The Town of Franklin held three public drop-in meetings last week to gather ideas for the recreation plan being developed for the Whitmire property.
The town purchased the property, also known as Sunnyside Park, in 2004 and other than installing a disc golf course there in 2021 it has largely remained unused. The property will be the location of the new skate park with construction slated to begin in June.
In August 2022, the Town Council held a meeting to specifically discuss the Whitmire property. The consensus from that meeting was that the town should not sell the property. The council followed with a vote to dedicate the majority of the Whitmire property for recreational use.
Of the 12.7-acre tract about 6.5 acres would be for recreation. About 4.5 acres will be considered for residential or possible mixed use, and the remainder would be left undeveloped for possible use in the future.
At the meetings on Thursday, there were four posters on display: a map of the property, one showing photographs of the property currently, and two posters with photos depicting 32 possible recreational uses for the property. Each person attending the meetings was given three green dots to place on their top picks.
“It’s a very visual way to see the options,” said Kurtis Durrant, a landscape architect with McGill, which is developing the recreation plan for the property. “This is part of the public input phase. This isn’t something we want – this is something the community wants.”
Town Planner Justin Setser said about 125 people attended the three meetings held at the Community Building, Town Hall and the Macon County Public Library.
He said an amphitheater and an all-inclusive playground tied for first with 34 votes each. Rounding out the top five picks were restrooms (31), pickleball courts (27) and a farmers market (23).
Some of the other suggested uses were a bike pump track, picnic areas, basketball courts, a climbing wall, trails, art and educational spaces, and open space for multi uses.
Citizen survey
The town is currently conducting a citizen survey to gather input on what type of recreation people would like to see on the property. Setser said as of Monday afternoon, 518 surveys had been completed, representing 988 people (that includes the number of people in the household of the person completing the survey).
The online survey will be available through Friday on the town’s website, franklinnc.com.
McGill will take the information gathered during the meetings and from the survey and use that to develop a master plan for the property. Setser said they may have something for the council to look at during the May meeting.