Residents cool to park development plan

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Heron Park is the most logical place for a skate park to go because it would create the least environmental issues.

Parks Commission member Sarah Hooper thought skaters could use the rails and trails pathway to get to the skate park, getting them off the street.

Resident Marie Velong, however, disagreed and advocated selling the entire parcel.

“It is a dangerous place for children. You have bars on both sides, an auto place with a bunch of junk. You put kids back there with no way to monitor them,” Velong said.

But Palmer Gillis of Coastal Ventures Development, the would-be purchaser of roughly 20 acres of the 63-acre tract, encouraged the idea of a skate park on Heron Park. He said the skate park would take up less than one half of an acre.

“Families can go to the garden center and send their kids to the skate park,” Gillis said.

Commission members and residents also raised concerns about the costs and process for demolition of the buildings left standing on the property when previous owner Tyson departed after ceasing its poultry processing operations there. The town has received a $500,000 demolition grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for demolition on the property.

Mayor Zack Tyndall said during the Monday working meeting that a decision on the use of the grant will need to be made by the end of August.

While Sterns said the proposal by Gillis was a lovely design, she expressed concern about losing open space.

“There will be a lot of expenses in regard to tearing it down and building what we need. Will it be worth giving up that open space we can never get back?”

“Demolish what you can of the building. If that is not enough, do the rest when you get the money,” Velong said.

Gillis reminded attendees that if he purchased the property, he would use the $500,000 grant for a partial demo and pay for any additional demolition costs himself. He also suggested that he would keep the water tower on the site and incorporate it into part of the stage for a small entertainment venue. He saw it as an artistic method for reusing the structure.

While there has been much debate on what type of development should be on the property, and questions on whether Gillis could flip the property or go in another direction once he owned it, he reminded residents that the RFP provided guidance on what the town wanted.

“We are bound by the boundaries of the RFP,” Gillis said. “Our plan is the town’s plan. We copied and