Monday, December 5, 2011 — How to convert 14 acres of land in Badin, adjacent to and including the boat landing, into a community park was the topic of conversation during a public input meeting at the ALCOA Conference Center Tuesday night.

The land in question is designated for ALCOA to donate it to the town of Badin as part of the Relicensing Settlement Agreement (RSA) for the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project and includes the existing boat launch located off Badin Road on the west end and 700 feet of lake frontage to the north. The property is bordered by several downtown businesses along Falls Road and the town hall on the south end, Walnut Street to the southeast and residential property along Chestnut Street to the east.

“ALCOA will donate the park when we get the license, whenever that might be,” Monica Brower, senior Brownfield Redevelopment Manager for ALCOA, said.

“We remain confident that, at some point in time, we will get a license. In the meantime, the donation can’t happen because it is in the RSA. If there comes a time where the annual FERC renewals that we are currently operating under end, and the license is taken away, then we would have to consider [if the land would still be donated].”

Brower explained that converting the property into a park creates the opportunity to further the town’s desire to increase tourism while enhancing the amenities available for residents in Badin.

As the idea for creating a park began to take shape, ALCOA started looking for companies to design the park. After narrowing the search to four candidates, Site Solutions of Charlotte was selected because of it’s experience with designing similar parks and it’s process of included public input in it’s designs.

“This is your plan. This is your community and this will be your park, so this needs to include your ideas,” Derek Williams, owner of Site Solutions, told the citizens in attendance of the meeting. “For this town park to be successful, we need your input.”

The preliminary plan for the park was then presented to the crowd, which includes four key features: waterfront access with a plaza/fountain; picnic areas; recreational areas; and walking trails.

With the waterfront access feature, the plan lays out a design to enhance the parking area for the boat launch while adding a boardwalk with boat slips.

Adjacent to the boardwalk is a plaza with a fountain and sprayground area, which Pete Wall, an employee with Site Solutions, explained provides for an interesting area for children to play.

Though the plan does not make changes to the current boat launch location, several members of the public expressed a concern about the location preventing the use of non-motorized boats such as canoes and kayaks. Suggestions were made to move the current boat launch to an area above the swimming cove, though this also presented a concern about boaters not visiting the town during their boat outings.

The picnic areas include one larger shelter that can be used as a gathering place, as well as a staging area for festivals and special events, and several smaller shelters scattered around the park.

There is also the plan to construct a building for restrooms. Some concerns were presented regarding the possibilities for the larger shelter as several residents expressed the need to have a stage for the Better Badin Festival.

Wall explained that the shelter is designed to be a multi-purpose shelter that can be used year-round rather than specifically as an amphitheater.

Recreational areas included in the plan comprise of a playground area with two sets of equipment, a larger one for older children and a smaller one for younger children. There are also areas designated for tennis, volleyball and bocce ball. In addition to the specific recreational courts, there is also to be a large open lawn in the middle of the park that can be used for leisure activities.

Walking trails included for the park are a quarter-mile loop around the open lawn, as well as a trail from the loop to the entrance of the park on Falls Road; and a trail to the swimming cove. There is also a proposed trail that could connect to the Carolina Thread Trail that extends towards the Uwharrie National Forest and Morrow Mountain State Park.

Other suggestions for the park, which were made during the meeting, included eliminating industrial traffic from the parking area for the boat launch, adding a concession stand, adding recreational activities for teenagers such as basketball, including WiFi access, increasing electrical access for special events and adding a fenced-in dog park.

“By having this many people in a room sharing ideas, you have made this a better park,” Williams said. Brower added that the suggestion process will be a continual phase as the preliminary plan will be made available on the town’s Website, www. badin.org, as well as contact information.

The next step of the process will be to take the suggestions and create a master plan, which can then be used to help secure funding for the project. A time frame for the project has not been established, not only because the design phase has not been completed, but also because of the undecided outcome of the RSA.