Harnett County cut the ribbon on its newest park this morning
April 23, 2014
Harnett County cut the ribbon on its newest park this morning – Anderson Creek County Park at 1491 Nursery Road, Lillington. In attendance were many elected official including Chairman Joe Miller, Commissioner Gordon Springle, Senator Ron Rabin. Rep David Lewis and former Chairman Burgin were on hand even though they were in opposition to the recreational fees that made the park possible. In one meeting, then chairman Burgin tried to pass a motion that would waive recreations fees for developers which is the money collected to build parks in the western part of the county. The 1,000-acre park includes more than three miles of walking trails, a disc golf course, picnic shelter, restrooms, pond overlook and multiple areas for environmental education. Future phases will include equestrian and bicycle trails. The grand opening was followed by the county’s 6th annual Environmental Field Day, which brings fifth-grade students from around the county to the park to learn about nature.
It was a beautiful day for the opening of the new Anderson Creek Park. This will be a gem for the citizens of Harnett County, a place where families can get away for some peace and quite, A place where you can see and interact with nature. Mr. Carl Davis, the Forestry Service, Harnett Forward Together and a host of volunteers have done a great job and deserve a huge pat on the back for their efforts. I would like to invite everyone to come out, enjoy the park and watch how its grows and gets bigger and better.
This park is being paid for by rec fees. For those that do not understand what rec fees are I’ll try to explain. Rec fees are fees charged to a developer (500.00 per house) to buy land to build parks, ball fields and other recreational facilities for the citizens of the county, all citizens of the county. The areas where the fees are collected are where the fees stay, so the fees collected in the western part of the county stay here, fees collected in the northern part stay in the northern part and so on.
The Dispatch is correct in its reporting of David Lewis trying to change the rec fee rules. He (not the commissioners) went as far as to even write a resolution changing them so that they were waived completely or cut in half.
This made absolutely no sense, the board tabled the motion and it went away. Makes you wonder who Mr. Lewis is representing, the citizens of Harnett County or a certain special interest.