Stoney Creek Park draft plan gets look
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on September 22, 2008 1:42 PM
The Stoney Creek Park Alliance got the first look at a draft of the new plan for Stoney Creek Park Thursday afternoon, but said it wasn't perfect.
Drawn up by Raleigh architectural and design firm Kimley-Horn, the plan mostly shows Phase I of the park, but there is one feature that appears on the draft that isn't in the first phase -- a pond.
Designated as a "future facility" on the draft, alliance members asked Kimley-Horn to include the pond feature in the plans to see where the best place for it would be, just in case they were to incorporate one in latter phases.
But on Thursday, members decided to ask Kimley-Horn to make a few changes, the pond feature being one of them.
"Do you want to look at reducing the size of the pond?" Parks and Recreation director Sonya Shaw asked the group.
"Let's go ahead and look into that," Alliance chairman Dr. Peter Roethling said.
Mrs. Shaw said she would like to see the area be more of a nice water feature complete with lights and a fountain instead of a pond with fishing piers.
Other members, while looking at the plan, suggested almost cutting the pond in half by cutting the western two portions of the pond and leaving a more kidney-shaped water feature.
Some of the other features needed to be moved around a little and adjusted to be more convenient for visitors and nearby residents, members added -- the location of the dog park for instance.
Members said they wanted to see it moved farther away from residences and more toward the back of the park.
The space for the disc golf course was another concern. The plan shows only enough space for six holes of disc golf, Mrs. Shaw said, but members said they wanted to see at least nine holes going into the park.
Roethling said he would like to see more parking in the park as well, making all of the amenities more accessible once they are finished, and others wanted to see picnic areas spread throughout the park.
Also included in the draft of the plan were a community garden area, a viewing area that members thought would be a great place for an amphitheater, a children's unstructured play area, a restroom area and a wetlands interpretive education area.
The alliance is working toward establishing a perfect plan for the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant that they will need to apply for in January. Once the plan is submitted, Mrs. Shaw says the group must move forward with exactly what is in the plan if it receives the grant funds.
Mrs. Shaw said she would take the concerns and changes to Kimley-Horn, and ask the firm to bring another plan back to the alliance for approval.