Bandera Farms Park adds 4.8 acres near proposed trailhead
A house on the property may become a visitors’ center for the park, one of the options under evaluation by designers by CHRIS BURRITT
Photo by Chris Burritt/NWO
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SUMMERFIELD – Piedmont Land Conservancy (PLC) has purchased a 4.8-acre tract and house next to Bandera Farms Park, creating new options for designing the trailhead of the proposed equestrian and hiking preserve. In late February, PLC bought the wooded property at 5448 Bunch Road for $375,000 from Francis and Jo Ann Delaunce. After living in the house for many years, the retired couple offered to sell the property to PLC before they put it on the market, according to Palmer McIntyre, the nonprofit’s conservation manager. PLC pursued the purchase because “It is such a strategic property for access to Bandera Farms Park,” McIntyre said in an interview earlier this week. The triangular tract is bordered by Bunch Road and Reedy Fork Creek at the northwestern corner of Bandera Farms Park. A gate blocks access to the asphalt driveway leading to the house, which is vacant and may eventually serve as a visitors’ center for the park. That’s only one option for the house. Another is demolition, McIntyre said. PLC is working with Destination by Design, the Boone, North Carolina-based firm that created the original design of the park, to evaluate how the additional property may figure into the trailhead.
“Everything is on the table at this point,” McIntyre said. The purchase “gives us the opportunity to reevaluate trailhead options.” PLC is willing to rent the threebedroom, three-bathroom house over the next year, or until development of the park begins, according to McIntrye. Interested renters can email the organization at info@piedmontland.org. PLC purchased the 115-acre park site on Bunch Road at Interstate 73 for $575,000 in December 2020, with financial contributions from Summerfield, Oak Ridge, the city of Greensboro and Guilford County. As part of Summerfield’s successful bid for a $500,000 matching state grant, Destination by Design created a design for the park, which lays out about five miles of meandering trails for horseback riders and hikers. As initially proposed, the trailhead would consist of two parking lots on Bunch Road, one for horseback riders and their trailers and the other for hikers and families walking the trail or visiting an adventure playground. Cycling won’t be allowed on Bandera Farms Park trails. However, the proposed Piedmont Greenway through the park will be open to cyclists who will be able to park in the Bandera Farms Park lot designated for hikers. PLC eventually plans to transfer
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