The spanking new playground and picnic shelter are the focal points of Phase 1 of the park, which will eventually feature 107 acres of open space, ball fields, walking trails, flexible recreational areas and expansive natural areas intertwined with The Preserve at Robbins Park subdivision.
Saturday’s festivities were the culmination of a 10-year process of developing the park. Mecklenburg County purchased the property in 2001. Years later, with the goal of expediting the project, Cornelius leased the property from the county and, working with subdivision developers, began hammering out details for the cooperative effort. After a land swap between the town, the county and the now-defunct Simonini Builders, construction on the first phase of the park began in March of this year.
On Saturday, Cornelius Mayor Jeff Tarte and Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners Chairperson Jennifer Roberts took turns praising the cooperation involved and the positive impact the park could provide.
“Parks add to the economic value of a community,” Tarte said, “but they also cross socioeconomic barriers and bring people together.”
“This has been a partnership from the beginning,” Roberts said. “It has involved a tremendous amount of teamwork and community involvement.”
After the speeches ended and accolades had been distributed, the crowd got down to the serious business of having fun. Two children served as ceremonial ribbon-cutters dicing through the ribbon suspended at the bottom of the sliding board. Tarte and Roberts then got in the spirit and teamed up for a tandem trip down the chute. When the dignitaries had done their duty, the waiting was over for dozens of girls and boys who scattered to all the nooks and crannies in the sprawling tree-like playground apparatus.
While the playground and picnic shelter, along with a small athletic field, represent a big step for the park, they represent just a small part of the long-range journey for the park’s development, according to Troy Fitzsimmons, director of the Cornelius Parks Arts Recreation Culture Department.
“This is just the first phase,” Fitzsimmons said, “and future phases will be added as funding becomes available.”
He said the schedule calls for Phase II development, which will include construction of some of the athletic fields, to be funded by the town in fiscal year 2014. The Westmoreland Athletic Complex, on the northeast corner of the site, is well under way.
“Things change, and the funding issue is reviewed every year,” he said, “but the overall plan is in place and we’re expecting this to be a big asset to the community.”
