Plans take shape for 23 new park projects in the city of Raleigh
Raleigh is taking the next steps to spend millions of dollars to upgrade parks around the city.
In 2022, voters approved a $275 million bond to pay for 23 different Raleigh parks projects and greenways, including major upgrades at Dix Park and Chavis Park.
The $275 million parks bond is the biggest in city history, costing the typical homeowner about $103 more per year on their tax bill.
Progress to transform Dix Park into Raleigh's "central park" is already underway. Near what will become the Gipson Play Plaza, a slide and some of the playground structures are already in place.
Construction to the play area should be complete by early next year, planners say.
The city told WRAL News Dix Park will be the first of the bond projects to be finished, but other new parks will open right behind it.
Construction is expected to start first on Erinsbrook Park this year. The $7 million project will include playgrounds, a dog park and trails.
Kyle Drive Park, a 25-acre park planned near the intersection of Louisburg Road (U.S. Highway 401) and Valley Stream Drive, will feature playgrounds, a basketball court, a food forest featuring edible landscaping and a boomerang-shaped boardwalk over the water.
Emma Liles, capital project manager for Raleigh Parks, is finalizing the master plan for the undeveloped land off Louisburg Road.
"It’s heavily wooded - about 9 acres of the 25 acres is a wetland," Liles said. "We’re also having a big community agriculture focus at this site – so we’re thinking about some edible landscaping and a food forest."
Kyle Drive is one of three new parks the city is drawing up plans for as it moves forward with projects voters approved in the 2022 Parks Bond.
The bond also includes $11.5 million for Neuse River Park, with a greenway and trails, river recreation and a play area.
A master plan is in the works for Neuse River Park on 84 acres near Falls Lake Dam, and construction of Erinsbrook Park on Leesville Road is expected to start this year.
The Sertoma Arts Center at Shelley Lake Park will also be renovated and expanded.
"Another focus we have is to balance the new growth with existing facilities improvement, because we have heard loud and clear from the community that you need to take care of what you have," said Shawsheen Baker, superintendent for capital projects with Raleigh Parks.
According to Baker, the city is rolling out the projects in batches to make progress on the biggest parks bond in history.
"The project teams are working very diligently as we speak to move the projects along," Baker said. "To me, parks are not only good for the environment. It’s also good for individual mental and physical well-being, social well-being [and] environmental well-being."
Residents can help plan the new parks. An online survey for Kyle Drive Park is open until Monday. Next month, there will be a couple opportunities to tour the Neuse River site to share ideas for the future park.
