Children wanting to play sports in Fuquay-Varina may soon be turned away if more fields aren’t added.
Fuquay-Varina leaders want to increase field capacity to keep up with demand for youth sports.
But a plan to add fields at one park is sparking pushback from those who want to preserve it.
“The fight for this property has been going on for about 10 years,” Fuquay-Varina resident Ashley Manstedt said.
Manstedt and others recently spoke out against a proposal to build two baseball fields and two multi-purpose fields at Hilltop Needmore Town Park.
A Request for Qualifications released in April from the town reveals leaders also want to build a parking lot, restroom facility and Veterans Memorial at the park.
Those opposed believe the proposal could change the landscape of the former golf course turned town park and diminish the available green space.
“We have rolling hills that they want to bulldoze when we have land being bulldozed in every single other corner of our town,” Manstedt said. “People want a place where they can get away, where they can connect with nature.”
A spokesperson for Fuquay-Varina says the town’s youth sports program has “hit a breaking point.” Town data shows participation in Fuquay-Varina’s baseball/softball and youth soccer programs has more than doubled in the last decade.
“Our youth sports programs are booming, but our fields aren’t keeping up,” a town spokesperson wrote in an email to WRAL News. “The four [fields] proposed to be built at HNTP provide opportunities for 690 kids to play youth sports each season that will otherwise be turned away.”
Some Fuquay-Varina commissioners believe building at town-owned Hilltop Needmore would be more cost effective than buying new land.
“We have looked for other land,” Commissioner Larry Smith said at a recent town meeting. “That is a consideration. When we look at that, do we want to spend an additional $15 million of taxpayer money to purchase other pieces of land. That’s one of the things we have to look at.”
Officials note the proposal would encompass five acres of the 140-acre property.
In 2023, Fuquay-Varina voters rejected a $60 million parks bond that would have paid to build ball fields, pickleball courts and parking at Hilltop Needmore Park.
The fight to preserve all of the park is a personal battle for lifelong residents like Manstedt.
“They want this park to be … a safe space for people and animals where they can get away from the congestion and all the traffic and the chaos of everything else that’s going on around them and have a safe refuge here,” Manstedt said.
Town leaders are proposing a two-cent property tax increase next fiscal year to fund added capacity at other parks in Fuquay-Varina. Existing funds would be used to pay for the proposed fields and lots at Hilltop Needmore, according to a town spokesperson.
Commissioners are expected to award a contract for the proposal at Hilltop Needmore Town Park in early August.