewater center or campgrounds.
The public has two more opportunities to submit feedback in person this fall: at a public workshop at Raleigh’s Laurel Hills Community Center on September 2 and one at Frontier RTP on October 21.
Send an email to Raleigh editor Jane Porter: [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].
You must be logged in to post a comment.